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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 APRIL 2014 53 BILLIARDS ATHLETICS TENNIS Sport Download the MaltaToday App now Gozo Half Marathon on April 27 Djokovic out for 'some time' with wrist injury OVER 300 athletes have already registered their participation in the Gozo Half Marathon event, which is being held on Sunday 27th April. The half marathon, which starts from Xagħra square, starts down- hill, followed by a major uphill towards the centre of Victoria. A stretch of flat terrain, occasionally going steep, ensues, going through Sannat, Xewkija, Għajnsielem and Qala. The most challenging part has to be the last 6 miles of the race, with an uphill between Qala and Nadur, a downhill right after that and then a final uphill to arrive back at Xagħra square. Challenging as it might seem, athletes deem the race as an experi- ence to remember. As Alan Dickin- son, a repeat race participant stated "From lining up nervously in the glorious Xagħra village square in the shadow of the stunning church, to stubbornly battling the tough course that belies the rustic beauty of the route for a couple of hours, to sipping ice cold beer back in the square for hours after the race with new friends - it truly is an uplifting experience". In the past years, the number of foreign participants has been on the increase, with athletes from 16 different countries taking part in one of this year's races. The event will see the participation of Drew Lang and Jacqueline Booker, title holders for the half marathon, as well as Jonathan Balzan and Do- reen Camilleri, title holders for the 8 mile race. Applications will be received by Friday 25th April, subject to late registration fees. More de- tails on the event and partici- pation can be viewed online at www.gozomarathon.org. THE Malta Eight Ball Federation will once again represent Malta in the European Blackball Champion- ships. This year the teams are head- ing to Bridlington in Yorkshire Unit- ed Kingdom. The tournament will be played between the 22nd April and the 2nd May. The Federation will be participating in 2 Categories and the individuals, the teams are in the Men's and the Under 18's cat- egory. The Men's team will be com- posed of 7 top form players, Mario Brincat who is ranked number one in Malta after the six open ranking tournaments which have been or- ganised to determine the rankings, along with his teammates Philip Ciantar, Maverick Zammit, Lydan Debono, Ivan Rizzo, Calyton Cast- aldi and Kevin Schembri. The team manager is Reuben Xuereb. The under 18's team will be composed by Leon Azzopardi, the number one ranked in Malta of this category, together with his team mates Brian Cini, Ben Schembri, Owen Amato, Alessio Magro, Mat- thew Zammit and Miguel Amato. The team manager is Ryan Cas- sar. Five members of the same fed- eration are also joining the Maltese contingent to participate in the individuals tournaments. Roberta Cutajar, the number one Ranked in Malta, will be participating in the Ladies Category, Clayton Pace in the Mens Category, Sheldon Lanzon Attard in the Under 18's, Brian Din- gli Over 40's and Peter Tonna in the Over 50's. The veteran Lino Lauro will be the head of the Maltese Con- tingent. The Under 18s team will play their first match on the 22nd April, whilst the Men's team will play on the 26th April both against Gibral- tar. More than 650 players from 10 different Nations will be participat- ing in this prestigious tournament. Whilst wishing the players the best of luck and success, the Malta Eight Ball Federation would like to thank Honourable Parliamentary Secre- tary Chris Agius for meeting its players and wishing them the best of success, the Federation would also like to thank all its members for their continuous support and its main sponsor "KARLSBRAU". Malta headed to the UK for the European Blackball Championships NOVAK Djokovic said on Satur- day he would not be able to play tennis "for some time" after being hampered by a wrist injury at the Monte Carlo Masters. The Serbian second seed was knocked out 7-5 6-2 by former world number one Roger Federer in the semi-finals, being clearly bothered by his sore right wrist -- a problem he has been suffering from for 10 days. "The good thing is I don't need to have a surgery," said Djokovic, who had won the claycourt Mas- ters in the principality last year. "I don't have any rupture or something like that. I'm going to go see doctors tonight and then tomorrow again have another MRI, see if anything changed in this seven days since I had the last one. "I just rest now. I cannot play tennis for some time. How long, I don't know," he added, six weeks before the start of the May 25- June 8 French Open. "It's really not in my hands any- more. I'm going to rest and see when it can heal 100 per cent, then I will be back on the court." Saturday's defeat ended Djoko- vic's impressive run in Masters events as he had won the previous five, in Shanghai, Paris, London (ATP World Tour finals), Indian Wells and Miami. Djokovic out for 'some time' with wrist injury