The squash players earned Malta its first gold medals of the 2011 LieGames yesterday as both the men’s and women’s teams topped the round-robin competition at the Squash-house, in Vaduz.
Those two first-placings capped a memorable day for the Maltese Olympic Committee as at the end of the day our medals’ tally read – two gold, seven silver and five bronze.
The women’s team maintained their stranglehold in GSSE competition after beating Cyprus 3-0 in the morning session to secure first place with a match to spare.
The girls then finished the day with a perfect record after seeing off Liechtenstein in their re-maining match.
Against Cyprus, Theresa Brousson put the team on their way when she beat Femke Ellens 3-1 while Annabelle Olivieri Munroe earned the second point with a comfortable 3-0 win over Christina Vrahimi. Diane Desira wrapped the win when she outclassed Vaso Hambides 3-0.
With the gold medal secured, coach Ivan Balzan opted to rest Olivieri Munroe and Brousson and roped in Johanna Rizzo and Colette Sultana.
That change left little effect though as the Maltese cruised to a 3-0 win to end the tournament on a high.
In the men’s competition, Malta beat Andorra 4-1 in the morning session to set up a mouth-watering finale against hosts Liechtenstein.
With Malta enjoying a superior points’ difference over the hosts, they needed to win just eight sets from their five matches to clinch gold.
Carl Camilleri looked set to win his opener against Oliver Stahl when he surged to a 2-1 lead but lost the remaining two sets to hand Liechtenstein the first point.
Mark Lupi then suffered a 3-0 defeat to Davey Finlay but Daniel Zammit Lewis lifted Malta when he outclassed Peter Maier 3-0.
With two matches to go, Malta now required just three sets but their hopes were hampered by a shin injury to Joseph Desira who was forced to quit after losing the first set to Linus Schnarwiler.
Malta’s hopes now rested on top player Brad Hindle Deguara and the world no.83 did not let the team down as he crushed Marcel Rothmund 3-0 and the mission was completed.
Hours after the match, Liechtenstein lodged a protest as they contended Malta had infringed the rules when they fielded an injured player who had to aban-don his match. Their complaint will be heard this morning.
The gold medal won by the women’s team is the third successive in these Games after 1999 and 2003. Brousson, Rizzo and Olivieri Munroe played for the country in those editions.
Malta squash president Liz Said said: “We have worked hard in the build-up to these Games and here we got the dividends we desired.
“It’s not easy to remain at the top for so many years... so all credit to the players.”
MOC president Lino Farrugia Sacco described Hindle Deguara as a ‘diamond’ in the Maltese contingent.
“Brad was a providential addition to our team,” he said.
“Today he showed great skills in leading his team-mates to achieve such an outstanding result. He is an example to all others and our country should be proud to have him playing for us.
“I would like to congratulate the squash officials and players for a fine display and hopefully they will extend their success to the singles events.”
Protest not upheld
Chef-de-mission Mark Cutajar wore a broad smile on his face as he met up with Maltese journalists covering the Games for an end-of-day round-up.
Team Malta are on course to meet expectations, he said.
“At the moment our position is better than we had anticipated,” he said.
“This has been an outstanding day of sport for our country and the efforts of the squash teams, in particular, should be singled out for special mention.
“We shall also return home with two historic medals in men’s swimming and competitions in the pool are not over yet.
“Surprisingly, the beachvolley girls are also in contention for a medal here in their first GSSE participation.”
Turning on another aspect of the Games, Cutajar criticised David Millar for his last-minute forfeit that left a negative impact on the cycling team.
“Our cyclists were looking at Millar as a source of inspiration here but felt they were let down after he promised to join them for the Games,” he said.
Meanwhile, the MOC an-nounced that the protest against the result of the women’s 100m in athletics was unsuccessful. Diane Borg, who broke the national record in the race, will have to be happy with the silver medal she won in Schaan.
“Unfortunately, our official complaint was not upheld even though we felt we had a good case,” Cutajar conceded.
“The positive thing is that there are more events for us to make up for that partial upset and not only in athletics.
“Diane Borg, Kevin Moore and Lisa Bezzina will be chasing more medals at the track and in other sport we’re expecting a strong response from William Vella at the shooting range.
“There are two competitive days still to go with more exciting moments and achievements coming up for Team Malta.”