Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/815607
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 APRIL 2017 20 Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Wenger says Arsenal must 'fight like mad' for top-four finish ARSENAL will need to show consistency in their final seven Premier League matches if they are to qualif y for next season's Champions League, manager Arsene Wenger has said. The North London club have seven games to go, are seventh in the league and seven points be- hind fourth-placed Manchester City, who have played one more game than them. "We have to fight like mad to win our games," the Frenchman told a news conference before they host 15th-placed Leicester City in the league on Wednesday. Wenger has led his side to a top-four finish every season since joining the club in 1996. "The door is open but it de- mands a consistency from us," Wenger said. "It is still possible, but we need a near perfect run-in. We need to keep the level of desire and hunger for every game of the season." The British media reported on Monday that French club Olym- pique de Marseille are looking to sign Arsenal striker Olivier Gir- oud at the end of the season. Wenger, however, said he had heard no such thing and the 30-year-old France internation- al signed a contract in January which keeps him at the Emirates until 2020. "I have had no approach from Marseille, and we want to keep Olivier Giroud at the club." The 67-year-old Wenger, whose own contract expires at the end of the season, gave no updates on his future but said he was evaluating transfer targets for Arsenal's next campaign. "Yes, of course. I work until the last day of the season for the pre- sent and the future. "What happens with me is a bit secondary, what is important is the future of the club." Following the Leicester en- counter, Arsenal travel on Sun- day to their north London rivals, second-placed Tottenham Hot- spur. Great success for the Malta weightlifting at the European Small Nations in San Marino this past weekend. The team made up of Kyle Micallef, Kieran Mifsud, Mat- thew Camilleri, Yazmin Zammit Stevens and Elisia Scicluna placed 2nd overall in the event, with Ice- land placing first. The team's stel- lar performance saw 11 national records being broken, with many personal bests being reached. Zammit Stevens has officially lifted the biggest total recorded in Malta of 172kg. Yazmin (-69kg) finished with a snatch of 77kg and clean and jerk of 95kg, breaking 2 national records in the process. Scicluna (-90kg) snatched a new national record attempt at 70kg and powered through her clean and jerks with all three attempts being good lifts. She finished at 89kg and a total of 159kg, capping off 3 national records in this meet. Kyle Micallef(-94kg) improved his total, showing he's definitely on form this season. He added on to his national record of the snatch with an attempt of 125kg. His clean and jerks showed Micallef was fired up and more confident than ever, breaking another 13 year old record twice with 156kg and 159kg. He finished with a 284kg total and 5 new national record. 17 year old Kieran Mifsud was the youngest athlete in the compe- tition in the (-105kg) finished with a snatch of 122kg and a clean and jerk of 156kg. Even if this result was a good one, for him it was very difficult to maintain his top per- formance after excellent results in the European Championships two weeks ago. Finally, the last of the team mem- bers, Matthew Camilleri (-85kg), finished the competition with a massive competition PR total of 243kg. Along with his 108kg Snatch, he fought hard through a clean and jerk at 135kg. Despite being hammered at the bottom of the clean, he stood up the weight and powered through the jerk with ease. The teams performance at the European Small Nations is one of the best ever seen by Malta Weightlifting. The continuous im- provement and numerous records being broken at basically every single meet shows the association's hard work is definitely paying off. Furthermore in the electoral congress, the president of the asso- ciation Jesmond Caruana, had suc- cess of his own by being elected as general secretary of the European Small Nations. Caruana assisted the athletes in this competition, while Ramona Borg who was on duty as Jury member. The participation in this com- petition was possible trough the help and support of Malta Olympic Committee and SportMalta. Success for Malta in San Marino WEIGHTLIFTING