#45: 5 Gold, 2 Silver & 3 Bronze Medals For ITL In France

ITL’s participation in France’s Lot et Garonne Challenge Cup yielded a significant haul with five gold, two silver, and three bronze medals.

The tournament was the second of the year for ITL, following the Open de Liege last February. This time, however, the ITL fielded 12 athletes aged six to 12 years. Of which, eight made their international debut.

The ITL was comprised of 12 child athletes, one Master’s athlete and two coaches.

The 13th athlete, Gianluca Barbara, then competed in the Masters -80 kg category and won his third international gold in a row., doing so without conceding a single shot.

Individual Performances

Kieran Vella (gold) eased through his semi-final, winning both rounds with a ‘point gap’* before meeting teammate Tyas Mifsud Calleja in the final. Kieran then edged past his fellow athlete in an exciting bout that left onlookers enthralled.

Ella Schembri (gold) made a bold statement after winning all three of her fights (QF, SF, and F), cruising past fighters of higher rank with point gaps. With the ‘point gap’ removed in the final, Ella created a margin of over twenty points, winning with some style.

Dwayne Micallef (blue).

Dwayne Micallef (gold), a European kids champion, blazed through all three of his fights (QF, SF, and F) with considerable margins and placed first in the -24 kg category.

Emma Lautier (gold), a European kids vice-champion, also stormed through the females -26 kg. It is worth mentioning that this category is higher than her usual -23 kg. However, she fought up a class for lack of opponents in her usual group.

Through the change in category, she registered convincing wins in her semi-final and final with a margin of over 12 points.

Emma Law Lautier (left) and Dwayne Micallef (right), European vice-champion and champion and gold medalists of the Challenge Cup.

Gianluca Barbara (gold) secured another gold for the club, winning his fights with great margins. Barbara faced two French opponents, winning his semi-final with scores of 12-0 (round 1) and 14-0 (round 2) and the final with scores of 4-0 (round 1) and 25-0 (round 2; the point gap was removed for the final).

His gold was his third in a row, following two international competitions: one in Brussels and another, in Liege.

Gianluca Barbara (red) scores a headshot against his French opponent in the Masters -80 kg category.

To date, no other Maltese athletes have placed first in three successive international competitions.

Luca Falzon (red) executing a front leg double-up kick.

Luca Falzon (silver), who started taekwondo only eight months ago, had a debut to remember. He defeated three opponents (R18, QF, SF) before losing out in a final against Malik Beroual, the most experienced athlete in the division.

Tyas Mifsud Calleja (left), ITL’s youngest international athlete.

Tyas Mifsud Calleja (silver), aged only six years, had the unfortunate circumstance of meeting his teammate - Kieran Vella - in the final. Despite this, Tyas became ITL’s youngest medalist, even after losing the final of the -21 kg category.

He displayed a phenomenal fighting spirit. So much so, that he was the only athlete on the team able to register eight scoring punches in a span of one minute.

Eva Mifsud Calleja (bronze) registered an impressive win in her R18 match, having gotten the better of her taller and more experienced French opponent. She bagged another win in the quarter-final against an athlete of higher rank, before losing in a closely-contested semi-final. Her impressive performance meant she was able to walk away with a bronze medal in her first-ever international competition.

Gianluca Barbara (left) and Eva Mifsud Calleja (right).

Merobika Abdela (right).

Merobika Abdela (bronze) was eliminated in the semi-final of the females +51 kg category with scores of 9-8 and 10-9 over two rounds despite having led for the majority of the game. However, a well-placed body shot from her French opponent landed in the dying seconds of each round, turning the lead against the Maltese.

Dailen Barbara (bronze) fought hard in the boys -45kg semi-final against his French opponent. Over two rounds, with scores of 2-1 and 1-0, Dailen narrowly missed-out on a win that could have taken him to the final. Nevertheless, he walked away with the team’s final bronze.

Zach Zammit (right).

Firayaad Abdela won his R18 match with a considerable margin, over two rounds, before losing in the quarter-final, narrowly missing out on a podium finish. It was a match that could’ve gone either way.

Zach Zammit secured a win by referee decision in his R18 match but was stopped in the QF of his -24 kg after losing his respective bout against his French opponent.

Oliver Gatt took part in another match that could have gone either way. Oliver was eliminated in the quarter-final of his respective set with a small margin. 1-1 and 1-3 throughout two rounds. His international debut, however, served as a crucial experience given his potential.

Of all the team Luca, Tyas, Eva, Merobika, Firayaad, Oliver, Dailen and Zach have now registered their first appearance abroad. And because of their hard work and attitude, they amassed the greatest medal haul ever achieved by the club thus far. 10 total medals.

MTA President Anna Vassallo, who was also present at the event, was featured on local French news station SO Sud-Ouest, and was given an award for her hard work on the international front in Taekwondo.

Anna welcomed the host team - Taekwondo club Villeneuvois (Lovent) - to Malta for a training camp in June 2021, along with the journalists pictured below: Nicholas Dumoulin and Patrice Couturier.

From left to right: Nicholas Dumoulin, Anna Vassallo, Patrice Couturier and Gianluca Barbara.

This competition took part only one day after the Bulgarian Open (G1), wherein another ITL athlete - Michela Scerri - emerged as the sole medal winner of the Junior National Team. Fellow club compatriot Alycia Cassar also bagged an impressive win against a Greek opponent but missed out on a medal spot by losing against the number-one seed of the division (Serbia).

On behalf of the whole team, the ITL would like to thank Taekwondo Club Villeneuvois for hosting the event and inviting us. More especially, we would like to thank the organizer, Amar Dif, Lounes Beroual (club coach), and referee chair Christine Bich Chiêu Nguyen for their help, service, and smooth running of operations on the whole day. We would also like to extend our thanks to Corinne Garrigues for her assistance in all matters.

From left to right: Nicholas Dumoulin, Anna Vassallo, Gianluca Barbara, Luca Falzon, Lounes Beroual, Amar Dif, Corinne Garrigues.

Finally, the team would also like to thank all accompanying parents and friends, who traveled from Malta to support the ITL on this historic occasion. Together, we created a wholesome group of 27 persons.

Our final thanks go to the coaches: Gianluca and Suela, who managed all kids’ bouts on the day, and to Brent Law who managed all games of the masters - 80 kg category.

*NB: the term ‘point gap’ means that the match ended before the expiry of round time because one contestant would have scored twelve points and declared superiority.

Acknowledgments

The ITL would like to extend its thanks to SPORTMALTA for making our attendance in this tournament possible through financial support.