Psaila still confident MOC will reach medal target

MOC Director of Sport and GSSE chef-de-mission Pippo Psaila yesterday morning shrugged off suggestions that Team Malta's results had fallen short of expectations in the opening two days of competition.

Malta had 13 medals in the bag before the start of yesterday's events, of which only two were gold, and according to Psaila the MOC was still on course to reach the objectives set prior to Monaco 2007.

"We are on the right track to achieve our pre-set targets," he said. "We expected 12 medals in the opening two days of competition and, up to that stage, we went one better. If you had to compare our performance with that of Andorra two years ago, we are more or less on a par after two days of competition, not only in terms of numbers but also in colour."

"I believe Team Malta will finish with a total close to 37 medals which would be very near to our projections," added Psaila who, prior to the Games, had predicted a haul of 39 medals.

"The bulk of the medals should arrive on Saturday (tomorrow) where we may collect at least 15 in athletics, sailing and table tennis."

Psaila said the chances of winning two gold medals in sailing improved considerably with the news that Team Malta had won a protest against Edouard Franconeri who ranks among the favourites. The Monaco sailor committed an infringement during Wednesday's fourth race.

"Sean Borg is now virtually in a gold medal position. If things stay the same and our sailors maintain their focus till the end, we could well finish with two gold and two silver medals by the end of the last race."

Psaila noted that the level of competition in Monaco is higher than the previous two editions of the Games. He also claimed that the Maltese athletes have scaled the levels expected of them.

"If you had to analyse the quality of competition in the various sport here, you'll notice a better level in all aspects," Psaila said.

"In swimming, for instance, several Games records have been established here, while in table tennis, most of the countries have presented stronger teams than they had in Andorra.

"We were right in our decision to implement stringent MQS's before announcing the squad. Such is the quality of competition here that even if other athletes had achieved the very high standards we set, it would still not have been enough for them to figure among the winners.

"We do not have the resources and facilities of some of the other countries in the GSSE. Also, athletes in most of the other GSSE countries can travel to neighbouring countries and compete in top-level events on a regular basis."