Matthew Asciak has won the BOV Malta Men’s Masters singles tournament 2010, the final event of the Malta Tennis Federation’s calendar that was held at the Vittoriosa Lawn Tennis Club.
The BOV Malta Men’s Masters singles tournament is a technical assessment of national players in preparation for the team’s international commitments. The tournament featured eight players in two groups playing round robin with the top two in each group facing each other in the semifinals.
The two groups were as follows:
Group A, Matthew Asciak, Mark Gatt, Simon Camilleri and Raphael Sammut.
Group B: Denzil Agius, Omar Suzuoka, Patrick Georgiev and Aaron Stivala.
In the semifinals, Asciak topped group A and was subsequently on the victorious side against Aaron Stivala in the semifinal.
Denzil Agius secured the best performances in Group B and beat his much younger opponent Raphael Sammut in the second semifinal. In the final, Asciak emerged victorious in the final beating Agius 6-0, 6-0.
Edward Muscat Azzopardi, Head Marketing at Bank of Valletta presented the prizes to the winner and the runner-up after the final.
“I take this opportunity to congratulate Matthew on winning the first tournament under the new collaboration between Bank of Valletta and the Malta Tennis Federation” said Muscat Azzopardi. “As a major supporter of sporting events on the Maltese Islands, it is our pleasure to collaborate with the MTF to promote the sport and to improve the level of the game in Malta”.
It is through the backing of sponsors like the Bank of Valletta that such events are made possible. Mark Camilleri, Vice President of the Federation, said that this event was the opportune moment to announce the sponsorship agreement reached with the BoV who clearly are committed to sponsoring local sport. He welcomed the BoV as a commercial partner to the game joining the two other prestigious firms Go plc and GasanMamo Insurance Limited.
Federation News
During the year the Federation decided to promote two 14 year old players to the ranks of national team after having considered recommendations made by the national team coach Gordon Asciak.
Bernard Cassar Toreggiani and Raphael Sammut currently number one and two respectively in the Under 16 Boys rankings have shown promise for the future in their national team training programme.
This decision in fact has already started to pay off dividends as Raphael Sammut’s result of reaching the semifinal stage shows. Unfortunately Bernard Cassar Toreggiani was not available to participate as he is recovering from injury.