Special Feature

Malta in the San Marino 2001 GSSE

 Latest News from San Marino

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Iceland	31	18	16
Cyprus	27	21	17
San Marino	12	8	16
Luxembourg	12	24	16
Malta	7	12	16
Monaco	5	8	14
Andorra	5	6	7
Liechtenstein	2	2	2

Malta's medal winners

Athletics Gold for Malta's 4x100m, Silver for men's 4x100m and women's 4x400m, bronze for the men's 4x400m The men's 4 x 100m team, made up of Kevin Bezzina, Darren Gilford, Mario Bonello and Rachid Chouhal, established a national record in the men's 4 x 100 metre relay final in 41.13 to grab the silver medal. The women's 4 x 100m team, made up of Angie Mangion, Therese Mallia, Sue Spiteri and Deirdre Farrugia, won the 4 x 100 metre relay final in 48.42 to claim gold. Only Malta and San Marino took part as Cyprus and Andorra opted not to participate on the eleventh hour. Only the gold medal was awarded in this event. In the women's 4 x 400 metre relay event, the Maltese team, made up of Celine Pace, Deirdre Farrugia, Tanya Blake and Sue Spiteri, claimed the silver medal for a second place obtained in 3:52.24. The men's 4 x 400m team, made up of Fabio Spiteri, Mario Bonello, Rachid Chouhal and Karl Farrugia grabbed the bronze medal, placing third in 3:20.98.  (MM)   [Sat 02/06/01 17:49:24 CET]

Volleyball Bronze medal for women's team The women's team under the guide of coach Verika Stoyanova Borisova, a former legend of Bulgarian volleyball, won the bronze medal. The women's tournament came to an end on Saturday and after obtaining two wins and two defeats, Malta finished in the third place behind San Marino and Cyprus, gold and silver medalists respectively. This was the first time, Malta won a medal in volleyball in these games. Last year the Maltese girls had obtained a third placing in the European Small Countries Championships Pool C which were held in Malta which was the first success registered by a local volleyball team in an international competition.  (MM)   [Sat 02/06/01 17:03:29 CET]

Athletics Silver for Mario Bonello -- Bronze for Rachid Chouhal, Deirdre Farrugia, Lara Gerada Malta won three more medals in the 200 metres. In the final of the men's 200m, Mario Bonello placed second in 21.42 to claim the silver medal while the other Maltese athlete, Rachid Chouhal, won his second medal, placing third in 21.63 to win the bronze medal. Deirdre Farrugia won the bronze medal in the final of the women's 200 metres placing third in 24.80. Therefore she made up for the unlucky fourth place in the 100m final when she was denied a bronze medal after the photo-finish. The other Maltese athlete, Sue Spiteri, finished in the seventh place in 25.43. In the final of the men's 1,500 metres, Alexander Busuttil placed fourth in 3:57.14. Lara Gerada won a bronze medal in the long jump with a jump of 5.53 metres. This was her second medal after winning the silver medal in tripple jump on Friday.  (MM)   [Sat 02/06/01 16:55:58 CET]

Volleyball Fifth place for men after defeat to Andorra The men's team suffered the fourth defeat in five matches to end its commitments in the fifth place. Malta was beaten by Andorra 0-3 in a match which took an hour. Andorra won the first set 25-16, the second set 25-20 and the third set 25-8.  (MM)   [Sat 02/06/01 15:13:44 CET]

Cycling Ninth place for David Galea in Road-Race David Galea obtained the best placing in the Road Race, consisting of 104km, which was held on Saturday morning. Galea ended in the ninth place in 2 hours 59 minutes 14 seconds. Chris Gatt placed twelfth in 03:04:10 while Jack Schiavone finished in the 20th place in 03:07:25. Schiavone was unlucky to be involved in an incident but he bodly decided to continue the race to help his team-mates. The other Maltese cyclist, Etienne Bonello finished in the 30th place out of a total of 33 competitors. The Road Race was dominated by the cyclists from Luxembourg - Frank Schleck, Marc Vanacker and Steve Fogen - who claimed gold, silver and bronze. In the team event, Malta placed fifth.  (MM)   [Sat 02/06/01 15:05:17 CET]

Basketball Malta in the sixth place Malta ended its commitments in the sixth and last place of the tournament after losing the final for the fith and sixth place. Malta lost to Luxembourg 81-72. At the end of the first session, the score was 16-13 and midway through the game, Luxembourg enjoyed a 14-point lead, 42-28. In the third and fourth sessions, the Maltese tried to reduce the gap with Luxembourg leading the score 64-52 at the end of the third session and finally winning with a nine point difference. Best scorers for Malta were Michael Naudi with 13, Nathan Farrugia with 12.  (MM)   [Sat 02/06/01 12:46:35 CET]

Volleyball Defeats for Malta against San Marino but girls still with chance to win medal The Malta teams suffered defeats to San Marino. The men's team lost 0-3 to San Marino in a game which took 61 minutes, losing the three sets 17-25 16-25 12-25. The women's team suffered a 0-3 defeat losing the three sets 17-25 10-25 13-25. Malta still has a chance of winning a medal in the women's category. After playing all the four matches, the Maltese girls lie in second place with 2 wins and 2 defeats. The other four teams have a game in hand but since Cyprus and Iceland, currently third and fourth, will be facing each other, Malta could still secure a medal.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 22:26:35 CET]

Judo Eight medals in Judo: Gold for Natalie Galea, Laurie Pace -- Silver for Michelle Grech, Michael Zahra -- Bronze for Daniela Casha, Reuben Micallef, Jason Trevisan, Mick Cutajar Malta won a total of eight medals in judo. Malta's top judoka Laurie Pace won the gold medal in the women's category up to 57kg and Maltese-Australian Natalie Galea won the gold in the category up to 70kg. Laurie Pace defeated H. Olafsdottir of Iceland in the quarter-finals, S. Marocchi of San Marino in the semi-finals and M. Fernandez Lopez of Andorra in the final. Natalie Galea defeated A. Barbier of Monaco, N. Dostert of Luxembourg, G. Gudbrandsdottir of Iceland and J. Zannoni of San Marino. Michelle Grech won the silver medal in the category up to 63kg while Michael Zahra won silver in the category over 100kg. Grech defeated M. Bjarnadottir of Iceland in the quarter-finals and S. Raschi of San Marino in the semi-finals but lost to B. Montoro Muñoz of Andorra in the final. Michael Zahra beat S. Reynaud of Monaco but lost to V. Thorleifsson of Iceland. In the women's category up to 52 Kg, Daniela Casha won the bronze medal, like Reuben Micallef in the category up to 60 Kg, Jason Trevisan in the category up to 73 Kg and Maltese-Australian Mick Cutajar in the category up to 100kg. Daniela Casha defeated P. Stavrinou of Cyprus and C. Machado of Luxembourg, losing to U. Kaiser U. of Liechtenstein and I. Gudmundsdottir of Iceland. Reuben Micallef lost to H. Einarsson of Iceland but defeated M. Urbinati of San Marino in the final for the third and fourth place. Jason Trevisan defeated N. Pinho Meira of Andorra in the quarter finals, lost to V. Stefansson in the semi-finals but won the final for the third and fourth place against C. Charalambous of Cyprus. Mick Cutajar defeated R. Riehl of Luxembourg but lost to T. Blondal of Iceland and J. Veison of Monaco. The two judokas to fail winning any medal were Darren Casha and Tonio Schembri. In the men's category up to 66 Kg, Casha defeated M. Bernardi of San Marino but then lost to G. Lequime of Monaco, C. Christodoulides of Cyprus and S. Jonsson of Iceland. In the men's category up to 81 Kg, Schembri registered one win over L. Mularoni of San Marino, losing to B. Hardarson of Iceland, C. Stelmes of Luxembourg and M. Andreou of Cyprus.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 20:43:52 CET]

Athletics Another silver for Carol Galea In the women's 10,000 metres, Carol Galea won the silver medal after placing second in 34:55.78 behind Irina Kazakova of Monaco. Charmaine Sciberras placed third in 37:48.58.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 20:59:35 CET]

Table-Tennis Silver for Simon Gerada in men's singles After obtaining six wins in six games, Maltese-Australian Simon Gerada failed to win the gold medal in the men's singles. In the final he was defeated by Traian Ciociu of Luxembourg 21-16 14-21 21-16. Gerada therefore wins the silver medal. Timothy Buttigieg finished in the eighth place after losing to Andrea Stefanelli of San Marino 14-21 14-21.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 20:43:52 CET]

Athletics Silver for Lara Gerada Lara Gerada won the silver medal in the Triple Jump with a jump of 11.53. Joval Moserrat Pujol of Andorra won the gold medal with a jump of 11.57 while Lucia Gualandra of San Marino won the bronze with 11.46. In the final of the 400 metres, Celine Pace placed fifth in 1:00.12 which is her personal best. In the final of the men's 400 metres, Karl Farrugia placed sixth in 00:50.67 while Mark Herrera finished in the eighth place in 00:53.37  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 20:25:35 CET]

Athletics Gold medal for Tanya Blake in 800m With an excellent performance, Tanya Blake won a gold medal for Malta in the final of the women's 800 metres. Tanya Blake established a record time for the games of 2:06.26 when she placed first ahead of Christa Salt and Martine Nobili, both of Luxembourg, silver and bronze medalists respectively. In the men's 800m, Fabio Spiteri placed fifth in 1:54.14 while Mark Herrera finished in the eleventh and last place in 2:02.45. In the men's 5000 metres, John Buhagiar and Robert Attard placed fifth in 15:10.02 and sixth in 15:41.75 respectively.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 19:37:35 CET]

Table-Tennis Simon Gerada in men's singles final Simon Gerada will be contesting the final of the men's singles after beating Gudmundur Stephensen of Iceland 21-14 21-15 in the semi-finals. He will be meeting Traian Ciociu of Luxembourg. On Thursday he won five games in five to win Group A. Timothy Buttigieg plays in the final for the seventh and eighth place later on Friday. Meanwhile in the final for the fifth and sixth place of the ladies' singles, Christine Cassar Toreggiani defeated Johanna Grech 21-19 21-19.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 17:49:13 CET]

Shooting Fifth place for Paul Vella in skeet The two Maltese shooters in competition in the skeet event placed fifth and seventh respectively. Yesterday, Paul Vella and Joe Genovese were joint fourth with 63. However in the second session which was held on Friday morning and the final which was held in the afternoon, Paul Vella dropped another place after hitting 22 and 23 for a total of 108. In the final, Vella hit 19 for a total of 127. Joe Genovese hit 20 and 20 to place seventh, therefore failing to reach the final with a total of 103.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 15:19:27 CET]

Table-Tennis Another bronze medal for Johanna Grech/Christine Cassar Torregiani Table-tennis duo Johanna Grech and Christine Cassar Torregiani won the bronze medal in the women's doubles after obtaining one win and losing two games. They had already won a bronze medal in the Team event. Meyer/Regenwetter of Luxembourg defeated Grech/Cassar Torregiani 21-7 23-21 in the first round while in the second, Grech/Cassar Torregiani lost to Monaldini/Chimei of San Marino 20-22 8-21. In the third round, Grech/Cassar Torregiani defeated Olafsdottir/Johannesdottir of Iceland 21-11 14-21 21-13 to claim the bronze medal. Later on today, the two players will be facing each other in the final for the fifth and sixth place in the women's singles. In the men's doubles, Maltese duo Timothy Buttigieg and Simon Gerada suffered one defeat and then awarded four walk-overs as Simon Gerada was feeling sick. Buttigieg/Gerada lost to Tziambos/Geroudes of Cyprus 14-21 12-21 in the first round and then awarded walk-overs to Schmidle/Marxer of Liechtenstein, Caenaro/Ciociu of Luxembourg, Hardarson/Stephensen of Iceland and Stefanelli/Giardi of San Marino. Simon Gerada will now take part in the semi-finals of the men's singles while Timothy Buttigieg plays in the final for the seventh and eighth place.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 15:07:13 CET]

Swimming More finals on Friday Six finals were scheduled for Friday. In the women's 800m freestyle, Roberta Callus placed fifth in 09:50.94. Neil Agius ended in the 7th place in 17:57.64 in the 1500m freestyle. In the women's 4x100m freestyle, Elaine Farrugia, Angela Galea, Lara Callus and Roberta Callus placed sixth and last in 04:24.40.  (MM)   [Fri 01/06/01 12:31:22 CET]

Volleyball Two wins for Maltese teams The Maltese teams registered wins over Iceland in the third day of competition. The men's team defeated Iceland 3-2 in a game which took almost two hours, 110 minutes. Malta won the first set 26-24 but Iceland won the second and third sets 25-14 and 25-12 respectively. However Malta won the next two frames 25-23 and 25-12. This was the first win for Malta after defeats to Cyprus and Luxembourg. The women's team obtained its second win beating Iceland 3-0. Malta won the first set 25-19, the second one 25-19 and the third 25-17. Malta lost to Cyprus on Tuesday but defeated Liechtenstein on Wednesday.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 21:27:35 CET]

Basketball Heavy defeat for Malta against Iceland Malta suffered a heavy defeat to Iceland in the third day losing 98-53. The Maltese had no reply for their opponents who managed to take a ten point lead by the end of the first session, 29-19. Iceland increased the lead to 14 points, 47-33. The gap increased further in the third (79-45) and fourth session. Best scorer for Malta, Adrian Micallef with 18 points.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 20:35:47 CET]

Shooting Maltese shooters disappoint in Air Pistol The two Maltese shooters disappointed in the 10m Air Pistol event. Out of 13 competitiors, Anton Camilleri finished in the eleventh place with a total of 531 points (85 + 92 + 90 + 88 + 84 + 92) while Raymond Cacciattolo ended last with 515 points (81 + 84 + 84 + 87 + 87 + 92).  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 20:30:47 CET]

Table-Tennis Five wins for Simon Gerada to secure place in semi-finals After the end of the Team competitions, the men's and women's singles competitions started off on Thursday morning. In the men's singles, Maltese-Australian player Simon Gerada registered five wins in five games to secure a place in the semi-finals which will be held on Friday. In the first round, he defeated Adam Hardarson of Iceland 21-11 25-23 while in the second, he beat Andreas Tziambos of Cyprus 21-13 21-12. Simon Gerada registered his third win in the third round beating Andrea Stefanelli of San Marino 21-13 21-11. Then in the fourth round, Dominik Marxer of Liechtenstein was beaten by Gerada 8-21 21-17 15-21. Finally, he defeated Sandro Caenaro of Luxembourg 21-18 21-23 21-19. On the other hand, Timothy Buttigieg started with three defeats. First he lost to Gabriele Giardi of San Marino 21-8 21-16. In the second round, Buttigieg was beaten by Traian Ciociu of Luxembourg 12-21 12-21 and then he was defeated 21-8 21-8 by Gudmundur Stephensen of Iceland. However Buttigieg hit back notching two wins in the next two rounds. In the fourth round, he defeated George Geroudes of Cyprus 21-0 21-0 and in the fifth, he beat Floriana Kaiser of Liechtenstein 21-13 21-15.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 20:33:42 CET]

Tennis Another two bronze medal in tennis Mark Schembri and Gordon Asciak won the bronze medal in the men's doubles after losing the semi-final to Scheidweilder and Maquel of Luxembourg. Axiaq and Schembri won the first set 6-4 but then lost the other two 1-6 and 4-6. In the women's doubles, Lisa Camenzuli and Carol Cassar Torregiani defeated Stilianides and Akrita of Cyprus in straight sets 6-0 6-0 in the final for third and fourth place to claim a bronze medal.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 18:37:09 CET]

Swimming No medals in swimming Four Maltese swimmers were involved in three finals on Thursday evening. In the final of the women's 200m breast-stroke, Nikky Abela ended in the 8th place in 02:55.84 while in the final of the men's 200m breast-stroke, Mark Buttigieg placed sixth in 02:37.66. In the final of the women's 200m freestyle, Roberta Callus placed sixth in 02:14.87 while Lara Callus finished in the eighth place in 02:19.50.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 18:31:43 CET]

Shooting Maltese duo temporarily in fourth places in skeet In the skeet event, Joe Genovese and Paul Vella are temporarily joint fourth at the end of the first session which was held on Thursday. Both shooters hit a total of 63. Genovese hit 20, 20 and 23 while Vella smashed 23, 21 and 19. The second and third sessions will be held on Friday. Leading the standings are George Achilleos of Cyprus, Moreno Benedittini of San Marino and Alfred Karl Alfredsson of Iceland.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 17:19:47 CET]

Tennis Bronze medal for Lisa Camenzuli Lisa Camenzuli lost 2-6 2-6 to Claudine Schaul of Luxembourg in the semi-final and therefore wins the bronze medal together with Pavlina Akrita of Cyprus who lost the other semi-final to Mandy Minella of Luxembourg. Later on today, Mark Schembri and Gordon Asciak face Scheidweilder and Maquel of Luxembourg in the men's doubles semi-finals while Lisa Camenzuli and Carol Cassar Torregiani meet Stilianides and Akrita of Cyprus in the final for third and fourth place in the ladies' doubles.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 16:18:35 CET]

Table-Tennis Singles' competition get under way After the end of the Team competitions, the men's and women's singles competitions started off on Thursday morning. In the ladies' singles, Johanna Grech defeated Lilja Ros Johannesdotir of Iceland 21-9 20-22 21-15 but then lost to one of San Marino's two Chinese players, Yan Chimei 21-10 21-7. In the third round, she lost to Peggy Regenwetter of Luxembourg 21-7 19-21 21-17. Christine Cassar Torregiani suffered two defeats losing to Jessie Heintz of Luxembourg 21-14 21-13 and to Yi Diao of San Marino 12-21 13-21 but then recovered well to beat Halldora Olafsdottir of Iceland 21-14 21 - 2.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 16:08:15 CET]

Shooting Philip Busuttil, William Chetcuti claim gold and silver in double-trap Malta won two medals - a gold and a silver medal - in the double trap event which was held on Thursday. Philip Busuttil placed first with a total of 157 (119 + 38) while William Chetcuti finished in second place with a total of 155 (116 + 39). The two Maltese shooters already occupied the top two places at the end of the Eliminatory stage. placed Yiannos Toppouzis of Cyprus placed third with 152 to claim the bronze medal.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 15:52:36 CET]

Swimming More heats held on Thursday morning More heats were held on Thursday morning. In the first heat of the 50m freestyle, Ian Diacono placed last out of seven swimmers in 0:27.65 while in the second heat, John Tabone placed sixth in 0:26.78. In the first heat of the 200m freestyle, Roberta Callus placed third in 2:16.80 to qualify for the final. Lara Callus also reached the final placing fourth in the second heat in 2:20.21.  (MM)   [Thu 31/05/01 12:49:35 CET]

Basketball First win for Malta Malta registered its first win defeating Andorra 92-88. Malta went ahead right from the start, winning the first session 28-24, leading 46-37 at the end of the second and 65-57 at the end of the third. Best scorers: Adrian Micallef with 26 points, Michael Naudi 23 and Silvio Cassar 19.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 23:58:41 CET]

Bowls (Bocci) Gold medal for Stefan Farrugia Stefan Farrugia won Malta's second gold medal when he won the raffa event in bowls. After defeating Godfrey Sciberras 12-3 in an all-Maltese semi-final, he defeated Matteo Albani of San Marino 12-5. In the final for third and fourth place, Godfrey Sciberras lost 0-12 to Giuseppe Frisoni of San Marino. Earlier during the day, in the petanque discipline, Pasquale Saliba ended in fourth place. In the final for the third and fourth places he was beaten by Raffaele Di Siervi of Monaco 13-9.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 22:19:07 CET]

Volleyball Ladies beat Liechtenstein Malta made up for Tuesday's defeat to Cyprus by beating Liechestein 3-1 in 91 minutes. Malta won the first set 25-18. Liechtenstein levelled the score winning the second set 25-19 but Malta hit back winning the next two sets 25-14 and 25-22.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 22:25:50 CET]

Athletics Silver for Carol Galea in 5000m and Rashid Chouhal in 100m, Bronze for John Buhagiar in 10,000m Malta's top female athlete, veteran Carol Galea won a silver medal after placing second in the 5000m in 17:07.30, behind Elisa Vagnini of San Marino. Another Maltese athlete, Charmaine Sciberras was fourth in 17:46.40. In the men's 100m, both Mario Bonello and Rachid Chouhal had qualified for the final. In the first heat, Mario Bonello placed third in 10.84 while Chouhal placed second in the second heat in 10.62 which is also a Personal Best for him. Then in the final, Rashid Chouhal placed second in 10.59, a new national record to claim the silver medal. Mario Bonello placed fifth in 10.74. In the women's 100m final, Deirdre Farrugia was unlucky to finish in fourth place with the same time as the bronze medalist, Thessalia Othonos of Cyprus, in 12.16. In fact it was the photo-finish which decided in favour of the Cypriot. Sue Spiteri was seventh in 12.48. In the heats, Sue Spiteri had placed third in the first heat in 12.53 while Deirdre Farrugia placed second in the second heat in 12.27. In the 10,000m, John Buhagiar placed third in 32:46.17 to claim the bronze medal behind two athletes from Andorra, gold medalist Manel Fernandes Pita and silver-medalist Antoni Bernadó Planas. In the first heat of the men's 400m, Karl Farrugia reached the final after ending in the third place in a personal best time of 49.86 while Mark Herrera placed fourth in 51.86.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 20:56:52 CET]

Tennis Camenzuli/Cassar Torregiani beaten in semi-finals In the women's doubles semi-finals, Lisa Camenzuli and Carol Cassar Torregiani, silver-medalists in Liechtenstein two years ago were defeated by Minella and Schaul of Luxembourg 1-6 2-6.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 20:55:30 CET]

Table-Tennis Men's Team ends in fourth place Malta won a game and lost another to end in the fourth place and stay out of the medal zone. In the morning, the men's team lost 3-2 to San Marino in a hard-fought battle. Simon Gerada defeated Giardi 21-19 17-21 21-18, Azzopardi lost to Stefanelli 16-21 3-21, Buttigieg/Gerada lost to Stefanelli/Giardi 16-21 16-21, Gerada beat Stefanelli 21-15 14-21 21-10 and Azzopardi lost to Giardi 7-21 12-21. Then in the afternoon, Malta beat Liechtenstein 3-1 but this was not enough as San Marino defeated Cyprus to claim the bronze medal. Simon Gerada beat Kaiser 21-13 21-13, Timmy Buttigieg lost to Marxer 6-21 15-21, Buttigieg/Gerada defeated Schmidle/Marxer 21-15 21-16 and Gerada won the last game beating Marxer 22-20 22-20.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 20:30:25 CET]

Shooting Eighth and ninth place in 10m Air Rifle event The two Maltese competitors in the 10m Air Rifle event placed eighth and ninth. Mario Abela reached the final stage carrying 560 points and after obtaining 92.5 points finished eighth with a total of 652.5 points. Jesmond Fenech collected a total of 558 points to end in the ninth place.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 20:25:43 CET]

Tennis Axiaq/Schembri, Lisa Camenzuli in semi-finals In the ladies' singles quarter-finals, Lisa Camenzuli had an easy task to reach the semi-finals as Francesca Guardigli of San Marino retired in the first set which Camenzuli was winning 4-3. In the men's doubles, Mark Schembri and Gordon Asciak reached the semi-finals after beating Rosti and Vicini of San Marino 4-6 6-1 6-3. Later on today, in the women's doubles semi-finals, Lisa Camenzuli and Carol Cassar Torregiani meet Minella and Schaul of Luxembourg.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 18:59:26 CET]

Volleyball Second defeats for men The men's team suffered the second defeat. After losing 0-3 to Cyprus on Tuesday, Malta suffered a 1-3 defeat to Luxembourg in 85 minutes. Luxembourg won the first set 25-23 but Malta equalised winning the second one 25-22. However Luxembourg won the third and fourth sets 25-20 25-14 respectively.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 18:40:40 CET]

Swimming Disappointing results by swimmers The swimmers failed to conquer any medal although in the final of the women's 100m butterfly, Galea missed one by a whisker finishing in fourth place in 01:06.55, behind Kristjansdottir of Iceland, Van Der Schilden of Luxembourg and Jakobsdottir of Iceland. In the final of the women's 100m backstroke, Lara Callus placed fifth in 01:11.87, John Tabone placed fifth in the final of the 100m butterfly in 1:00.68. In the 400m freestyle, Roberta Callus placed seventh in 04:44.93 while in the 4x200m freestyle, Angela Galea, Roberta Callus, Lara Callus and Elaine Farrugia finished in the seventh and last place. In the women's 100m breaststroke final, Nikki Abela placed last despite improving on the time obtained in the heats - 01:25.90.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 18:25:01 CET]

Bowls (Bocci) Stefan Farrugia in final In the all-Maltese semi-final in the raffa event, Stefan Farrugia defeated Godfrey Sciberras 12-3. In the final which will be held at 2000CET on Wednesday, he will be facing Matteo Albani of San Marino who defeated Giuseppe Frisoni 12-9. In the petanque discipline, Anthony Debono placed seventh after beating Alfredo Mazza of San Marino 13-6 in the final for seventh and eighth place.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 18:18:00 CET]

Shooting Silver medal for Frans Pace Frans Pace won the silver medal in the Trap event after placing second. At the end of the first day of competition, Frans Pace was fourth but in the remaining two rounds on Wednesday morning, he hit 21 and 25 for a total of 112 where he was joint second with Stefano Selva of San Marino. Then in the final barrage, Pace smashed 22 clay targets for a total of 134. Francesco Amici of San Marino won the gold medal with 136 while Stefano Selva won bronze with 133. Noel Attard retained the eighth place with 98.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 16:13:43 CET]

Tennis Marco Capello eliminated from men's singles Marco Capello was eliminated from the men's singles after losing 6-2 6-2 to Bosio of Monaco. On Tuesday, he defeated Forcellini of San Marino 6-7 7-5 6-3. In the ladies' singles quarter-finals, Lisa Camenzuli meets Francesca Guardigli of San Marino. In the men's doubles quarter-finals, Mark Schembri and Gordon Asciak face Rosti and Vicini of San Marino while in the women's doubles semi-finals, Lisa Camenzuli and Carol Cassar Torregiani meet Minella and Schaul of Luxembourg.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 14:34:50 CET]

Table-Tennis Women win bronze medal Johanna Grech and Christine Cassar Torregiani won a bronze medal for Malta in the women's Team event. After defeating Iceland 3-1 and losing to San Marino with an identical score on Tuesday, on Wednesday, Malta suffered another defeat to Luxembourg but still, Malta placed third therefore winning the bronze medal. Regenwetter defeated Johanna Grech 21-6 21-12, Heintze beat Carol Cassar Torregiani 21-8 21-18 while in the doubles, Grech/Cassar Torregiani lost to Meyer/Reggenwetter 21-8 21-8. In all Malta won four points, winning 10 sets and losing 16. The men's team lost 3-2 to San Marino in a hard-fought battle. Simon Gerada defeated Giardi 21-19 17-21 21-18, Azzopardi lost to Stefanelli 16-21 3-21, Buttigieg/Gerada lost to Stefanelli/Giardi 16-21 16-21, Gerada beat Stefanelli 21-15 14-21 21-10 and Azzopardi lost to Giardi 7-21 12-21. However if Malta beats Liechtenstein in the last game with a good score, Malta could still win a medal.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 13:28:47 CET]

Bowls (Bocci) Three players in semi-finals In the petanque discipline, Gozitan player Anthony Debono placed seventh after beating Alfredo Mazza of San Marino 13-6. Pasquale Saliba lost to Alain Laterza of Luxembourg 13-8 in the semi-finals and will now face Raffaele Di Siervi of Monaco in the final for the third and fourth places. On the other hand, Malta is sure of a silver medal at least in the raffa event. On Tuesday, Stefan Farrugia won his two games to win Group B. Godfrey Sciberras was the runner-up in Group A and will therefore meet Farrugia in the semi-finals.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 14:58:03 CET]

Swimming Maltese youngsters in action Most of the young Maltese swimmers who are using this edition of the games to gain experience for Malta 2003 were in action on Tuesday morning. In the men's 100m breaststroke, Mark Buttigieg was fifth in heat 1 in 1:13:69. In the women's 100m breaststroke, Nikki Abela also placed fifth in the second heat in 1:25:93 but still managed to qualify for the final. In the women's 400m freestyle, two Maltese swimmers were involved. Elaine Farrugia placed fourth in the first heat in 05:00.08 while Roberta Callus, who also finished in fourth place in the second heat in 04:50.04, reached the final.  (MM)   [Wed 30/05/01 14:08:35 CET]

Bowls (Bocci) Stefan Farrugia unbeaten after two games in raffa event In the raffa event, the two Maltese players, Stefan Farrugia registered two wins in Group B. After defeating Alfred Ballweber of Liechtenstein 12-5, he beat Giuseppe Frisoni of San Marino 12-6. On the other hand, in Group A, Godfrey Sciberras defeated Vincenzo D'Elia of Liechtenstein 12-10 but then lost 12-2 to Matteo Albani of San Marino.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 21:22:43 CET]

Shooting Frans Pace temporarily in fourth place Frans Pace is currently fourth after the first three rounds of the Trap event after smashing 66 clay-targets out of a total of 75 (21 + 21 + 24). Leading the standings is Stefano Selva of San Marino with 70, Francesco Amici of San Marino with 69 and Yiannis Aliotis of Cyprus with 67. The other Maltese shooter, Noel Attard is eighth after hitting 62.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 20:48:21 CET]

Volleyball Defeats for Maltese teams Malta suffered two defeats to Cyprus in volleyball. The men's team under the guide of Antonio Pavlov lost 0-3 in 58 minutes. The three sets ended 20-25 15-25 and 14-25. On the other hand, the ladies, coached by Bulgarian coach Verika Stoyanova Borisova suffered a 1-3 defeat in 82 minutes. Cyprus won the first set 25-19 but Malta equalised winning the second one 27-25. Then Cyprus won the third and fourth sets 25-11 and 25-13. On Wednesday, the men meet Luxembourg while the ladies face Liechtenstein.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 20:47:15 CET]

Basketball Malta loses to Monaco 68-60 Malta suffered a defeat to Monaco 68-60 in the first game from Group A. Malta went ahead in the first session 17-14 but by the end of the second session, Monaco managed to go ahead, ending it 32-31. Monaco extended the lead to seven points at the end of the third session, 50 - 43. Best scorers for Malta were Omar Said with 20, Michael Naudi with 12 and Julian Naudi with 11 points. Malta meets Andorra on Wednesday.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 20:46:21 CET]

Tennis Camenzuli and Capello win in singles The first round of the Men's Singles and Ladies' Singles started off in the morning. The first Maltese players in action were Marco Capello, Mark Schembri, Lisa Camenzuli and Carol Cassar Torregiani. In the men's singles, Marco Capello defeated Forcellini of San Marino 6-7 7-5 6-3 while Mark Schembri lost to Vicini of San Marino 6-2 6-4. In the ladies' singles, Lisa Camenzuli defeated Font Font of Andorra 6-0 6-0 while Carol Cassar Torregiani was beaten by Minella of Luxembourg 7-6 6-3.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 19:49:27 CET]

Table-Tennis Mixed fortunes in table-tennis Malta experienced mixed fortunes in the team events in table-tennis. The men's team defeated Cyprus 3-1 but lost to Luxembourg 0-3 and Iceland 1-3 while the women's team defeated Iceland 3-1 but lost to San Marino with an identical score. In the men's 3-1 win over Cyprus, Simon Gerada defeated Geroudes 21-10 21-8, Timmy Buttigieg lost to Tziambos 21-9 21-10, Buttigieg/Gerada beat Tziambos/Geroudes 18-21 21-15 21-15 with Gerada defeating Tziambos 21-14 19-21 21-10. In the defeat to Luxembourg, Mark Azzopardi lost to Caenaro 13-21 9-21, Gerada lost to Ciociu 16-21 21-17 16-21 while Buttigieg/Gerada lost to Caenaro/Ciociu 5-21 7-21. In the defeat to Iceland, Gerada beat Hardarson 21-11 21-15, Buttigieg lost to Stephensen 9-21 7-21, Buttigieg/Gerada lost to Hardarson/Stephensen 17-2 15-21 with Gerada lsoing the last game to Stephensen 18-21 21-16 9-21. In the women's 3-1 win over Iceland, Christine Cassar Torregiani lost to Johannesdottir 8-21 21-11 14-21, Johanna Grech defeated Olafsdottir 21-19 21-14, Grech/Cassar Torregiani defeated Olafsdottir/Johannesdottir 11-21 21-17 21-17 with Johanna Grech beating Johannesdottir 21-8 21-19 in the last game. Then Malta lost to San Marino 1-3: Diao defeated Cassar Torregiani 17-2 21-5 10-21, Chimei beat Grech 21-4 21-14, Monaldini/Chimei beat Grech/Cassar Torregiani 21-8 21-15 and Diao lost to Grech 22-24 21-9 21-16.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 19:32:03 CET]

Bowls (Bocci) Two wins for Pasquale Saliba in petanque In the petanque event, the two local players, Pasquale Saliba and Anthony Debono played their first three games. In Group B, Pasquale Saliba registered two wins. He defeated Samuel Fautsch of Luxembourg 13-12, then he was beaten by Raffaele Di Siervi of Monace 13-2 but beat Alfredo Mazza of San Marino 13-10 in the third game. In Group A, Anthony Debono suffered three defeats. He lost 13-9 to Alain Laterza of Luxembourg, 13-10 to Johan Salmon of Monaco and 13-8 to Fernando Chiaruzzi of San Marino.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 18:34:43 CET]

Swimming Bronze medal for Angela Galea Angela Galea won the bronze medal in the 200m butterfly. She placed third in 02:26.14 behind Roubina Natalia (02:16.89) and Papadopoulou Maria (02:20.37), both of Cyprus. The other Maltese swimmer, Elaine Farrugia placed fifth in 02:34.24.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 18:08:35 CET]

Swimming Lara Callus in fourth place In the women's 200m backstroke, Maltese swimmer Lara Callus placed fourth in 02:32:45. Kristjansdottir Kolbrun of Iceland won the event in 02:23:08, therefore winning the gold medal, followed by Recken Cynthia of Luxembourg and Jakobsdottir Anja Rikey of Iceland. Young Ian Diacono placed last in the second heat of the 100m freestyle in 1:01.22.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 17:35:52 CET]

Cycling David Millar earns Malta first gold medal Following Monday's Opening Ceremony, athletes get in action on Tuesday. The disciplines scheduled for today are tennis, table-tennis, clay-shooting, volleyball, bowls, cycling, swimming and basketball. In cycling, Malta started with a bang as the Anglo-Maltese cyclist David Millar won the 17.4km time-trial in 22:28:48 to give Malta the first gold medal. Second and third were Steve Fogen and Marc Vanacker, both of Luxembourg. Another Maltese cyclist Jack Schiavone placed fourth in 25:25:68. Chris Gatt was 12th in 26:31:05 while Galea David placed 14th in 26:37:18.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 14:07:52 CET]

San Marino 2001 GSSE Maltese athletes in action on Tuesday Following Monday's Opening Ceremony, athletes get in action on Tuesday. The disciplines which will be staged today are tennis, table-tennis, clay-shooting, volleyball, bowls, cycling, swimming and basketball. Starting from the team sport, in volleyball, Malta's ladies face Cyprus and the men face the Cypriots as well. In Basketball, Malta meets Andorra. In cycling, the 17.4km time-trial starts off at Fonte dell' Ovo. Taking part for Malta are Dave Millar, David Galea, Etienne Bonello and Chris Gatt. All Malta's hopes lie on Dave Millar, an Anglo-Maltese cyclist based in France. Frans Pace and Noel Attard shoot on the first 75 clays in the trap event. Several heats will be held in swimming with the Maltese swimmers involved being Lara Callus, Angela Galea, John J. Tabone and Ian Diacono. The first round of the singles' events for both men and women in tennis will be held on Tuesday afternoon. Mark Schembri and Marco Capello take part in the men's singles, Lisa Camenzuli and Carol Cassar Torregiani in the women's singles. In bowls, the competition starts in the three different disciplines. Playing for Malta are Stefan Farrugia and Godfrey Sciberras in the raffa event and Anthony Debono and Paul Saliba in the petanque event. Meanwhile Cyprus officials protested against the presence of Dave Millar and Simon Gerada in the Maltese squad claiming that they are ineligible. Maltese-Australian athlete Kevin Bezzina was involved in an accident while training. It was thought that he had broken his arm but no fractures on the arm of Kevin Bezzina resulted. He will therefore take part in the 4x100m relay as programmed.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 07:07:52 CET]

San Marino 2001 GSSE Games start off with colourful Opening Ceremony The ninth edition of the Games of the Small States of Europe which will be held between tomorrow and Saturday got under way on Monday night with a colourful opening ceremony at the Serravalle Stadium. More than 600 people took part in a spectacular ceremony organised by Vittorio Picconi, the same person who was in charge of the Opening Ceremony of the Italia 90 World Cup. A welcome choreography was performed by the primary school children of San Marino. Then there was the traditional parade with the flags and delegations of the eight participating states. Carrying the Maltese flag was Maltese-Australian table-tennis player, Simon Gerada, who earlier this week, claimed that he will no longer represent Australia but will play for Malta. Little Tony and the Supremes then performed the theme song of the San Marino Games. This was followed by the performance of the group of the University Institute of Movement Studies of Rome. The ceremony will enter the phase of the official speakers: Juan Antonio Samaranch (IOC President), Angelo Vicini (CONS President), Claudio Podeschi (Tourism Secretary). This was the last official commitment for Samaracnch who will be stepping down after 20 years as IOC president. The games were declared officially open with the speech of the Captain Regents of the Republic. The torch bearer, former Juventus FC player Massimo Bonini, who hails from San Marino, arrived at the stadium and the lightening of the Olympic torch will introduce the athletes and judges' oath, and finally the flag hoisting and the national anthem. This was followed by the performance of a classical ballet, a "flying angels" performance with shining spheres and fires and another choreography proposed by the students of the primary schools of San Marino. The ceremony drew to a conclusion with a final performance of lights, fireworks, sounds and colours. Present for the Opening Ceremony were: Prince Albert of Monaco, Princess Nora of Liechtenstein, Jean Duke of Luxembourg, Lord Russel Johnston President of European Committee, Jacques Rogge President of OEC, Lambi Nicolau, president of the Greek Olympic Committee and organizer of Athens 2004.  (MM)   [Tue 29/05/01 07:07:52 CET]