Chetcuti gets MOC's nod to carry Maltese flag

William Chetcuti has been chosen to carry the Maltese flag at Friday's opening ceremony of the Athens Games.

Announcing the MOC's decision to hand this honour to the young Double Trap shooter, regarded as Malta's best hope for an Olympic medal, Lino Farrugia Sacco, the MOC president, stressed that the process leading to the selection of the contingent's flag-bearer takes into consideration several factors.

"Each of the seven athletes in our Olympic contingent will have harboured hopes of carrying Malta's flag at the opening ceremony," he told a news conference prior to the departure of the remaining members of Malta's delegation to Athens yesterday.

"The athlete's form, age and various other aspects are taken into account. Our choice has fallen on Chetcuti. We all know that he has enormous potential and his nomination as flag-bearer should constitute an added psychological boost before the Games.

"Tanya Blake's achievement in attaining a qualifying time for the 800m at the Athens Games is also worthy of a special mention as this was the first time that a Maltese had earned the right to compete in the Olympics."

The mood in the MOC clan is one of cautious optimism. This positive attitude not only stems from the encouraging results obtained by Chetcuti, the current world junior record holder in Double Trap, and Blake, but also by the marked improvement registered by Maltese sport in recent years.

"This really is an excellent period for our sport," the MOC president enthused. "Thanks to the contribution of one and sundry, these last eight years have seen an upturn in the results achieved by Maltese in international competitions."

An Italian newspaper has recently included Chetcuti among the leading favourites for a gold medal in Double Trap in Greece.

The MOC president said: "There is no doubt that he is well prepared for these Games and has got a realistic chance of doing well. The lad could make an impact but we are also confident that the others in our squad will also reach their objectives."

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco revealed that apart from the annual funds the MOC receives from the authorities, an additional grant of Lm20,000 has been made available by the Minister of Finance to help the MOC cover part of the costs of participation in Athens.

Louis Galea, the Minister for Education, Youth and Employment who is also responsible for sport, said he was honoured to be associated with this exciting period for our sport.

"My message to the Maltese athletes at the Athens Games is to do their best. The whole nation is behind them," Dr Galea said.

MOC's bonus scheme: 8th place - Lm1,000; 7th - Lm2,000; 6th - Lm3,000; 5th - Lm4,000; 4th - Lm5,000; 3rd (bronze) Lm10,000; 2nd (silver) - Lm15,000; 1st (gold) Lm25,000.

Athletes' comments

Tanya Blake (athletics, 800m): "Four years ago, I just missed out on a qualifying time for Sydney. I seriously thought about quitting at the time. For the last four years, I have been single-minded and focused in my preparation for these Games.

"I never anticipated that I would represent Malta but I'm happy about it. I hope that more work is put in forthcoming years to have more Maltese qualifying directly for the Olympic Games in Beijing."

Marcon Bezzina (judo, 57kg): "Competing at the Olympics is a great personal honour... I'm only 18 years old. I trained hard for this important appointment to reach certain levels... I have just returned from a training camp in Rome where I practised three times daily.

"I had a slight problem to get to the my competition weight of 57kg as I normally stop the scales on 62kg."

Angela Galea (swimming, 100m 'fly): "For the past month, I trained with one of the best clubs in Italy and under the guidance of coach Maurizio Cocconi.

"Clocking my season's best time is what I am looking to achieve in Athens as my preparations for the Games have not been perfect due to a combination of academic commitments and technical difficulties after the delayed appointment of a national coach and the closure of the National Pool for a considerable period of time."