The Malta Weightlifting Association wrapped up an over successful year by hosting their customary Awards Night at the Cottonera Sports Complex. To kick off the event, the National Championship awards were presented, followed by the presentation of Cadets’ categories, U-15, U-17 and the Juniors, which were announced by the executive board members Ms Ramona Borg and Mr Rodmar Pulis.
General Secretary Mr Jesmond Vassallo then presented the awards for the Senior category, while Malta Olympic Committee Director of Sport Mr Mario Micallef, presented the final awards, in which Martin Pisani received the award for Most Promising Athlete, Matthew Grech Marmara and Elenor Cumbo received the Most Improvement for Newcomer awards, with Ryan Agius and Jessica Chigo receiving Most Improvement Award, while Malcolm Camilleri and Nicole Gatt received the Most Achievement Award and Kieran Mifsud and Owen Bugeja receiving the Commitment Award for their persistent efforts throughout the year.
President Mr Jesmond Caruana was then given a special award on behalf of Ms Ramona Borg, Ms Gayle Caruana and Ms Rodienne Balzan for being the first three international technical officials in the history of the Malta Weightlifting Federation to participate in international events. President Jesmond Caruana gave a short speech in which he thanked all volunteers and coaches that are consistently contributing to the overall improvement of the sport in Malta, as well as pointing out some important figures and statistics to back this up. In this year alone, 56 active athletes are competing in local competitions, 24 of which are female. There is also a sharp rise in newcomers: 35 new athletes have joined the federation so far this year. Throughout this year, the MWA organized seven competitions and four exhibitions for lifting in public places, and was also represented a total of 14 times abroad and the first 15 athletes in the MWA ranking participated in international competitions. Some of these athletes not only participated once but some up to a total of six times, which makes the presence of local athletes on the international scene a total of 34 times, with some of the best results including a Silver medal at the European Small Nations Competition and a Bronze medal at the Commonwealth championships for youths, also the qualification for the Mediterranean Games and the Universiade Games. Also worth mentioning is that throughout this year, 89 National Records have been broken, 24 of which were at International Competitions.
Last but definitely not least, Mr Jesmond Caruana finally thanked Malta Olympic Committee, the Kunsill Malti ghall-iSport and the international institutions for the support and trust in the weightlifting association.