Malta ninth in athletics league
The European Athletics Team Championship Third League came to a close in Baku yesterday with Slovakia (458.5 pts) winning the title and earning promotion along with runners-up Austria, who finished a mere half-point behind the winners. Israel (439) and...
The European Athletics Team Championship Third League came to a close in Baku yesterday with Slovakia (458.5 pts) winning the title and earning promotion along with runners-up Austria, who finished a mere half-point behind the winners.
Israel (439) and Moldova (401) were also elevated to the second tier in European athletics.
Malta was classified ninth in a meeting that saw the participation of 14 nations. The national squad accumulated 243.5 points to finish behind Georgia (282 points) and just ahead of Montenegro (240 points) in the rankings.
The championship doubled up as the main athletics programme at the European Games which are currently being staged in the Azerbaijan capital.
The track and field meet concluded yesterday with the best results for Athletics Malta coming from Rebecca Camilleri and Charlotte Wingfield.
Camilleri leapt to a season best 6.38m to finish second in the women’s long jump, an event won by Jana Veldakova, of Slovakia, with 6.68 metres.
Wingfield ran the 200m race in a personal best time of 24.32 secs. She was fourth in her heat.
UK-based sprinter Wingfield was a whisker away from breaking the long-standing Maltese record in the 200m race which belongs to Diane Borg (24.15).
Day One on Sunday had yielded other positive results for the country, including two national records in women’s events.
Wingfield ran home in 11.69 seconds in the 100m race before teaming up with Janet Richard, Sarah Busuttil and Rachel Fitz in the 4x100m relay and sprinting home in an unprecedented 46.24 seconds.
There were other personal best performances by Maltese athletes yesterday.
Luke Bezzina was third in his 200m heat in 22.40secs and Ian Paul Grech cleared 14.22m in the triple jump. Bradley Mifsud threw his javelin 62.76m, the first time he had reached the distance.
Badminton results
Men’s singles: R. Maddaloni (Italy) bt S. Cali 2-0 (21-3, 21-10).
Women’s singles: S. Hognadottir (Iceland) bt F. Sadowski 21-17, 21-13.
Mixed: Bartusis/Fomkinaite (Lithuania) bt Cali/Sadowski 21-3, 21-6.