Malta’s men’s and women’s teams had mixed fortunes on the first day of their competitions yesterday.

The men’s team won one match and lost two others and was eliminated, while the women’s team lost two matches and won another to remain in the round-robin competition.

In the men’s competition, the team composed of Simon Gerada and Daniel Bajada started with an impressive 3-0 win over Iceland.

Simon Gerada beat Kari Mimisson 3-0 in the first match and Daniel Bajada then beat K. Magnus Magnusson 3-1 to make it 2-0 for Malta. In the doubles clash, Gerada and Bajada beat the Cypriot pair 3-1 to assure the Malta team of its win.

In their second match, the Maltese pair were narrowly beaten 3-2 by newcomers Montenegro.

Gerada beat Bakic Luka 3-1, but Bajada lost 0-3 to Cekic Ifran. In the doubles, the Montenegrins won 3-1, but it was again level at 2-2 after Gerada defeated Irfan in the first of the reverse singles. In the deciding singles match, Luka defeat Bajada 3-0 to give Montenegro their first win. Earlier they had lost to Cyprus 3-2.

In the final match, Malta lost to Cyprus.

The women’s team suffered two defeats at the hands of Luxembourg and Cyprus.

In the match against Cyprus, the young and inexperienced Jessica Pace lost 3-0 to Kourea Louiza, but Lu Pengfei beat Mikova Ana convincingly 3-0. Cyprus won the doubles encounter 3-1 and went on to win the first reverse singles match to clinch a 3-1 win.

Lu Pengfei also won her first match against Luxembourg beating De Nutte Sarah 3-2 after Jessica Pace had lost 3-0 to Ni Xia Lian. Luxembourg won the doubles 3-0 and the match was over when Lu Pengfei lost to Ni Xia Lian 3-1.

The only victory arrived against San Marino. They play their final match in the team tournament today.