Malta to play for bronze after Iceland defeat
Malta 58Iceland 84(13-23, 13-23, 15-18, 17-20)\nThe Malta women's national team yesterday conceded their first defeat in the group phase of the Promotion Cup in Andorra after they lost to Iceland 84-58 in their last qualifier of the round-robin...
Malta 58
Iceland 84
(13-23, 13-23, 15-18, 17-20)
\nThe Malta women's national team yesterday conceded their first defeat in the group phase of the Promotion Cup in Andorra after they lost to Iceland 84-58 in their last qualifier of the round-robin stage.
Malta finished second in Group A behind winners Iceland with seven points. Today they will contest the play-off for the bronze medal when facing Armenia.
Josephine Grima was Malta's top scorer yesterday with 18 points. Sandra Schembri Wismayer potted 16.
For the national team, the upset to Iceland was the first since Santino Coppa took over the reins of the national team along with Carlo Farrugia two years ago.
However, even if they fail to beat Armenia today, the girls will still have managed their best-ever placing in the Promotion Cup besides making it to the qualifying phase of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Reports from Andorra said Iceland were too good for Malta especially in the first part of the match which saw them taking a 46-26 lead at the break. The Maltese improved considerably after the interval but the deficit at that stage was too big to hope for a comeback.