The Swieqi Phoenix Handball Club’s U15 and U17 Girls’ Teams, together with gymnast Philippa Busuttil, are the winners of March’s Atlas Youth Athletes of the Month Award.

The Swieqi handball sides both won their respective Knock-Out competitions and in recognition of this achievement have become the first two teams from the same club to receive this monthly award. The U15 team secured their first title of the season with a 20–9 victory over Kavalieri Handball Club, while the U17 team claimed their second title of the season with a 19–10 win, also against Kavalieri. The U17 team had recently been crowned National League Champion in February, and last weekend, both teams once again claimed victory over Kavalieri to win the Super Cup.

Meanwhile, Philippa Busuttil, 17, who previously won the Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month Award in October 2023, earned the third highest beam score at Italy’s Campionato A2 Ginnastica Artistica. The young Maltese gymnast competed in this Senior High Level International Championship alongside 48 other athletes. That same month, she also reclaimed the title of Malta’s FIG Senior Champion.

The Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month Award was presented to the Swieqi Phenix Handball captains and to Philippa Busuttil by Matthew von Brockdorff, Managing Director and CEO of Atlas Insurance, together with Robert Micallef, Chief Commercial Officer. The Malta Sports Journalists Association was represented by General Secretary Lorraine Cunningham and Administrator Stephen Azzopardi.

Prior to this presentation, Caden Tanti, one of the previous month’s winners, was presented with his trophy, coinciding with a brief visit to Malta to sit for his O-Level exams.

This award is a joint initiative of the Malta Sports Journalists Association and Atlas Insurance. The adjudicating panel of this award takes note of all the youths’ achievements of the month under review and at the same time it invites local sport associations and federations to send in their nominations for consideration if they feel that any of their under-21 athletes have distinguished themselves during that month. All the monthly winners are eligible for the annual award.

Nominations for this award may be sent via email to info@maltasportsjournalists.com. The rules and regulations of the award can be viewed on the website www.maltasportsjournalists.com.

 

Photo caption: (from left) Clinton Buhagiar (MSJA), Matthew von Brockdorff (Atlas), Eliza Buhagiar (Swieqi Phoenix Handball U17), Julia Cremona (Swieqi Phoenix Handball U15), Philippa Busuttil, Robert Micallef (Atlas), and Stephen Azzopardi (MSJA).