Malta's top wrestler Abraham Vassallo was recently named Wrestler of the Year for 2003, an award sponsored by British Airways.

Vassallo has now been declared best performer of the year for a fifth consecutive time.

He had a fine season in 2003 winning a gold medal at the Grand Prix Sicilia in Palermo and a second placing a few days later in the Gran Prix of Termini Imeresi.

A couple of weeks earlier, Vassallo was second in the International Tournament for Nations organised by the Italian Wrestling Federation, also in Termini Imeresi. He had also placed fourth in a pre-Mediterranean Games tournament in Almeria, Spain.

Vassallo crowned these excellent performances by winning the gold medal at the 2003 Championships for Small Countries held in Malta.

Young Jason Zammit, on the other hand, got the Ghaqda Kittieba Sports award for the most promising wrestler.

In 2003, Zammit won a silver medal in an international tournament held in Krubeike, Belgium, from a field of 12 promising competitors hailing from Europe, the United States and Asia. He had won his group and the semi-final bout before conceding defeat in the final.

At the International Tournament for Nations in Termini Imeresi he took bronze but two weeks later he struck gold in the Grand Prix Sicilia and a silver medal at the Grand Prix Sicilia in Termini Imeresi.

Zammit had also placed first at the International Friendship Tournament organised by the Malta University Amateur Wrestling Club.