Seven teams in Fitgar friendly tournament

Newly-formed handball school D-hs, managed by technical director Milos Stanisavljevic, recently organised a friendly U-16 tournament during the Christmas holidays at St Aloysius College, Birkirkara.

In all, seven teams took part. They were divided in two groups. St Joseph, D-hs and La Salle U-14 were pitted in Group A. Group B consisted of St Aloysians, La Salle, Salesians and St Martin's.

Hosts D-hs easily won their division following 6-4 and 5-2 victories over St Joseph and La Salle respectively. St Joseph finished second after beating La Salle 4-2.

St Aloysians topped Group B after two close wins. In the first match they beat La Salle 3-2. Then, they beat Salesians 3-2. St Aloysius completed their group commitments by routing St Martin's 8-0 in their final group match. La Salle were the runners-up after winning 11-1 against St Martin's and narrowly beating Salesians 4-3. The latter defeated St Martins 5-2 to settle for third place.

The results meant that St Martins finished seventh overall. Fifth place went to Salesians following a comfortable 10-5 victory over La Salle U-14 in the play-off. St Joseph finished fourth after losing the match for third place against La Salle 10-2.

The honours of the day belonged to Aloysians. They won the tournament after beating D-hs 7-3 in the final.

La Salle's Remy van Rooy was voted Most Valuable Player in the male category, while the corresponding female title went to Brenda Camilleri of D-hs. Philip Mifsud, of Aloysians, was the tournament's top-scorer. David Muscat, also of St Aloysius, was named the best goalkeeper. A special prize for Fair Play was awarded to St Martin's College.

Stanisavljevic thanked all those present but special thanks went to Brian Said, who sponsored the event through Fitgar products.

Stanisavljevic said it was through such youngsters that handball will continue to develop. He urged them to take training seriously and augured that some of the participants will one day help the national team achieve its targets in the international arena.