Malta’s table-tennis veteran Johanna Grech will be taking part in her seventh edition when she represents Malta in Monaco.

She is definitely the athlete who has represented the country most in these Games, although she did not speak of retirement yet.

And she is looking forward to another medal-winning edition here as she partners Yu Whang in the women’s doubles competition.

Grech said: “We feel we do not have a chance to win gold unless we manage to surprise Luxembourg. These shocked us by bringing over the European No. 2 in their squad and this means they are the great favourites. So we can only hope of fighting for the second place with the others,” she said.

Training with them yesterday was their coach Tanya Hein Hoffmann. They have been in contact with her through their sponsors during the past three years. But they have only been training under her charge since February.

In the men’s field, Malta will again be represented by Simon Gerada and Andrzj Makowski.

Speaking on behalf of both, Gerada said: “We will have to fight hard from tomorrow (Tuesday) and in the four days of the competition. We know we can win and we also know we can lose. We had lost four years ago in Malta, but we won in Andorra. We are here to do our best and we hope to win again. Anything can happen,” he said.