The Maltese national teams have returned home from Cyprus with a well deserved silver and bronze medals.

The women’s team, consisting of Annabelle Diamantino, Johanna Rizzo, Sue Aquilina and reserves Roberta Pace Grima and Liz Said, improved dramatically on last year’s fifth place and finished in the silver medal position behind last year’s champions Luxembourg.

The Malta ladies got off to a good start beating hosts Cyprus 2-1 in the opening match.

Victories against Monaco, Iceland and Liechtenstein followed with the final match against Luxembourg deciding this year’s championship.

Sue Aquilina lost against the more experienced Isabel Juan.

Johanna Rizzo, who the day before demolished her opponent from Iceland 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 got off to a very nervous start against Francoise Donven who went on to win in three very close games 3-0.

With the gold medal already lost, Annabelle Diamantino played in what was a ‘dead rubber’ against Luxembourg’s number 1 Sandra Denis. Diamantino, who had performed well all week put up a good display but with nothing to play for and the wind out of her sails went down 3-1.

Malta coach Paul Lake who before the event was expecting “a medal” pointed out that the biggest difference between the two teams was the higher level of international experience that the Luxembourg team had.

Next year’s event for European Small Nations will be held in Luxembourg and the Malta ladies will be hoping to improve on their silver medal and go one step better by winning gold, possibly in another final against Luxembourg in Luxembourg!

The Malta men’s team played hosts and defending champions Cyprus in their opening match.

As expected a sizeable crowd turned out to watch the home team start their campaign.

Ivan Balzan started against Frixos Frixou in what the hosts expected to be an ‘easy match.

As usual, Balzan played with his usual effort, determination and ‘never say die’ attitude and left the court after nearly 70 minutes with a 3-2 victory.

Bernard Bugeja, playing on the next court against Marios Yiannou was also involved in a tough match which lasted over one hour before eventually losing 3-2.

Steve Schranz, at number 3, lost to youngster George Hadjiphilippou in three close games 3-0. Luke Giacchino, playing at number 2, offered some resistance against the much more experienced Nasos Karasavvas but eventually lost 3-0. In the last match Joe Desira lost to Cyprus number 1 Panos Hadjiphilippou.

Later that afternoon, Malta beat Monaco 5-0 and Liechtenstein 3-2 before going down to Iceland 2-3 to earn the bronze medal.