ALEX ANASTASI is a household name in the game of table-tennis. I have always known him as one of the island’s top players, especially since I started working in the field of sports journalism in 1967. And I always know him to be successful, first as a player and later, including today, as a coach. He has won many titles in all categories and has guided Malta’s national teams to great successes in the Small Nations Games, since the discipline of table-tennis was introduced to the Games in 1997 in Iceland. Despite his age, he is still very active and he has just formed part of the Maltese contingent which took part in the recent Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where he was coach of the Gerada brothers – Simon and Wayne. Here he tells his story to Henry Brincat.

When I asked Alex how he was lured to start playing table-tennis, he started laughing. But he went on to explain, “It was by sheer coincidence. At school, I was always keen on football. Though born in Hamrun, my father Emmanuel, who was from Valletta, used to take me training with the Floriana Minors. Yet, one day at Bugibba, I was at a place of the family Frendo. The father was involved with the MTTA. His children – my friends – asked me to join them playing table-tennis and I said I did not know how to play the game. But I started playing just the same. After one month, I was already beating them all. Soon after, I took part in an Under 14 tournament and I won it. After this win, I was lured to take part in the Under 14 Malta championship and I also won that title immediately. It was there that I felt that I had something to offer in this game, and I never looked back,” he said.

Anastasi, who also played the clarinet under the tutorship of the well-known Freddie Mizzi, has had a very successful career which has seen him playing alongside some well-known players. “Locally there were Alfred Sciberras, Tony Pellegrini Petit, Victor Cachia, Arthur Lentini, Lolly Balbi, George Curran, Charles Curran, Sergeant Brown and another whose surname was Wilson. I have also played against world class players in my travels for European and world events, and against the famous Chinese players while they were on a visit to Malta in 1972,” he added.

Anastasi won his first Malta title in 1972. “I was still 21 years old. I had already been selected with the national team in 1967, but my real breakthrough came against the visiting formidable Chinese players. In one match, I was winning 2-0, but I could not withstand the pressure and eventually lost the match 3-2. It was one of my most memorable moments in my career,” he added.

He also thinks the victories in the Games for the European Small States as a coach were all memorable moments in a career during which he has represented the country in international competitions probably much more than others.

He added: “I also remember the day when we finished second in the European Third Division league in Portugal, thanks to Lu Li Ping. Then in Sicily, four years ago, we won all our Girone C1 matches and were not allowed to take part in a senior division as the Italians said that we were far superior to them. Another great moment was in Guernsey where we won promotion to the Second Division.”

But there were also some disappointments in his career. For example, in the 1979 Mediterranean Games in Split, he had suffered an injury before departure. “I was given some pain-killing injections by the late Dr Muscat. I was drawn against the African No. 1 from Egypt and he beat me convincingly. I was overwhelmed by my opponent,” he said. He added: “Two days later, to make it an even worse experience for me, I had to meet the Greek Djakakis and was leading 2-0 when the lights went off. The match resumed after two hours and I eventually lost it 3-2. That showed that I was not prepared mentally to face such an interruption,” he said.

During his career, spanning almost 40 years, Anastasi has seen so many chances in the rubber selection. “When I started playing, it was sandpaper. Later it was changed to pimples, Japanese rubber, anti-top rubber, long pimple rubber, and lately, fresh glue before one plays. Of course we had to make our own adjustments to all these changes,” he said.

Anastasi said there were other changes in the format of the scores (from 21 to 11 points) and the colour of the balls and the tables – white balls with green tables and yellow balls with blue tables. “With the smaller number of points contested, it is evident that one cannot afford to miss points today,” he said.

He also recalled a curious incident early in his career. “In 1964/65 I used to train with a certain man called Doddy from RAF Libya who was a Jew. I had almost forgotten all about him when one day, during a tournament in Parioli, Italy, in 1978, one of the officials, named Davide, came over to me and said he had known a Maltese player with the name of Anastasi. I told him I was that person – there was no other Anastasi in the local game – but I told him that I only knew someone called Doddy. He said he was that Doddy, explaining later that he had to change his name from Davide, simply because he was a Jew. But I was really glad to have met him once again,” said Anastasi.

The Malta coach is proud of the players with whom he has played and those he has coached. “Among them there are Joe Borg Cardona (Men’s Doubles) and the late Moyra Pullicino (Mixed Doubles). In both instances, we had formidable partnerships. I have also coached Mario Genovese and Johanna Grech who are considered to be Malta’s top players in the more recent years, both having won several titles,” he said.

Anastasi’s advice to the youngsters: “Be fit and you will be successful.” Fitness has always been his main weapon. In fact he still enjoys jogging till today and in the past he also took part in the Malta Half Marathon on seven occasions. So far, he is still on the run and has not yet decided on a day to quit the sport he loves so much.

Alex Anastasi – a profile

Date of birth: 23 August 1949

Education: St Joseph, Paola, and St Albert the Great College, Valletta.

Work career: He always worked at his family’s shop named Anastasi Shoe Store in St John’s Street, Valletta.

Sport career: He started playing in 1962 taking part in all the men’s events organised by the Malta Table-Tennis Association. He has played at club and international levels for several seasons and is still active today, although almost 57 years old.

National team/international participation: He represented Malta in several World and European Championships, played in the Sicilian League A2 in the late 1960s and won a Mixed Doubles festival in Tunis together with the late Moyra Pullicino, beating Tunisians, Moroccans, French and Chinese pairs in 1974. He also won an Open singles tournament in Parioli, Rome and finished runner-up with an English partner in the men’s doubles event in a Coventry event. In 1975, he also won an Open singles event in Sicily.

Coaching career: He has been coach of the Maltese national team for several years and has led the team to its successes in the Small Nations Games since table-tennis was introduced to the Games in Iceland in 1997. He has attended several coaching courses, his first being in 1974 in Malta where the lecturer was then the Italian national coach, Enzo Petinelli. He then attended courses organised by the European Table-Tennis Union in Sweden, Greece, Guernsey (twice), Sweden again, and then another by the International Table-Tennis Federation in Sevilla, Spain, in 1997. In between, he also attended three other courses – “Olympic Solidarity” – twice in Poland and on another occasion in Malta.

Administrative career: Apart from being coach of the national teams, he is also the vice-president of the Malta Table-Tennis Association.

Awards/successes: He has won the men’s singles Malta title on five occasions and the men’s veterans title three times. He has won the National Teams League on approximately 25 occasions, the men’s doubles 15 times and the Mixed Doubles on 20 occasions. Earlier he had also been successful in claiming the Under 14 title twice and the Under 18 title four times. He was also successful in the national sporting contests. He was a finalist in the Sportsman of the Year contest in 1985, 1992 and 1993, but finally won the title of Official of the Year in 1997.

Family: Alex is married to Nadia who works voluntarily at the Island Sanctuary at Delimara, taking care of 170 dogs. They have two children, Claudio and Mauro.