Cyprus continues to rank first in the medals table of the XIII Games of the Small States of Europe, with 22 gold, 26 silver and 12 bronze medals, at the end of the third day (Wednesday) of the games.
According to the official website of the Games, Iceland is in the second place of the table with 17 gold, 16 silver and 8 bronze medals and Luxembourg is in the third place with 16 gold, 2 silver, and 12 bronze medals.
Cyprus secured a gold and silver medal in men’s skeet shooting. The two Cypriot shooters who won the medals in skeet are Kyriacos Christoforou (gold medal) and Antonis Andreou (silver medal).
During the third day of swimming events, Cyprus claimed three gold medals, one silver and three bronze. Anna Stylianou won first place in the women’s 400m freestyle setting a new GSSE record (4: 39.33). Anna Schoholeva also set a new record in women’s 100m butterfly (1:01.00) as did Alexandre Bakhtiarov in the men’s 100m butterfly.
Cyprus’ men’s team claimed a silver medal in the 4×200 freestyle while bronze medals were claimed by Marios Panayi in the men’s 100m backstroke, Christoforou Anastasia in the women’s 100m breaststroke, and the women’s team in the 4×200 freestyle.
In sailing, world champion Pavlos Kontides finished first in the men’s Laser category in three sailboat races on Tuesday, followed by Emmanuel Sanchez and Damien Lerale from Monaco.
Natasa Christodoulou made a great first impression in the Laser Radial and is in the lead so far. Maya Podesta from Malta is in second place and Elena Ioannou in third.
Maria Sarri from the women’s Optimist category clearly has her eye on a gold medal as she ended first in all three races, followed by Marine Prat from Monaco and Eleni Kyriakidou.
In gymnastics, Constantinos Aristotelous, and Georgos Georgiou each claimed a gold medal and two silver while, world champion, Irodotos Georgallas came first on the parallel bars. The 17 year old Nikoleta Dimitriou secured the gold medal in the uneven bars final.
The Cyprus Men’s Basketball Team showed their intent on Wednesday night after steamrolling competition rivals Iceland 87-54 in their second game.
The Cyprus National Beach Volley teams were in top form in their second day. In Wednesday afternoon's match George Platritis and Paris Christofi beat the hot favorites Tabarini brothers of San Marino 2-0. Manolina Konstantinou and Mariotta Aggelopoulou of the Cyprus National women’s team carried on their winning streak through the tournament. During Wednesdays second match they beat Bettina Mahr and Petra Walser of the Lichtensteins women’s team 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) in 33 minutes.
The Cyprus Women’s Volleyball Team beat Luxembourg 3-1 in their first match in the Games. Earlier, the Cyprus Men’s team won San Marino 3-0.
More than one thousand athletes from eight small states of Europe with an independent Olympic Committee – Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Cyprus – are participating in the Games.
The schedule of Thursday, fourth day of the Games, includes athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, mountain bike, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis and volleyball.
Cyprus is hosting the Games for the second time. The first time was in 1989.
