The Malta Table Tennis Association (MTTA) is proud to have been chosen by the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) to host the first edition of the Small States of Europe table tennis championships. The three other countries taking part, besides Malta, are Cyprus, Monaco and Isle of Man.

The final preparations are well underway at the Cottonera sports complex as the official opening is scheduled for tomorrow at 10am with the opening ceremony, after which the Maltese men and ladies’ teams will be in action.

The men’s team will play Isle of Man and the ladies will play Monaco.

In the past weeks,the Maltese teams have been going through intensive training under national coach Alex Anastasi.

The MTTA took into consideration the players’ present rankings for this season when selecting the squads.

The men’s team is made up of Edward Baldacchino, Mark Azzopardi, Alex Soler, David Pace and Claudio Tufigno. The players which form the ladies’ team are Johanna Grech, Roxanne Palla, Jessica Pace and Gayle Caruana.

Andrezeij Makowski, who together with Simon Gerada, fared so well in the Small Nations Games in Andorra last year, joined the Maltese squad on Wednesday and he will be helping out Alex Anastasi in the final players’ preparations.

All umpires in these European championships will be Maltese.