Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/401761
22 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2014 WEIGHTLIFTING CRICKET ROLEX MIDDLE SEA RACE Sport Second place for MWA contestant in regional weightlifting championships Linklaters whitewash Marsa THE Malta Weightlifting Associa- tion (MWA) saw three of its athletes participate at the regional weight- lifting championships in San Cat- aldo, Sicily, last Sunday. This competition serves as a qual- ification event for Sicilian athletes to participate at the Italian National Championships, and on this occa- sion, also for the Maltese athletes to test their ability and gain experi- ence in preparation for international events coming up in the beginning of next year. Both Ryan Agius and Owen Buge- ja participated against 11 other ath- letes in the -85kg weight category, with Agius securing a good per- formance with a best snatch lift of 110kg, narrowly missing his last at- tempt of 115kg, and a top clean and jerk of 125kg. This total of 235kg earned him 282 points which se- cured him first place in the respec- tive category followed by F. Bruno with 265 points and G. Candela with 262 points. Owen Bugeja, 15 years old, lifted 88kg in the snatch phase, narrowly missing his last attempt of 92kg after losing balance upon attempt- ing to finish the lift. In the clean and jerk phase, Bugeja lifted 100kg. This earned the young lifter a total of 225 points and second place in his category of under-17, first place having been taken by G. Trimarchi with 256 points, while S. Macaluso finished third with 147 points. Martin Pisani then participated in the -105kg category, having had a shaky start in the snatch, and still managed to secure a 100kg attempt and a further successful 125kg clean and jerk. This was a positive result for Pisani, since he is recov- ering from minor injuries. Total- ling 248 points saw him take second place, first place having gone to E. Giordano with 270 points and third place taken by G. Mauro with 243 points. The Maltese athletes were accom- panied and coached by Jesmond Caruana. The MWA participation in this competition was made possible with the help of the Malta Olympic Com- mittee and the friendship with the Sicilian Weightlifting Federation. Owen Bugeja Ryan Agius Martin Pisani OVER the weekend new team Lin- klaters C.C from England played the Marsa C.C in a two game series. On Saturday a thirty over game was played , the Marsa team totalled 146 runs aided heavily by extras, forty three of them and thirty seven of them were wides, its tough when you bowl in a new country for a first time. John Grima opened the Marsa innings and top scored with the bat making thirty nine runs which in- cluded five boundaries. Frank Spi- teri was making his presence felt with twenty runs which included four boundaries before being caught. Mark G.Sacco who has been in good form recently made eighteen runs. For Linklaters Dimitri Fomink took three wickets, T.Whittle took two while E.Llewlyn and H.McAvaney took a wicket each. Well if their bowling was affected by coming overseas, their batting was not, they made easy work of the run chase making the runs in the nineteenth over. The assault was lead by A.Patel who retired after making sixty runs which included nine fours. T.Raper made twenty four runs, A.Ahmed made twenty nine and J.Zipfinger made twelve runs. There were twenty three ex- tras from the home side all wides… Linklaters take a series lead of one nil. On Sunday due to a late start the game was shortened to a twenty over game. This time the visitors batted first. The Marsa opening bowlers bowled extremely well (Andrew Naudi and Haroon Ma- jeed) and took two wickets each and put Linklaters on the back foot. T.Whittle was a saviour scoring for- ty five patient runs as was L.Wood who made twenty. N.Dhokia was not to be outdone batting at number eleven , he smashed his way to a quick twenty seven runs which in- clude two sixes and two fours. The final score was 130 runs. Young Suhrid Roy from the Marsa team took three wickets, while Bikram Arora and Haroon Majeed took a wicket each. With the batting line up the home team was confident. Five batsmen (Joy Ghoseroy thir- teen runs, Haroon Majeed ten runs, Bikram Arora twelve runs, Suhbas Roy twenty eight runs not out and Mike Caruana twenty six runs not out) all had starts but did not get the job done and this time there was only fifteen extras. For Linklaters E.Llewelyn took three wickets while T.Raper took one. Next Saturday sees another new team, Pontefract New College who will be playing a two game series, the second game will be played the following Saturday. On Saturday the Sunoco Acad- emy/nursery will be from 9:00 till 10:30am. Linklaters C.C from England Fight to the Finish IGOR Simicic's maxi, Esimit Europa 2 is expected to finish the Rolex Middle Sea Race in the early hours this morning. However the 100ft carbon fibre canting keel Maxi is under serious pressure to secure their fourth Line Honours victory in the race. At dawn yesterday, Niklas Zennstrom's Maxi 72, Ran V was just six miles behind Esimit Europa 2 at Pantelleria with 190 miles to go. Esimit Europa 2 is the quicker of the two yachts in a straight line but the wind is now directly behind the two yachts. To maintain the best speed to the finish, both yachts will be continuously gybing to maximise their VMG (Velocity Made Good). In theory, Ran V is the quicker yacht in this 'short course' battle be- cause the yacht is far more manoeu- verable than her bigger rival. What is more, a substantial increase in wind speed was expected yesterday. This should arrive at Ran's position first, narrowing the gap on Esimit Europa 2. Yesterday morning in Malta, it was hot and humid with a significant amount of dense cloud, this kind of scenario often creates thunder- storms. These cells of high energy can create squalls with a significant wind speed, which the two yachts could hook into. Should Esimit Eu- ropa 2 take Line Honours, it will be for the fourth time, which has never been accomplished before but Ran V poses a serious threat. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROLEX/KURT ARRIGO