The Maltese contingent has started to trickle into Tokyo as Covid-19 regulations stipulate that athletes have been instructed to arrive no earlier five days prior to their competition and leave no later than two days after their event concludes.
Badminton player Matthew Abela was the first to arrive and has already training. He was followed by shooter Eleanor Bezzina and earlier on this morning swimmers Andrew Chetcuti and Sasha Gatt with their coach Artem Goncharenko arrived at the village. The remaining athletes are expected to arrive by the end of the week.
The tentative schedule for competitions are as follows:-
Sunday 25th July
Badminton
1240hrs Men’s Singles Matthew Abela vs Shi Yu Q (CHN)
Shooting
0900hrs 10m Air Pistol Qualifications Eleanor Bezzina
Swimming
2039hrs 400m Heats Sasha Gatt
Monday 26th July
Swimming
2032hrs 1500m heats Sasha Gatt
Tuesday 27th July
Weightlifting
1150hrs 64kgs Yazmin Zammit Stevens
Swimming
1900hrs 100m heats Andrew Chetcuti
Thursday 29th July
Shooting
0900hrs 25m Pistol Qualifications Eleanor Bezzina
Friday 30th July
Athletics
0900hrs 100m Heats Carla Scicluna
All above times are local and are subject to last minute changes
Chef de Mission Dr Lucienne Attard explained that although the strict measures in place have limited the interaction between athletes, this has not dampened the overall anticipation of competition and the spirit amongst the Maltese contingent is high.
The Opening Ceremony is scheduled to take place on Friday 23rd July at 2000hrs at the Olympic Stadium. The Maltese Flag will be carried by Shooter Eleanor Bezzina and Swimmer Andrew Chetcuti who both have competed in previous Olympic Games.
Times quoted above are local (Tokyo) times.
