Special Feature

Malta in the San Marino 2001 GSSE

 The Road to San Marino - Table-Tennis

Table-tennis has been in the limelight following the withdrawal from the national squad of influential Chinese players Lu Liping and Chen Chen. These two players have been the backbone of the national side which has brought Malta glory in the past two editions of the Small Nations' Games.

The absence of Lu Liping will be compensated by Simon Gerada who has been brought over from Australia. The 19 year old player was the top ranked player in Australia before the land down under decided to give him the cold shoulder and exclude him from the side which made the trip to Japan for the World Championships.

Gerada who has been engaged by a Polish club for the past year is very enthusiastic about representing Malta in San Marino. He is ranked just outside the top one hundred table-tennis players worldwide and is expected to do very well in San Marino.

The young lad may be tempted to compete for Malta on a more permanent basis especially if he manages to put pen to paper with an Italian club over the coming days.

The Maltese contingent has been following a rigorous training programme spanning the entire week under the watchful eyes of Alex Anastasi and Mario Genovese. The national team players underwent a number of sessions with sports psychologist Adele Muscat. The Maltese players who will be making the trip to San Marino have competed in the World Championships which were held in Japan in late April and early May. Apart from this showdown, local athletes were also involved in an international tournament which was held in Malta and which pitted their skills against Sicilians and Yugoslavs. Johanna Grech and Timothy Buttigieg also took part in an international tournament which was held in Sicily at the beginning of this year.

Table-tennis has become one of the pillars of these games since the Luxembourg edition in 1995. Luxembourg is one of the strongest sides in Europe in this disciplines and their athletes are once again expected to be among the front runners for the gold medals contested in San Marino.

Malta has managed some excellent results at these games amassing a total of nine medals including three gold in the last two editions as no medals were won by our side in Luxembourg.

Meanwhile, the host country has engaged two Chinese ladies who will be donning the San Marino jersey during these games.

The absence of Lu Liping means a call up for Mark Azzopardi who will partner Simon Gerada and Timothy Buttigieg. Meanwhile, no replacement for Chen Chen was nominated and as a result our two ladies in San Marino will be Johanna Grech and Christine Cassar Torregiani.

A total of six events are up for grabs: men's and ladies' singles, men's and ladies' doubles and men's and ladies' team events. Our athletes will be competing in all the events.

Table-tennis events will be contested over a consecutive four day period commencing on Tuesday 29th May. The team events will be contested on Tuesday and Wednesday whereas all the other finals will be held on Friday June 1.

The two singles competitions will be played in two groups using the round robin system. The first two players in each pool will progress to the semi-finals. The draws will be held during the technical meeting which is scheduled for Monday May 28.