Team Gibraltar has won their first divisioning match against USA then lost to Egypt in a hard fought match. On 31st January they played for classification against Italy winning 6-3 and against Greece winning 8-2.
Both of these matches tested the strength of this, the first attempt at Unified Floor Hockey. This is a fast game with knocks and bumps despite well padded hands, shins and ankles.
The team’s intensive training beforehand is paying off now.
John Saunders reports: England’s Nigel Short, three times winner of the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters, fought back from a second round defeat to share the lead with Nikita Vitiugov of Russia at the end of round eight at the Caleta Hotel. The two players have 7/8 and lead Gata Kamsky of USA, Yu Yangyi of China and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France by half a point with two rounds remaining.
“What is it about Nigel Short and Gibraltar?” asked tournament director Stuart Conquest on Twitter (@stuthefox). He is not the only chess expert to be amazed by the form Short always shows here, year after year. Nigel Short was ninth in the start of tournament rankings in the Masters but he always raises his game at this tournament and thrives on the atmosphere at the event. He is currently on a run of six wins in a row in pursuit of the £20,000 first prize.
The PDP is proud of the GFA’s futsal squad on its historic achievement at the UEFA Euro 2014 preliminaries for their 7-5 win against San Marino and for their best efforts against the other stronger teams of France and Montenegro. Congratulations and what a great way to set out on the road to full membership. It is unfortunate yet unsurprising that Spain has immediately announced again its intention to take whatever legal action necessary to block Gibraltar’s membership.
We therefore welcome greatly the extremely positive strides made by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) in becoming fully fledged UEFA members despite all the odds. The PDP offers its support in this endeavour and wishes the GFA the best of luck in the UEFA Congress where the GFA’s rightful place within the European football family will be decided on.
The PDP is also excited to know that both Gibraltar’s U19 and U17 squads will be competing against other European nations in their respective UEFA competitions. It is high time our developing players should be given this exposure to further their footballing dreams.
Anne Mesilio has dropped us another email with an update on the progress of the Special Olympics Team.
"Hi everyone,
We have started a week of exciting competitions at the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Hi everyone, an update for those of you who, for any number of reasons may not have been able to watch the Opening Ceremony. Well, it all went Gangham style!!!! honest.
There was one special moment during the parade of athletes when Gibraltar, led by a dancing Virginia caused the American commentator, Jason Lee to exclaim with a delighted laugh "Well look at her, she's ready to go!" That's our girl...
GO VIRGINA and all the team.
The ceremony was a delightful mix of beauty, grace, colour, dance and Korean music, embodying the theme "co-existence and harmony".
