Malta captured two medals in the swimming events on the opening day of the 61st FISEC Games in Algarve, Portugal yesterday.

Andrew Chetcuti won silver in the 200m freestyle after clocking 2:01.12. Chetcuti's time was a new national record on short course.

Malta's other medal winner in the 25-metre pool in Lagos was Robert Micallef who finished third in the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:59.60.

Both Micallef and Chetcuti were presented with the medals by FISEC international vice-chairman Louis Borg.

Two other short-course national records were set by Maltese swimmers yesterday. Daniel Galea posted a time of 31.74 seconds in the 50m breaststroke while Chetcuti managed 24.96 seconds in the 50m free.

In track and field events, Jeremy Borg finished fifth in the long jump final with a best leap of 6.32 metres.

Clayton Scheldon, Luca Pace and Annalise Vassallo all qualified for the 200m final while Marija Sciberras booked a place in the 300m hurdles final with a time of 48.26 seconds. Ylenia Lapira, Vassallo, Pace and Scheldon also took part in the 100m heats semi-finals but failed to progress.

In the high jump event, Chloe Gambin cleared 1.50 metres. Bertrand Sant and Christian Luke Chetcuti found the going tough in the 800m race.

In the table tennis team competition, Malta A were beaten by Holland 3-0 before beating Malta B 3-0. Malta B also lost to Portugal 3-0 earlier in the day.

In the doubles competition, Andrea and Marcus Portelli suffered defeats at the hands of France A, Portugal B and Holland while James Dawson and Chris Attard were beaten by Portugal A, France B and Portugal C.

Meanwhile, the FISEC delegates yesterday chose the French city of Tours as host of next year's Games.