Another year has gone by and now is the time for athletes and all those involved in sports to look back and plot a graph of the ups and downs of their respective disciplines.

Some athletes have indeed revelled in success. The majority of others had to endure a season plagued by injuries and heart-breaking defeats.

I shall not attempt to give a detailed year in review, lest I forget some worthy performance which the media has overlooked such as the success obtained by our weightlifting squad. The Malta weightlifting team has not even been short-listed for the upcoming Sportivi Nazzjonali Awards.

The World Cup, held in Asia for the first time, made all sorts of headlines. Brazil claimed their fifth title and South Korea made it to the semi-finals, albeit thanks to some controversial refereeing which helped Guus Hiddink's team become the first Asian nation to make the last four.

In Malta, the national football team has yet to strike a golden result in a match that really matters.

Sigi Held's men may have triumphed in the last Rothmans Tournament held at Ta' Qali earlier this year and scored some impressive victories in meaningless friendlies, but they have yet to achieve a positive result in a qualifying match.

Meanwhile, less and less supporters are bothering to venture to watch the national side in action. The crisis is begging to be addressed and a state of the art stand will do little to solve the problem.

Manchester proudly hosted the Commonwealth Games and a Maltese athlete stepped onto the podium after a 12-year absence to claim our second ever bronze medal at such high-level games.

An unknown youngster in the international circuit, William Chetcuti, baffled the world's top professional shooters with his cool approach in the Double Trap competition.

His resilience coupled with a right frame of mind in moments when others would crack, led the Maltese shooter to a bronze medal ahead of some of the world's professional shooters. This is undisputedly the best result for Malta in 2002.

Chetcuti deserves to be showered with praise even though he dislikes being in the limelight and prefers fixing his gaze in the path of two projecting clays on a shooting range.

Equally impressive was the result obtained by our national waterpolo team in Sweden. Led by Dirk Dowling, a Maltese coach who fully understands the difficulties and limitations our players have to face, the team stormed to third place in the European B Championships.

The performance maintained the momentum registered in Manchester in the Commonwealth Championships and Malta has now rightly stamped its mark on the European scene.

Unfortunately, this success was somehow jaded by the rift within the national association which threatened to destabilise one of Malta's most consistent disciplines.

Sensible administrators do not grow on trees and any federation should do its utmost to cling on to a group of hard working officials who dedicate priceless time in the administration and management of national sporting bodies.

The national rugby team also deserves a place among the newsmakers of Maltese sport. There is a sense of enthusiasm in the Maltese camp which has redefined rowdy support on the terraces.

Following a promotion to a stronger pool of nations, our sturdy warriors registered another two impressive victories against Lithuania and Austria to end the year on a high.

This is not meant to be an Oscars review and all performances embedded in the Olympic ideal of citius, altius fortius should be commended. As long as athletes take to the field of play determined to give their utmost and possibly improve their personal best, then all results deserve a prominent display.

Small federations may struggle to survive but again their athletes have defied the odds by achieving impressive results in international competitions.

Archery, darts, weightlifting, freestyle wrestling, squash, judo, triathlon, handball, gymnastics and snooker have all done us proud away from our shores. More infrastructure, a healthier sports budget and a more professional approach to management will yield more promising results.

The wish list

There never seems to be a limit tagged on to my wish list and any daring genie will have a daunting task to please me. Well, here it goes again:

¤ Malta placing third in the medals' table in the forthcoming GSSE.

¤ The Maltese football team beats Cyprus on June 7, 2003 at the National Stadium in the Euro 2004 qualifier.

¤ A retractable roof for our national swimming pool.

¤ The introduction of a sports lottery.

¤ Headquarters for every national association in Malta.

¤ A canopy at the Marsa Athletics Track.

¤ A healthier sporting mentality at University.

¤ Hundreds of athletes participating in the Olympic Fun Run.

¤ An injury free-season for all athletes.

Genie my foot! Common sense and a solid drive should suffice to implement all of my wishes. A happy new year to you all.