Our Olympics

Unfortunately, a miss is as good as a mile. This was the case for most of our athletes during the Chinese Olympics. William Chetcuti came third in the shoot-off which would have seen him qualify for the finals. His final position was 8^th, an improvement of his 2004 9^th position.

I equate the way Chetcuti missed the final barrage to a football team losing the semi-final tie on penalties. Well done William. Better luck next time.

We read that Marcon Bezzina put up a good fight in Judo, yet she lost her round. However she also did win in her own way. I still hear the echo of the Italian commentator on Rai, who during the opening ceremony said something in the sense that Marcon is one who stands a chance to bring the first ever medal to Malta. She didn’t, yet she made us all proud, seeing her carry our flag. Well done to Ryan Gambin, who despite failing to reach the semis, still managed to improve what was the national record in Swimming - Men’s 100m butterfly.

In my opening line, I referred to these Olympics as the Chinese Olympics. Apart from the obvious link, a look at the medals table, re-affirms this point. The Chinese are dominating the list. The awards came in various disciplines, like gymnastics, archery and swimming. The latter did surprise me, as I never thought that the Chinese were so good in this discipline. What didn’t surprise me was what I read earlier; i.e. “China's Communist Party newspaper hailed a resurgent Asia's medals' success as proof of historical and economic trends that were overturning "the old disparities" in sports competition.” Once it was the Soviet Union, today it’s China. I still hope that sports prevail over these rifts.

Chinese Connection

There are many of those who are either in my generation or an older one, who tried to enroll themselves in one of the various martial arts schools in Malta. Most of the awareness, inspiration and attraction to this category of sports came through the various films that one could see in the 1980s and 90s. I always used to watch these movies, not for the fights. What impressed me most was the discipline and hard work that most of roles which were interpreted in the movies had to go in preparation to their events.

I recall a very close friend of mine, who used to train Kung-fu, who always stressed with his colleagues, that this sport is not about fighting. It’s about true internal balance. It was hard for us as teenagers to understand what he meant. I doubt if he did understand, but this was the message he got from his teachers at the club where he attended.

This same philosophy is still applied in most of the clubs where Kung Fu is taught.

Recently, 14 people passed their grading classes in Traditional Kung Fu at the Gaffiero Mon Lung Kung Fu academy. Besides my congratulations to those who made it, I think that one should also refer to the sacrifice and efforts of the instructors. I did ask some questions about this particular academy and learnt that it has been existent since 1968. This means that it has been 40 years of providing training to various people (assuming the majority is youths and kids). This is one category of people that we don’t laud much. Yet they are providing an excellent service whereby through sport, they prepare the kids and youths towards the realities of life. Sport, apart from being fun and keep who does it fit, also should be seen as a way of a complete self-development. This gives more responsibility to the instructors and should also attract gratitude to their contribution.

Getting ready for ‘real’ football

One can say that the ‘real’ football season is starting.

This week we saw the qualifying rounds to the group stage of the Champions League. Juventus’ sound victory against Artmedia confirmed the good job by Ranieri at the Turin side. Ever green Del Piero proved that he’s still one of the best players around and he sent a message to youngster Giovinco that he’ll have to earn his post just like he did get his role from Baggio. Sep Guardiola reign at the Camp Nou also started on a high, when the Spanish side beat the Polish Champions Wisla Krakow 4-0. Another team which started on a positive note was Arsenal. Liverpool could only manage a 0-0 draw in their rather frustrating match against Standard Liege.

This weekend will see the start of the English Premier League. I wonder who’ll end the reign of Manchester United. I am sure that Mr Scolari will try to impose himself on British soil as manager of Chelsea. Scolari made England suffer at the national level. Will he suffer at the club level there?