Team Malta settling down in Tokyo Olympic Village

The Maltese contingent has started to trickle into Tokyo as COVID-19 regulations stipulate that athletes have been instructed to arrive no earlier than five days prior to their competition and leave no later than two days after their event concludes. 

Badminton player Matthew Abela was the first to arrive and has already training. He was followed by shooter Eleanor Bezzina and earlier on this morning swimmers Andrew Chetcuti and Sasha Gatt with their coach Artem Goncharenko arrived at the village.

The remaining athletes are expected to arrive by the end of the week.

Chef de Mission Dr Lucienne Attard explained that although the strict measures in place have limited the interaction between athletes, this has not dampened the overall anticipation of competition and the spirit amongst the Maltese contingent is high.

The Opening Ceremony is scheduled to take place on Friday at 2000hrs (Tokyo time) at the Olympic Stadium. The Maltese flag will be carried by shooter Eleanor Bezzina and swimmer Andrew Chetcuti who both have competed in previous Olympic Games.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR MALTESE ATHLETES

Sunday 25^th July

Badminton

1240hrs

Men’s Singles                          Matthew Abela vs Shi Yu Q (CHN)

Shooting

0900hrs

10m Air Pistol Qualifications     Eleanor Bezzina

Swimming

2039hrs

400m Heats                              Sasha Gatt

Monday 26^th July

Swimming

2032hrs

1500m heats                             Sasha Gatt

Tuesday 27^th July

Weightlifting

1150hrs

64kgs                                       Yazmin Zammit Stevens

Swimming       

1900hrs

100m heats                               Andrew Chetcuti

Thursday 29^th July

Shooting

0900hrs

25m Pistol Qualifications           Eleanor Bezzina

Friday 30^th July

Athletics

0900hrs

100m Heats                              Carla Scicluna

Note: Times quoted above are local (Tokyo) times.