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Games of Small States of Europe Bronze Medalist, Isaac Bezzina, has made his comeback to Judo with a bang. Isaac had suffered quite a big injury off the judo mat last year and had to operate his cruciate ligaments, which kept him away from Judo for months.  He started rehab in January, and in July he was back on the tatami (judo mat), adamant to make it to the top as soon as possible. Few weeks ago, accompanied by father and coach Alex Bezzina, Bezzina spent a week training at the Olympic Training Centre of Malaga, where he had the opportunity to have several randori (free style training) with top athletes from over 19 countries.

The first competition on his program was nothing less than the Commonwealth Judo Championships in Jaipur, India.

The Senior -100kgs was contested by 4 athletes. Originally more athletes were fielded in, but due to the big visa problems in India, some athletes did not make it.

Isaac’s first match was against Sri Lanka’s Bejjara Gadara. The Sri Lankan took by surprise the Maltese in the first seconds and scored a wazari (1 point), however immediately Bezzina took control of the contest and threw the Sri Lankan with a massive Tani-otoshi (valley drop), landing his opponent bang on his back, thus scoring Ippon (full points) and winning the fight.

The second match was against the host country’s judo star, Avtar Singh, bronze medallist at the Asian Open. Bezzina opened the contest with a massive Ura-nage (rear sacrifice technique), but Avtar managed to turn and land on his face, thus giving no score to Bezzina. A minute later, came an attack from Avtar, with an unorthodox technique –  a variation of an ura nage – [...]

Archery association of Malta
International Competitions

A contingent from the Archery Association of Malta participated in two consecutive international tournaments between the 18 October and 4 November. The team, which had been selected and training during the summer months, competed in three different categories and was composed as follows:

Compound Men: Daniel Schembri, Patrick Zammit, Ryan Zammit.
Recurve Women: Michelle Abela.
Recurve Junior Men: Jeremy Bartolo.
Head Coach: John Schembri.

During the International Indoor Tournament in Messkirch, Germany, the team performed to high standards against very stiff competition with the following scores: Daniel Schembri 559, Patrick Zammit 557, Ryan Zammit 542, whilst Michelle Abela 548 and Jeremy Bartolo 493 placed first and second in their respective categories.

Barely ten days later the same team was off again to compete in the Cyprus International Outdoor Tournament which was shot at 70m and 50m under very challenging conditions with very strong, gusty winds. The whole team again rose to the occasion with our Compound archers (D. Schembri/P. Zammit/R. Zammit) winning Silver in the Compound Men Team event against very strong teams from Greece and Cyprus whilst our Recurve archers (M. Abela/J. Bartolo) took Bronze in the Recurve Mixed Team event. In the individual matches, Ryan Zammit managed to beat the number one seed but was eliminated in the subsequent match.

The Archery Association of Malta is very satisfied that its policy of preparing and exposing its promising and dedicated archers to high level international competition is bearing good results. This work and commitment will continue under the guidance of John Schembri (Head Coach) who is also planning and implementing the Archery Association’s technical and competitive schedule for the coming year.

On Sunday 4th November 2018 Assocjazzjoni Sport Muturi u Karozzi is to launch the first event of the 2018/2019 Autocross National Championship sponsored by Pasta Poiatti. All the cars activities will be run at the ASMK Sports Complex in Ta’ Qali. The first race starts at noon.

Currently the finishing touches are being carried out on the Autocross tracks which are needed year after year following the maintenance tasks taken in recent months. The project required on the track includes a number of interventions mainly re-building the tyres barrier along the one kilometer and a half long course as an important safety measure for the competitors while in action. The spectator areas are also revitalized thus enrichening the view of the whole complex. In addition, the work done on the track included re-construction of alternative routes so cars can be raced in two directions from the start of this championship.

Meanwhile on Sunday 28th October the 2018/2019 National Trials Championship was launched at the quarry in Fawwara limits of Siggiewi. The Association wish to thank Barbros Ltd. for allowing us to organize these types of Trials events on their property.

During the first activity we have seen a situation where in Class A, Rowen Bonello on a Beta and Antonio Leonardi on a Gas Gas motorcycle made a very good start ahead of Damon Bonello on a TRS bike. The situation in this class changed after the second section of events where Damon managed to make Clean passes in number three, four and fifth sections and  changed the final classification. Damon Bonello won this first event with only 16 penalty points on his new bike. Leonardi is placed 2nd with 21 points while Rowen Bonello had to [...]

On Saturday 20 October 2018, the Malta Air Rifle and Pistol Shooting Club held competitions in both Air Pistol and Air Rifle disciplines, at the Larry Vella Hall indoor range in Bidnija.  In both events the shooters had to shoot 60 shots in 1hr 15minutes.

Air Pistol

The winner of the 10m Air Pistol event was Eleanor Bezzina, she had a very strong perfromance and broke her own record and scored 580 from 600 points classifying the new national record.  She was followed by Stephen Vassallo with 546 points and in third place Antoine Attard with 540 points.

Air Rifle

The winner of the 10m Air Rifle event was Gianluca Azzopardi Spiteri with 584.1 from 654 points, in second place Alison Formosa 575.4 points and in third place Isaac Zammit with 571.4 points.

Lawrence Darmanin Challenge Cup Presentation

The Malta Air Rifle and Pistol Shooting Club (MARPSC) held their presentation for the winners of the Lawrence Darmanin Challenge Cup for 2017-18.  This Challenge Cup awards the best shooters during their overall performance of the season.  This Challenge Cup is in honour of the late President of MARPSC Lawrence Darmanin who had a great passion and worked hard for target shooting.

Mr Angelo Galea, Secretary of the Malta Shooting Sport Federation announced the winners.  In the Air Pistol discipline, the winner was Eleanor Bezzina, followed by Stephen Vassallo and Raymond Cacciattolo.

In the Air Rifle discipline, the winner was Alison Formosa, followed by Michael Xuereb and William Vella.

Eleanor Bezzina and Alison Formosa were the overall winners who were presented with the Shield.

The tropies and shields were presented by Mrs Josianne Darmanin, widow of late Lawrence Darmanin.

Il-Ħadd li għadda ingħata bidu għall-kampjonat Malti tat-table football.  Dan il-kampjonat jiġi organiżżat mill-M.T.F.S.A.

Dan il-kampjonat li jintlagħab fuq bażi individwali, hu maqsum f’żewġ diviżjonijiet, dik tal-Premier u tal-Ewwel Diviżjoni.

Dan l-istaġun, il-kampjonat ser jintlagħab fuq sitt iħdud. Il-ġranet l-oħra huma is-27 ta’ Jannar 2019, is-17 ta’ Frar 2019, is-17 ta’ Marzu 2019, is-7 ta’ April 2019 u bl-aħħar ġurnata tintlagħab fis-26 ta’ Mejju 2019.

Il-kampjonat ser ikun qed jintlagħab fis-sala tal-każin tal-Banda San Ġorġ f’Bormla.

Il-logħob jibda fit-8.30am u jispiċċa fis-2.00pm.

Il-pubbliku mħeġġeġ jattendi għal dawn il-logħbiet u d-dħul hu mingħajr ħlas.

Maltese League kick-off 2018/19

Last Sunday was the first day of the local league of Table Football Season 2018/19.  This individual league is organised by the MTFSA, and it will be divided in two categories, the Premier and the First division.

The league will be spread over 6 Sundays. The other match days will be on the 27th of January 2019, 17th of February 2019, 17th of March 2019, 7th of April 2019 and the last match will be on the 26th of May 2019.

This event is going to be held at St. George’s Band Club in Cospicua between 8.30am and 2.00pm. The public is invited to attend. Free entrance.