The Malta Amateur Wrestling Federation participated in the Irish Open Freestyle Wrestling Championships last weekend.
This was the first time the governing body participated after being invited by the Irish Federations. The competition attracted wrestlers from Poland, Ukraine, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Malta’s team was made up of Gary Giordmaina 61kg Seniors, Nico Zarb 74kg Seniors, Adam Vassallo 68kg Under 15, Jesmond Giordmaina coach and Abraham Vassallo (referee).
Cedric Vella was also scheduled to participate but got injured a few days before the competition.
Giordmaina won the 61kg category after facing four opponents.
On the way to the gold medal, Giordmaina beat; Eddie Burns by points, Kris Martin by pin, Javed Agha by points superiority and Max Gibson by pin.
Giordmaina was very convincing, although he suffered a shoulder injury during the first bout.
Nico Zarb started very well in his 74kg category.
Zarb started by beating Josh Kennedy by fall.
In his second bout, Zarb won against Ali Assad by points.
Then he was up against Serhii Skvarcha but lost on points and was eliminated.
Still this was an outstanding showing from Zarb in the toughest weight category of the whole competition.
Adam Vassallo gave a good account of himself in just his second competition abroad in the 68kg under-15 category.
Vassallo started by beating Alexander Frank by pin.
In his second match, he won against Arsenii Horobets by pin. In the final bout, Vassallo lost against Alexsandr Mangutov to settle for the silver medal.
Team Malta will now be gearing up for the Bridgepoint Malta Open which will be held on November 15 at the Marsa Sports Complex.
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