The annual Malta Open Tournament took place this weekend and saw numerous records broken from veteran athletes and also not so familiar names. Athletes were awarded for the overall title for the leading Maltese male and female athletes, junior and youth boys and girls.
The ‘Cadets and Beginners’ were the first to compete on Sunday morning, with many children from the ‘On the Move’ school by SportMalta now regularly participating in the MWA’s events. Kim Lagana Camilleri, an up and coming 11 year old, placed first in the U12 category finishing with 25kg Snatch and 28kg Clean and Jerk and broke 9 national records in the 32kg category in the process. The U15 group was won by a very familiar name, Tenishia Thornton, who managed a personal best clean and jerk of 63kg to go with her impressive 50kg snatch. Thornton is, like many other leading Maltese lifters, currently still in preparation phase building up to bigger international meets in a few months. Her 63kg C&J and 113kg total were national records in both the U15 and U17 45kg category. Incredibly, Tenishia not only won the U15 title, but also topped the U17 and Junior titles while also placing second in the senior category.
The overall female lifter was won by Yazmin Zammit Stevens, who finished with incredibly easy total of 168kg. Zammit Stevens is also currently still in preparation phase training for upcoming Olympic qualification event and other international tournaments coming up later this year.
The boys U17 group was won by Tristan Zammit who finished with personal bests across the board ending with a 90kg snatch and 105kg clean and jerk in the 102+ category. Ryan Degiorgio won the Juniors title finishing with an 84kg snatch and 107kg in the clean and jerk.
The men’s group proved to be a great battle, with numerous athletes breaking the same record in this same competition. The overall title was won by reigning champion, Vlad Baldacchino, who outlifted second place finisher Shaun Ciantar by less than 3 points. Vlad finished with 122kg snatch and a national record 145kg clean and jerk, finishing with a national record total of 241kg. Ciantar, who forced Vlad to really push the limit on the Clean and Jerks for the overall title, finished with 107kg Snatch with a very close miss at 110kg on his last attempt. Ciantar went on to Clean and jerk 126kg. In third place, Anton Micallef had a great showing. After snatching a national record at 109kg in the 81kg category, Micallef went on to clean and jerk 132kg. In the men’s group B earlier on in the day, Rodmar Pulis had already broke the national record clean and jerk in the 81kg category at 131kg, therefore Micallef broke the same national record in the A session later that day. Other athletes who competed with successful result in the men’s group were Kyle Micallef, Rodmar Pulis, Matthew Camilleri, Martin Pisani and Andy Grech.