Maltese table-tennis players Simon Gerada and Andreze Makowski won GSSE gold in the men's table tennis team competition with a nail-biting victory over Luxembourg, to clinch the first medal up for grabs in this discipline at Andorra.

The Maltese looked unstoppable after taking a 2-0 lead but the players from Luxembourg fought back to take them to a deciding game.

It had started brightly for Malta when the number one seed Simon Gerada brushed aside Simon Fabie 3-1 (7-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-8). Then, Andreze Makowski continued the rout by beating Luxembourg's De Sousa 3-1 (11-6, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8).

In the doubles, Luxembourg attempted to turn around their fortunes by defeating the Maltese pair 3-1 (11-8, 10-12, 9-11, 11-5). Luxembourg's De Sousa produced a tenacious fight-back to grab the fourth match against Simon Gerada.

Gerada got off to a commanding start, taking the first two sets with ease but when he was just one set away from sealing the victory, he lost the rhythm, allowing De Sousa to take match four (14-16, 12-14, 11-6, 11-2, 11-6). But Makowski soon got Malta back in the rhythm to land a momentous victory for Malta.

“It was about time for us to win a gold medal at the GSSE. On various occasions, we were so close to clinch a gold medal but table-tennis is difficult to predict. This medal will serve as a boost for the continuation of the games”, a relieved Simon Gerada said.

On his part, Makowski argued that the team's title is the most prestigious medal. “It shows that Malta is a force in table-tennis”, he added. “Today, we bore fruit for all the hard-work that has been done in the past four years”, Maltese coach Mario Genovese - who was in the team in 1999 when Malta clinched the last team title - said at the end of the match.

On reaching the final, Malta beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in the semi-final earlier on.