Malta debuted in the Paralympic movement at the 1960 Summer Paralympics. Excepting the period between 1988 and 2004, the island country had participated in eight Summer Paralympic Games and medalled a total of seven times in athletics, lawn bowls, snooker and table tennis. The 2012 Summer Paralympics were held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 with a total of 4,237 athletes representing 164 National Paralympic Committees. Matthew Sultana, a short-distance swimmer, was the sole athlete to represent Malta at the London Summer Paralympics; he was chosen as the country's flag bearer for the parade of nations during the opening ceremony. He and his coach Ebi Mohammadpour travelled to London on 30 August. Marathon runner Derren Fenech met the minimum qualifying standards for his event; a number of athletes who had times lower than three hours created an upper limit on participants and forced him to withdraw.