Team Malta got off to a good start at the European Youth Olympic Festival, with strong efforts from flag bearers Thea Parnis Coleiro (Athletics) and Jeremy Gatt (Badminton) on the opening day of the event.
In the athletics competition, Thea Parnis Coleiro ran in the women’s 100m heats. She qualified for the semi-finals with a time of 12.06 seconds. In the evening, she improved her time to 11.91 seconds, but it wasn’t quite enough to make it to the final.
In badminton, Jeremy Gatt played in Group 3 of the group stage. He put on a determined display against Samuel Fodor of Slovakia. After a close loss in the first set (22-24), Gatt came back to win the next two sets 21-17, 21-17, claiming a well-earned win.
Later that evening, he faced Denmark’s Maxi Kaufmann, who came into the match unbeaten. Despite a solid effort, Gatt lost in straight sets (21-13, 21-10), putting him in third place in the group standings.
Jeremy Gatt will return to action tomorrow, Tuesday 22nd July. He’ll play against Deeptanshu Toka (Norway) at 13:00 and Zisis Pegios (Greece) at 17:00. All matches can be watched live at https://eoctv.org/live/.
