Good results by Maltese swimmers

A fine tally of 15 medals, three gold, four silver and eight bronze, summed up a very respectable performance by the seven Maltese swimmers in the Luxembourg Open Swimming Championships held recently at the Grand Duchy state.

Neil Agius, Davina Mangion and the men's 4 x 200 metres relay squad won the gold medals, while Adrian Buttigieg, Kyle Scerri (2) and Roberta Callus took the silver medals.

The eight third placings went to Andrea and Neil Agius, Mangion (5) and the men's 4 x 100 relay team of Scerri, Quelin Zammit, Buttigieg and Neil Agius who set up a national record of 3 minutes 54.81 seconds.

Apart from this record there were several good performances which included personal bests by some of the boys and others which were a whisker away from the national marks.

The top swimmers from Luxembourg, and others from the Czech Republic and Moldova, besides the Maltese, took part in these championships.

All in all, this participation in the Luxembourg championships turned out to be a useful experience and a good test for the ASA team against one of our GSSE rivals next year.

The visit was made possible thanks to the help provided by the Ministry of Education, Papillon Caterers, Red Bull GMBH, Paul Target Ltd and the efforts of the ASA swimmers under Andy Colbourn.

Cardiff team in Malta

Eighteen swimmers from City of Cardiff SC, one of Britain's top swimming clubs, were in Malta last week for a training camp.

This is part of the British swimmers' programme in preparation for the forthcoming European juniors and seniors swimming championships in Palma de Mallorca and Budapest respectively.

The group of swimmers, under the charge of Dave Haller, included David Davies, the current 1,500 metres Commonwealth gold and Olympic bronze medallist. He is also the European record-holder with 14 minutes 45.95 seconds.

Davies is staying in Malta for a further two weeks as he is recovering from an injury sustained in Australia. He will be training regularly with the Maltese squad.

Thomas Haffield, a finalist in the 400 metres individual medley at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, also formed part of the group.

Haller, a coach of long-standing repute, is a frequent visitor to Malta with his swimmers from Cardiff.

The ideal conditions here and the familiarity with the set-up at the Tal-Qroqq National Swimming Complex, besides the connections with the chairman of the ASA Swimming Board Michael Gialanze, make for these regular work-outs on the island.