Almost all members of Team Malta have arrived on the Gold Coast and are settling into life at the XXI Commonwealth Games Athlete’s Village ahead of the opening ceremony which will be held tomorrow at the Carrara Stadium in Queensland.
Benefitting from an earlier arrival, to ward off jet lag symptoms, Maltese athletes have already settled into a training routing and familiarising themselves with the facilities and getting used to the general atmosphere in Australia.
“Team Malta are settling in nicely and are now enjoying the state of the art facilities that have been set up for these Games,” Paul Sultana, Team Malta’s Chef de Mission said.
“Malta is looking forward to be part of eleven days of world-class sporting competition. Team spirit is very high and we are positive that our athletes will be giving their all in the coming days.”
The Official Welcome ceremony is scheduled for today at the Athletes’ Village and will also be attended by Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his delegation.
Young wrestler Gary Giordimaina will be Malta’s flag bearer during tomorrow’s opening ceremony.
Team Malta will be competing in eight disciplines, namely athletics, cycling, gymnastics, lawn bowls, shooting, squash, weightlifting and wrestling.
Malta will be first in action on Thursday when the squash and lawn bowls competitions get underway.
In squash, Daniel Zammit Lewis will be up against Klaus Pragassen, of the Seychelles, in the men’s singles.
In the women’s tournament, Dianne Kellas takes on Faiza Zafar, of Pakistan, while Colette Sultana plays Canada’s Samantha Hennings.
In lawn bowls, Connie Leigh Rixon, Rebecca Rixon, Rosemary Rixon and Sharon Callus play their first matches in the women’s four competition after they were drawn in Group B alongside England, Northern Ireland, Fiji and India.
Brendan Aquilina and Shaun Parnis will be competing in the men’s pairs where they were pitted against Australia, Canada, Guernsey and Brunei.
The Maltese delegation is being led by the Malta Olympic Committee (MOC) president Julian Pace Bonello and secretary general Joseph Cassar.