During the second weekend of March, Joseph Mifsud and Hansel Mallia were the only Maltese ambassadors to participate in the International Open and Grand Prix which were held in Washington DC, United States. Malta’s last participation in a US event was way back in 1994.

In the quarter final stage, Mifsud won his match, while Mallia lost on golden goal after a 3-3 tie, against American top player, Zach Walker. In the semi final stage, Mifsud lost to Austria’s Wolfgang Haas by just one goal. Eric Verhagen won the final 3-0 over the Austrian.

On Sunday, the International Open was held. Although groups were more tight for the Maltese, both players managed to win and qualify.

Mifsud and Mallia continued with their positive performance and managed qualification. Mifsud beat Jeremy Meyler 5-0 and Greg Deinhart 3-0, while Mallia beat Paul Eyes 8-0 and Zach Walker 1-0.

At the semi final stage, both Maltese had hard opponents where Mifsud met Wolfgang Haas of Austria. Although Mifsud dictated play for most of the match, his shooting was not so perfect and the Maltese lost 2-0.

Mallia, on the other hand, met the world’s top player Eric Verhagen. Mallia was losing 2-0 by half time but he equalised 2-2 during the second half.

However, Mallia conceived a late goal in the dying seconds of the match and all hopes were lost. In the final, Verhagen beat Haas 3-1 to win both events and retain his number one position.

During the same weekend, Massimo Cremona was involved in the International Open at Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.

Cremona won his group and qualified to the following stage. However he had to step down at quarter-final stage were he lost to the Spaniard Angel Valverde 3-0. Valverde won this event 4-1 to Kostas Kechkris of Greece in the final.

After these events, Cremona retained his second position, Mifsud went to 11th, and Mallia obtained 14th place in the world ranking list.