Malta’s contingent for the Olympic Games left the islands yesterday ahead of tomorrow night’s opening ceremony at Rio’s Maracana stadium.
The Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC) delegation is headed by president Julian Pace Bonello and general secretary Joe Cassar.
The group also included five of the seven athletes that will represent the country at the Games – Charlotte Wingfield and Luke Bezzina, from track and field, weightlifter Kyle Micallef and swimmers Andrew Chetcuti and Nicola Muscat.
Shooters William Chetcuti and Eleonor Bezzina made the trans-Atlantic trip to Brazil last weekend and have already conducted training sessions at the Deodoro Olympic Park shooting centre which is situated to the west of Rio de Janeiro.
“We are looking forward to our participation in the Games,” Pace Bonello told The Times of Malta.
“Our athletes for Rio all had very good preparations and we are hopeful that they return home with satisfactory results.
“We have set the athletes an objective of a personal best result in Rio or even a national record in their respective sport.
“As regards William Chetcuti, we are banking on him to produce his best and, perhaps, improves on his eighth placing in the 2008 Games in Beijing. That was his best placing ever.”
Andrew Chetcuti will carry the Maltese flag tomorrow. The swimming sprinter will lead the MOC contingent of officials and athletes during the march past.
Bezzina, meanwhile, will be the first Maltese athlete in action at the Games when the target shooter competes in the 10m air pistol on Sunday afternoon.
William Chetcuti gets his Double Trap campaign going next Wednesday. The qualifying rounds of the competition start at around 2pm (Malta time).
The 31-year-old marksman travelled to Brazil in great form after winning the ISSF World Cup shoot, in Baku, in June.
That result added more pressure on Chetcuti with expectations high that next week he can secure a top-six position and a place in the semi-finals.
Four years ago in the London Olympics, Chetcuti just missed out on a place in the finals by two clays. He was eventually classified ninth overall.