#68: 31 Medals For ITL, With 13 Golds, At The Invitational Small States Games
ITL athletes represented their club and country with great esteem as they reeled in one of their largest-ever medal tallies.
31 medals overall (with 13 golds), spread over kids, cadets, juniors, seniors, and masters. An additional trophy was also won by two poomsae players.
This means ITL won 65% of all Maltese medals (taekwondo) and 81% of all golds.
These games are an MOC initiative to boost sports even at junior level, having started in October 2022 for sports not part of the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe.
ITL has now recorded a record-breaking success in these games, bringing home numerous honours to the trio of sports in this season’s edition.
To add to the honours, ITL placed first as a team in the kids, seniors and veterans division, trumping more than a few national teams vying for the title. They placed second in the cadets and juniors division, behind the national team of Cyprus.
You can check out the results by clicking by checking the UpTKD online page:
Below are the medalists by name:
Gold medals:
Jean Schembri (cadet -37)
Robin Zammit (cadet -41)
Brayden Micallef (cadet -49)
Michela Scerri (cadet -42)
Czarek Odlaniki (senior +87)
Malik Beroual (kids -36)
Tizziano Falbo (kids -29)
Zach Zammit (kids -26)
Dwayne Micallef (kids -24)
Emma Law Lautier (kids -26)
Gianluca Barbara (masters -80)
Luca Falzon (kids -33)
Sinan Koruk (poomsae)
Silver medals:
Alexandros Litvyakov (cadet -41)
Sherzod Bazarov (cadet -49)
Dailen Barbara (kids -44)
Oliver Gatt (kids -36)
Adam Bileci (kids -32)
Souleymane Dif (kids -29)
Tyas Mifsud Calleja (kids -24)
Eva Mifsud Calleja (kids -40)
Fatma Azzam (kids -32)
Lounes Beroual (masters -80)
Emma Gellel (kids -33)
Jovo Mirkovic (poomsae)
Bronze medals:
Matteo Cassar (cadet -41)
Fergeson Galea (junior -55)
Firayaad Abdela (kids -36)
Kieran Vella (kids -24)
Nina Gellel (kids -40)
Ella Schembri (kids -40)
Two additional standout performers on the day were Cristian Urrego and Ashik Sunil (senior, -74).
Cristian won his first fight comfortably against San Marino, and lost with a narrow margin against European medalist and club champion Zinedin Becovic (Montenegro) in the quarter final. Ashik, lost his quarter final fight against San Marino. He played despite having sustained an injury.
The total result was a five-fold increase for Malta, since its last Invitational Games for taekwondo, back in 2022.
It also marked a first for the Maltese team, who fielded their first poomsae team in the form of Jovo Mirkovic and Sinan Koruk (both ITL). Both athletes brought home a second-place trophy.
Of the coaches present, Gianluca Barbara, Ditmir Vodinaj, and Jovo Mirkovic represented Iron Taekwondo League.
The competition welcomed national teams of Andorra, Albania, France, Estonia, Kosovo, Iceland, San Marino, Monaco, Montenegro, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Libya, Luxembourg and Slovenia. It was presided by International Referee Chair Kostas Kalaudis and the Malta Taekwondo Association team.
On behalf of the ITL, we would like to thank all athletes, their coaches and teams for being a part of this event. Our thanks is also extended to the MTA and Maltese Olympic Committee for their eternal support and hard work. Our final thanks go specifically to the Technical Delegate led by Moustapha Akkouh and to Andre Scerri, Jon Garcia, to all referees, staff and volunteers.
A big thanks also goes to Lovin Malta, who documented and published our competition results on their platform.
