[attach id=257626 size="medium"]Grant Kritzinger[/attach]

Andrew Chetcuti has been one of the positive stories for Team Malta at the Luxembourg GSSE.

The US-based 20-year-old was the only swimmer representing the country at the Arena D’Coque pool but still succeeded in winning a medal in each of the three events he raced.

He started off with a bronze in the 100m freestyle before claiming two silver medals in the 100m butterfly and the 50m freestyle, setting two new national records and a personal best on the way.

The outcome left a good effect on Chetcuti’s coach Grant Kritzinger who, however, is not resting on his laurels and is already targeting a high objec-tive... qualification to next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Kritzinger, who represented South Africa when still active as a swimmer, said the Luxembourg GSSE was a launchpad for Chetcuti’s international career.

“I was happy to see Andrew performing so well. We took to these Games with one sole target – three medals – and he achieved that goal,” Kritzinger told The Sunday Times of Malta.

“He has also improved his personal best times in all three races so you can’t ask for more.

“Obviously, there is always a disappointment to have missed out on a gold medal as you always race to win but we should all be happy with his results here. Luxembourg and Iceland fielded strong teams in these competitions.

“They told me it is the first time that a Maltese male swimmer has won three medals in the same GSSE. Perhaps, next time we will return home with a few golds.”

Now that the Games are over, Kritzinger, who first linked up with Chetcuti in Dubai five years ago, is already targeting other objectives, starting with the World Cham-pionships in Barcelona this summer.

More importantly, however, he wants Chetcuti to obtain ‘A’ qualifying time for next year’s Commonwealths.

“We shall soon start preparations for the worlds,” Kritzinger said.

“However, our best hope should be the Commonwealth Games. We have just found out that Chetcuti is just 0.3 seconds away from the 50m free qualifying limit. He’s also 0.5 seconds from making the cut to the 100m butterfly as well so I think it’s something within our reach.”

Kritzinger sounded surprised that Malta only had one swimmer in Luxembourg.

“To be honest, I could not understand what happened. I told the MOC official here that it is extremely important for the development of the sport to introduce more swimmers to international competitions.

“Even if the MQSs were not reached, young swimmers should have competed here just the same as that is the only way for them to grow in their sport. If Malta wants a more competitive team for 2015 or 2017 that is the only way forward.”

Kritzinger has his own club in South Africa where he colla-borates with a few renowned swimmers such as Cameron Van der Burgh, a former Olympic champion, among others.

“I would love to give a helping hand to swim sport in Malta,” Kritzinger said.

“In fact, I’ve already offered to have some top swimmers from my country to visit Malta. That way, Maltese swimmers can draw some inspiration and gather more experience during joint training sessions we can arrange.

“Moreover, I will gladly accept to be involved in other similar initiatives to help swim sport flourish in Malta.”

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