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WATCH: Malta Wins Gold In Weightlifting At European Small Nations Championship

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Malta’s weightlifting champions made history yesterday winning the current team’s first-ever team gold at the European Small Nations Championships held in San Marino.

The team, made up of male lifters Anton Micallef, Shaun Ciantar and Vlad Baldacchino together with female lifters Roberta Tabone and Yazmin Zammit Stevens, managed to beat both Iceland and Cyprus who finished in 3rd and 2nd place consecutively.

Monaco finished in 4th, San Marino in 5th and Luxembourg in 6th.

The incredible moment Malta was named as winners was caught on camera, with Team Malta jumping in jubilation before proudly taking the podium.

A total of 1,365 points were garnered by Team Malta, which was enough to beat both Iceland (1,239 points) and Cyprus (1,333 points), two countries that have been dominating these championships in the past years.

This was the second time Malta won gold overall for the mixed team, the first time being back in the 24th edition 19 years ago, held in Germany.

In the men’s group, Baldacchino managed a 126kg snatch and a 157kg clean and jerk accumulating a total of 309 points while Micallef lifted 112kg in the snatch and ended with 135kg in his clean and jerk delivering 295 points.

Shaun Ciantar competed in the men’s group B group and managed 105kg in the snatch and 125kg in the clean and jerk which is equal to 285 points.

Olympian Yazmin Zammit Stevens managed to finish in second place overall for the female individual lifters just behind the lifter from Iceland. She ended with 85kg in the snatch and 102kg in the clean and jerk managing 240 points.

Roberta Tabone surpassed her personal best lifts across the board, finishing with 84kg in the snatch and 105kg in the clean and jerk resulting in 234 points.

The San Marino open was held in conjunction with these championships where youth lifters Rylee Borg, Kaya Inguanez and Aaliyah Gatt managed to finish in 4th place.

Aaliyah managed 37kg in snatch and 50kg in the clean and jerk while Kaya managed a 39kg snatch and 48kg in the clean and jerk. Tulle Borg, who is just 15 years old, had an impressive competition finishing with PRs and six National Records across the board after he managed 90kg in the snatch and 112kg in the clean and jerk.

Weightlifting Malta thanked Malta Olympic Committee and SportMalta for their continued support.

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READ NEXT: WATCH: Overwhelmed And Emotional, Ike And Kaya Chosen As Malta's Junior Eurovision Representatives

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]

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