Malta’s athletes continued their campaign at the Mediterranean Games on Sunday, with competitors across taekwondo, bocce, shooting and wrestling, all taking to their respective arenas.. It was a day of mixed fortunes — marked by hard-fought contests against world-class opposition, a near-miss in shooting, and valuable experience gained for some of Malta’s youngest representatives on the senior international stage.
Taekwondo
17-year-old Alycia Cassar represented Malta in the Women’s -67kg taekwondo competition, where she faced Croatia’s highly experienced Ivana Arelic.
It was a challenging assignment for the young Maltese athlete against an established senior international competitor. Arelic’s recent achievements include gold at the 2025 European Club Championships and gold at the 2025 Croatia Open, alongside several other international podium finishes.
Croatia won the contest in two rounds. For Cassar, still only 17, the bout provided valuable experience against elite senior-level opposition as she continues her transition onto the international senior stage.
Bocce
In the morning, Stefan Farrugia played against former world champion and world record holder in raffa precision shooting Aurélien Corbihan (FRA). Corbihan dominated the supplementary phase, taking five of the seven ends and never conceding more than two points in a single end. Farrugia showed moments of resilience — winning the second end and posting his best end with 2 points in 6th end, but could not sustain the pressure against the French player. The decisive stretch came in ends 3 through 5, where Corbihan scored 6 consecutive unanswered points to effectively seal the match.
In the afternoon Farrugia played against World Champion Jacopo Frisoni (SMR) where Farrugia drew first blood in the opening supplementary end, however Frisoni responded emphatically. The San Marinese player reeled off three consecutive ends without conceding a single point, scoring 5 unanswered to close out a commanding victory. Frisoni’s precision in ends 2 and 3 — two points each — proved decisive.
Farrugia will now continue to play tomorrow in the men’s singles playoffs against Algeria’s Houssam Eddine Hamel.
Shooting
The morning session saw the final two qualifying rounds of the competition, with Malta’s André Cassar and Liam Sciberras each shooting 50 targets — mirroring the format of the previous day.
Despite a valiant effort, Cassar endured a heartbreaking finish, ending in 9th place with a total score of 116. He was level with Turkey’s Mustafa Sahin and France’s Casper Maine for the final qualifying spot but was eliminated via shoot off, missing out on a place in the Final by the narrowest of margins. Compatriot Liam Sciberras also competed well, finishing 12th with a score of 113.
Wrestling
Nico Zarb faced a strong Spanish opponent in his bout, with the contest ending 10–0 on technical superiority. His opponent later narrowly missed out on progressing from the semi-final, which meant that Zarb unfortunately did not have the opportunity to continue through the repechage.
On Monday, cyclists return to the road for the road race, with Aidan Buttigieg, Bernard Galea and Andrea Mifsud all taking on the Valle d’Itria Circuit.
In Badminton, Sam Cassar competes in the Men’s Singleswhile Martina Clark takes on Grammatoula Sotiliu (GRE) and Francesca Clark faces Gianna Stiglich Guzman (ITA) in the Women’s Singles.
In Bocce / Raffa, Stefan Farrugia goes up against Algeria’s Houssam Eddine Hamel.
