Memorable days for FISEC contingent in Salamanca

Success obtained recently by our athletes in a number of international events, especially the Games of the Small States of Europe, was again confirmed last week when a contingent of 90 athletes, officials and delegates took part in the FISEC Games.

In these Games, organised for student athletes from catholic schools, 14 countries took part. Apart from Malta and host country Spain, the other students hailed from Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Belgium, Flanders, France, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Jordan and Portugal.

The theme adopted was "participar, ya es ganar" (to join is just to win). The Maltese contingent was led by FISEC Malta chairman Bro. Martin Borg.

The opening ceremony was organised in the church of San Esteban, in Plaza del Concilio de Trento. Before, all contingents took part in a march past Plaza Mayor, the symbol of the city's architecture.

After Mass, FISEC international president Francisco Vigara declared the Games open in the presence of special guests invited for the occasion and also other members of the international bureau among whom the general secretary, Gianfranco Selvaggi, who with his post is also making Malta proud.

The Games

Malta took part in five sport - Futsal, basketball, athletics, swimming and volleyball - bringing home 18 medals, five gold, six silver and seven bronze.

Although 14 of these medals were won in athletics, three in swimming and a bronze medal in Futsal it does not mean that there wasn't any progress in the other disciplines.

Athletics

As expected, athletics reaped the better dividends. The group was represented by a mixture of experienced athletes and young ones who certainly used the FISEC Games to gain more experience.

One should also praise Maltese coaches Gino Mallia and Ralph Mifsud. Together with physio Leandros Calleja, they prepared the athletes intensively before and during the Games.

All Maltese present at the major athletic track of Salamanca will certainly remember Celine Pace's national record in the 200m event, finishing in 24.92, besides her success in the 100m.

But special acknowledgment should also be given to other female athletes like Lara Scerri (bronze in 100m, 200m and 300m), Charlene Attard (silver in 300m), Lorna Mifsud (bronze 800m) and Angie Mangion (bronze in Triple Jump).

In the boys section, Clifford Busuttil took a silver medal in the triple jump as Edwin Zammit confirmed his recent progress by winning the javelin competition easily.

Jeandre Mallia won a silver medal in the 200m sprint and, similarly, Nathan Vella finished second in the longer 3,000m.

That was not all. As usual, athletics programmes end up with the 4x100m relays. Here, Malta won two gold medals thanks to Jeandre Mallia, Cliff Busuttil, Jonathan Galea and Jean Claude Micallef in the male competition and Celine Pace, Angie Mangion, Lara Scerri and Charlene Attard in the girls' event.

Surely, in athletics it was a collective effort and special praise should be given to those who also improved their personal bests and gave their all.

Swimming

Swimming competitions were organised at the indoor pool of La Alamedilla, a complex that together with a basketball pavilion forms part of a student college.

Malta was represented by ten swimmers, under the guidance of Martin Vella. In contrast with previous editions, this year our contingent was very young in age with very little international experience.

Still a number of swimmers managed to improve their personal times in various events.

Special mention should be given to Davina Mangion. She won three medals - silver in the 400m freestyle, silver in the 200m butterfly and bronze in the 50m butterfly.

It also seemed that a number of our swimmers found it difficult to compete in a 25m pool. But still I believe that next year, with some more experience and training, we will do better in the pool.

Futsal

It seems to have become a tradition that in FISEC Games we collect a medal in Futsal. This year we had Michael Molzahn and Kevin Mamo's boys winning a bronze after beating Croatia and Spain A and losing to title winners Portugal and Spain B.

It was a collective effort which brought about this success. Dyson Falzon, Andre Schembri, Edward Herrera, Clyde Triganza, Andrew Spiteri and Steve Borda were among our scorers.

The competition was held at the pavilion Municipal de Villares de la Reina, in the outskirts of the city of Salamanca. This is a new multi-purpose hall. During the week it can be used not only for Futsal but also for basketball, volleyball and handball, having a seating capacity of 1,000 people.

Basketball (girls)

The basketball team of Charles Bonnici and Emmanuel Mangani did not win any medal in Salamanca but their overall performance should be commended.

This team had to face the problem of playing some of their games in different times and not according to the schedule because of organisation problems.

Malta started by beating Austria B 72-15. An exciting game was that against Spain B which the Maltese won with a close result of 56-54 after extra time.

Unfortunately, we lost against the well-quoted France 69-45, against Spain A 70-51 and the final game for third place against Flanders 59-34.

Volleyball (boys)

The volleyball competition was held at the Universitario Miguel de Unamuno pavilion with a seating capacity of 600. Although the Maltese did not win any of their four games, we could notice the motivation and effort of our players.

Bernardo Randelli and Nikolai Giorgev's boys showed constant progress throughout the tournament.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held in the presence of all foreign contingents and special guests among whom Dr Pilar de Castillo, Spanish Minister for Sport.

During this ceremony, Jose Mateo Caneda, on behalf of the Spanish organisation committee, presented the symbolic blue flag to Louis Borg, Malta FISEC council director.

All contingents made an appointment for next year when the 56th edition will again be held in Malta.