The Holiday Inn Express in Gibraltar opened its doors in May of 2018. Since then, it has been a competitive piece in the local hotel market. The franchise is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, having over 2,500 hotels in different locations and also offering well over 270,000 rooms across the globe.

The Island games will have 24 islands participating and over 2,000 athletes competing for 14 different sports. Unlike previous years, however, the games will not include football or archery due to the lack of facilities. However, these have been replaced by sports such as judo, bowling and squash. All sports events are free to attend, except the opening ceremony.

The last time Gibraltar held its last Island Games was in 1995, where 18 Islands and 1,200 athletes participated.

Gibraltar’s Basketball Team has regularly participated in FIBA competitions for men and women, and have previously won 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. The woman’s team have been participating in the Island Games for 20 years, and over the years have won 5 silver and 4 bronze medals. Now with the support Caleta Hotel and Holiday Inn Express and by extension the people of Gibraltar, they feel more than ready to trump the competition and get more medals.

‘Our relationship with the Caleta Hotel and now by extension Holiday Inn Express goes back nearly 30 years.’, says Mr Goncalves, the Basketball Sports Coordinator.

The captain of the senior Basketball team had said, ‘We would like to thank you first for making this our home and for making us the team that we are today as well. We hope to make you all proud with a few drinks, and the medals.’

The woman’s team will be playing at 5:15 on Sunday 7th against the Cayman Islands, with the Men’s basketball team playing at 7:30 against Menorca at Victoria Stadium.

It is worth noting if you haven’t done already that roads will be closed on Sunday the 7th of July from 7:30am till 13:00pm for the triathlon and from 17:00pm till 22:00pm for cycling via town criterium.

The roads closed are as follows:

Triathlon : Eastern Beach Road, Sir Herbert Miles Road, Dudley Ward Tunnel & Europa Advance Road

Cycling : Bishop Caruana Road, Queensway, Reclamation Road & Europort Avenue.

*We at the Panorama, and the people of Gibraltar, wish the Gibraltarian teams the best of luck for the Island Games.

05-07-19 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR