Medal should generate more interest in gymnastics - Michael Brown

Philip Caruana Turner's bronze medal on Thursday was one of the most pleasant surprises for Team Malta in Monaco.

Coming into the Games with the aim of gaining experience, the Maltese gymnasts fared better than expected as four of them qualified for individual finals, one of them going on to make the podium.

Boys' coach Michael Brown was still sporting a big smile on his face yesterday.

"The bronze medal is a huge satisfaction for our federation," Brown said. "We knew we stood an outside chance in either vault or floor exercise but Philip deserves special praise for this result... he produced a great display in vault.

"Jeremy Saywell was unlucky not to have finished among the top three. He performed a very difficult programme in the floor exercise and, in our opinion, the judges should have given him more credit."

Brown expects a boom in gymnastics following the feedback he has been getting.

"We expect more interest in the sport after our showing," he said.

"We exchanged views with other federations here and they told us most of their gymnasts benefit from government assistance to focus solely on their sport. We think it's high time the same happens in Malta.

"Our organisation owes much to the leading qualities of president Roberto de Santis and other coaches like Plamen Angelov, Matthew Lullet and Ginette Muscat. Perhaps, we also owe this medal to their sheer dedication and hard work."