Vassallo wins play-off bout for third place in Cyprus
Newcomers in Giordemaina's squad
Six wrestlers under the charge of coach Jesmond Giordemaina, have just represented Malta in an international tournament in Larnaca, Cyprus.
Except for Abraham Vassallo, the rest of the squad were junior wrestlers all making their baptism of fire in the senior categories.
Vassallo, Malta's leading wrestler, took part in the 84kg class along with Aidan Buhagiar.
After beating his compatriot, Vassallo lost on points to eventual gold medal winner Afshin Sarlak, of Iran. Vassallo made up for that upset by winning the play-off for bronze medal, beating David Sweeney, of Great Britain, on points.
Matthew Bonnici (55kg) lost by a fall to Briton Scott Gregory and Adam Vella (60kg) lost narrowly on points to an opponent from Syria.
David Zammit (60kg) suffered the same fate of losing on points, this time to a wrestler from Cyprus.
Andrea Saliba (66kg) got beaten on points by a British opponent.
As expected, Iran won the tournament with Great Britain preceding Malta by just one point in the classification for teams.