Malta’s aspirations of winning a medal in the pool at the Luxembourg GSSE took a blow yesterday after Times of Malta learnt that young swimmer Matthew Zammit pulled out of the Games because of injury.
Andy Colbourn, the Malta swimming coach, confirmed that Zammit suffered an injury during training and, following discussions with his coach John Rudd, it was decided that the Plymouth-based swimmer will not compete in the May 27-June 1 Games.
“It’s a shame that Matthew has had to pull out,” Colbourn said.
“He worked really hard to earn a place in the team for the Luxembourg Games and his qualification time was marginally outside the MQS set by the Maltese Olympic Committee.
“After speaking to his coach, we agreed that it would be better for Matthew to focus on his recovery.
“Once he regains his fitness he will step up his bid to qualify for this summer’s world championships in Barcelona.”
Zammit was due to represent Malta in two races in Luxembourg, the 100 metres and 50 metres freestyle.
His withdrawal leaves Malta with only one swimmer in its GSSE team, Andrew Chetcuti, who is scheduled to take part in the 100m and 50m freestyle events.