Emanuel Schembri achieved a qualifying quota for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi after lifting a total of 270kg during the 32nd tournament for European small nations which was held recently in Limassol, Cyprus.
Schembri was making part of Malta A as the Malta Weightlifting Association fielded two teams for an international tournament for the first time.
The other countries involved were Greece, Cyprus, Iceland, Luxemburg, San Marino, Wales, Scotland and England. In all, there were 12 women lifters and 39 men.
In the Open there was fierce competition with eventual winners Greece being followed by Cyprus and Iceland. In the tournament for small nations, the team section was won by Cyprus. Iceland were second and Luxembourg third.
Malta A was composed of Schembri, Noel Colerio, Clint Grech and Steve Borg.
Schembri achieved his feat in a confident manner. In fact, he only needed the second attempt of the Clean and Jerk to reach his goal.
He lifted 114kg in Snatch before improving the Clean and Jerk national record by 2kgs (now standing at 156kgs).
This also means that Schembri now holds the total record for the 105+kg category.
His participation in Delhi has to be approved by the MOC.
Grech also had a creditable showing after lifting a personal best in Clean and Jerk, 117kgs, and totalling 200kgs.
Borg regained his previous form by lifting 86kgs in Snatch. He then clean and jerked 111kgs. Coleiro lifted 97kgs in Snatch and 135kgs in Clean and Jerk.
Cleaven Cutajar, Rodmar Pulis and Christian Saliba represented Malta B in the Open tournament.
For Cutajar, this was his first international show. However, notwithstanding the pressure, he looked confident in all his six lifts.
Pulis, the youngest in the team at 15 years of age, continued to show improvement as Saliba totalled 594 points, a satisfactory result for a reserve team lifter.
Meanwhile, the Malta Weight-lifting Association delegates in Cyprus took the opportunity to establish new links with other federations and also to promote the Mediterranean Cup which will be held on our shores in October.
Also, they did their homework well as the hosting rights for the next small nations tournament, in 2013, were handed to Malta after the bidding process was over.
Jesmond Caruana, association president, passed his exams as Category 1 referee. Mark Pirotta assisted the lifters in their build-up and David Saliba refereed some of the events in Limassol.