Let The Games Begin! Maltese Athletes Ready To Light Up Commonwealth Games In Birmingham
Athletes from Malta’s Commonwealth Games contingent are ready to set the stage alight with the Opening Ceremony taking place at the Alexander Stadium, in Birmingham, on Thursday.
Kijan Sultana and Tenishia Thornton, two local legends in the Squash and Weightlifting fields will be leading the team as flag-bearers.
Malta will be competing in nine different disciplines and represented by 28 athletes at the Games, which will be held between Friday 29th July and Tuesday 9th August.
Our country’s elite athletes will take the field in athletics, badminton, cycling, judo, lawn bowling, squash, triathlon, weightlifting, and wrestling.
On Friday 29th July, triathletes Danica Bonello Spiteri and Keith Galea will be the first Maltese athletes to compete in the games, taking part in the sprint distance course. This is their second Commonwealth Games experience, with both having already taken part in 2014.
Making a podium finish won’t be easy considering their opponents, which include the Olympic Gold Medallist Flora Duffy, and other Olympians in the form of Georgia Taylor Brown, Alex Yee and Henri Schoeman.
On the first day of competition, 2018 Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist family Rixon – Connie, Rebecca and Rosemary will team up with Irene Attard to compete in Lawn Bowling in the Women’s four event.
The male triples team – consisting of Peter Ellul, Troy Lorimer and Shaun Parnis will also compete in their respective set.
Remarkably, the Rixon family is not the only family to represent Malta at the Games. In Squash, Sultana siblings Kijan, Lijana and Colette, together with Niall Engerer will also be looking to bring home some silverware.
Kijan and Niall will face off against each other in the opening round and whoever wins the game will have to contend with New Zealand’s top seed Paul Coll (ranked second globally).
All eyes now remain on Malta’s elite athletes – the largest contingent ever fielded – with the Games now underway.
Good luck Team Malta!