Team Malta endured a busy day of competition at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto on Sunday, with Maltese athletes in action in tennis, athletics and sailing.

The day was highlighted by a narrow medal near-miss in the men’s doubles tennis competition, while Jeremy Zammit registered a season-best performance in the long jump.

Alex De Gabriele and Liam Delicata came agonisingly close to securing a bronze medal after a hard-fought encounter against Cyprus pair Melios Efstathiou and Eleftherios Neos.

The Maltese duo made an excellent start to the bronze medal match, taking the opening set 6-3.

However, Efstathiou and Neos responded by winning the second set by the same score to force the contest into a decisive match tiebreak.

Little separated the two pairs in the decider, but the Cypriots eventually prevailed 10-6 to secure the bronze medal, leaving De Gabriele and Delicata just short of a place on the podium.

In athletics, Jeremy Zammit produced a season-best effort in the men’s long jump, recording a leap of 7.61 metres.

Claire Azzopardi and Graham Pellegrini were both involved in the 100m heats. Azzopardi clocked 12.40 seconds, while Pellegrini completed his race in 11.05 seconds.

Both athletes are due to return to the track on Tuesday when they compete in the 200m heats.

Jared Micallef was also in action in the men’s 800m heats, finishing sixth in his heat with a time of 1:48.06.

It proved a more difficult day for Malta’s representatives in sailing, where costly mistakes resulted in penalties for both competitors.

Competition remained extremely tight across the fleet, with only small margins separating the leading sailors from those further down the standings.

The sailing programme continues with races seven and eight in both the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 classes.

Team Malta’s programme also continues with Mark Schembri taking part in the men’s single sculls heats, while Matthew Galea Soler is scheduled to compete in the men’s 400m heats.