Twenty-two athletes, from six different sport, will represent Malta in the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles starting tomorrow.
They will compete in athletics, aquatics, bowling, bocce, gymnastics and table tennis.
The delegation includes 12 coaches and Special Olympics Malta officials Elaine Bonnici and Anna Calleja.
The opening ceremony will be staged at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The star-studded show celebrates the true stars of the Games, the athletes of Special Olympics, and will feature entertainment, the athletes’ parade and the culmination of the final leg of the torch run and lighting of the Special Olympics cauldron.
For the next couple of weeks, Los Angeles will be hosting 7,000 Special Olympics athletes and 3,000 coaches from over 170 countries.
Some of the Maltese athletes in Los Angeles have already participated and won various medals in the previous World Games in Athens, Greece, in 2011.
These include Bugeja siblings Annemarie and Matthew, gold, silver and bronze medal winners in artistic gymnastics; Shanaia Xuereb, Charmaine Mifsud and Matthias Attard who won gold and silver medals in aquatics; Sarah Caruana, Jessica Dalli and Naomi Axisa, silver medallists in athletics; Philip Gruppetta and Natasha Bianchi, who won gold and bronze medals in bowling; and Yowanna Vassallo and Mark Agius, the bronze medallists in bocce.
At last year’s European Games in Antwerp, the Maltese team garnered 17 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze medals in all.
The aim of the Special Olympics World Games is to create awareness that leads to the acceptance and inclusion of all people with intellectual disabilities.
Special Olympics were founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968.
The squad
Athletics: Alec Falzon, Adam Pisani, Johnny Mamo, Charlene Magro, Jessica Dalli, Sarah Caruana, Naomi Axisa.
Aquatics: Matthias Attard, Jonathan Borg, Charmaine Mifsud, Shanaia Xuereb, Klara Zammit.
Gymnastics: Annemarie Bugeja, Natalie Galea, Matthew Bugeja, Enrique Xerry.
Bocce: Yowanna Vassallo, Mark Agius.
Bowling: Natasha Bianchi, Philip Gruppetta.
Table tennis: Christabel Borg, Warren Schembri.