Sprinters rush to gold at Marsa

Javelin thrower Edwin Zammit and upcoming sprinters Jeandre Mallia and Charlene Attard yesterday scooped three other gold medals for Malta at the Marsa athletics stadium as individual competitions for track and field came to a close at around noon in scorching sunshine.

The gold medals came on the fourth day of the 56th FISEC Games which come to a close today with various finals in all nine sport contested.

Mallia and Attard flashed home in impressive style in the 200m races while Zammit finished first ahead of France's Clement Mereeron (53.23m) with a throw of 54.75m.

Attard, an Intermediates Category athlete and winner of two other gold medals on Wednesday, won the 200m in 25.54, finishing ahead of French girl Jennifer Aumonde and Malta's Lara Scerri (26.36).

Mallia, of Pembroke, established a new personal best time for 200m after winning his race in 22.57. On Wednesday, he was second in the 100m behind Pierre Andre Denis, of France.

There were four other silver medals for Maltese athletes at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium yesterday.

Lorna Mifsud was second in the 800m race in 2:27.98 and, in 3,000m, Joelle Cortis and Nathan Vella were runners-up in 11:20.44 and 9.29.10 respectively. The other silver medal was claimed by the 4x100m girls' quartet. Scerri, Attard, Diane Borg and Maxine Gauci covered the distance in 49.85.

The medals tally in athletics was further complimented by the third-place finishes of Kurt Scerri (1,500m steeplechase - 5:07.50), Luke Cassar (3,000m - 9:36.20) and Matthew Crocker (400m - 53.22) besides that of Scerri in the 200m race.

Tomorrow's last day of competition is reserved for the team event with the first race scheduled for 10.30 a.m.

Meanwhile, the boys' handball team drew some consolation yesterday after three successive upsets by beating Portugal 14-13 to earn a bronze medal.

In tennis, Bradley Callus and Steffi Sullivan settled for a silver medal after losing the Mixed Doubles final to a Dutch pair 6-2 3-6 6-0.

At St Aloysius, goals from Dylan Zarb and Ben Camilleri helped Malta beat Spain B 2-1 in the semi-final.

Results

Basketball: (boys) Malta vs Portugal 90-58 (Malta fifth); France vs Spain B 90-50. (Girls) Austria vs Spain B 38-63; Portugal vs Hungary 47-90; France vs Spain A 78-32; Flanders vs Malta 81-44 (Malta in play-off for third place).

Handball: (boys) Portugal vs Malta 13-14. (Girls) Hungary vs Malta 10-9.

Football: Flanders vs Netherlands 6-0; Malta vs Spain B 2-1; Britain vs Spain A 2-0.

Futsal: Spain B vs Spain A 3-6.

Volleyball: (girls) UK vs Spain B 3-0; Spain A vs Malta 0-3. (Boys) Portugal vs Flanders 0-3; Malta vs Spain 1-3.

Today's Fixtures

Athletics (Marsa): Team competition. Start: 9 a.m.

Basketball (Savio College, boys): Positional play-offs at 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. Final: 4.30 p.m.

Basketball (Corradino, girls) Positional play-offs at 9.30 a.m., 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. Final: 4.30 p.m.

Football (St Aloysius): Positional play-off at 10 a.m. 3/4th place play-off at 3 p.m. Final 5 p.m Malta vs Britain.

Futsal (De La Salle): Final 10.30 a.m. Malta vs Portugal.

Handball (University): 9.30 a.m. girls final Portugal vs Netherlands. 11 a.m. boys final Spain vs France.

Swimming (Tal-Qroqq): Team competition. Start: 9.30 a.m.

Table-Tennis (St Aloysius): Finals 9.30 a.m.-12.30 p.m.

Volleyball (Cottonera SC): Positional play-offs at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. Final: 4.30 p.m. (Court 2).