Team Malta gymnasts at the Iceland GSSE wrapped up the day in style for the Maltese Olympic Committee last night when winning three medals in the women’s apparatus finals.

Peppijna Dalli wowed those present at the Laugabol Armann Hall with an accomplished performance on uneven bars to win a silver medal while Suzanne Buttigieg and Claire Azzopardi did their part by finishing third and claiming a bronze medal each in the beam and floor events.

That late addition of medals increased our overall tally to 12 – one gold, five silver and six bronze – over two days of competition.

“This is another historic result for Maltese gymnastics in the Small Nations Games,” coach Albert Chun told Times of Malta.

“Never in the history of these Games did we succeed in winning a silver medal in the team event or the beam competition. Incredibly, it’s the first time that we’ll be leaving these Games with four medals.

“For sure all credit goes to these young gymnasts who worked hard for this result and they surely represent a great future for our sport.”

The 18-year-old Dalli, who took a year out of her studies to move to Poland and further her talents in the sport, produced an excellent display in the uneven bars which was rewarded with an 11.800 score that lifted her to second place.

The gold medalist was Dominiqua Belanyi, of Iceland. Monaco’s Elodie Mont Roches was third and Team Malta’s other participant in this discipline, Kirsty Caruana, was seventh with a score of 9.200.

Buttigieg was last to take the floor in the beam but she kept her composure to score 11.850 to place third overall.

Norma Robertsdottir, of Iceland, took gold and Milla Fabre, of Monaco, was the runner-up. Sana Grillo just missed out on a place on the podium when placing joint fourth with 11.750.

Azzopardi was an early leader in the floor event but in the end she had to settle for a bronze medal with a creditable score of 11.800.

Buttigieg placed fourth with 11.700 points.

Caruana almost added another medal for the Maltese gymnastics team in the vault event but she missed out on third place by a mere 0.05 points after amassing 12.850.

Robertsdottir took gold on 14.000 and her Iceland team-mate Sigridur Bergdorsdottir (13.450) was second ahead of Luxembourg’s Lisa Partoret (12.900).

Maltese in action today

Athletics
Francesca Borg, Janet Richard (400m)
Kevin Moore (200m heats)
Charlotte Wingfield (200m heats)

Beach Volley (women)
Iceland vs Malta

Golf
Individual and team event

Shooting
Clive Farrugia, Darren Vella (skeet)

Swimming
Matthew Galea, Andrew Chetcuti (50m freestyle)
Julian Harding (100m breaststroke)
Matthew Galea (200m freestyle)
Julian Harding, Matthew Galea, Andrew Chetcuti, Michael Umnov (4x100m medley)

Table Tennis
Victoria Luchenkova, Jessica Pace (women’s doubles)

Tennis
Elaine Genovese (women’s singles semi-final)
Matthew Asciak (men’s singles quarter-final)
Elaine Genovese/Katrina Sammut (women’s doubles final)