Gerada tops all-Malta contest

Simon Gerada yesterday won Malta's first men's singles title in six years, defeating team-mate Andrzej Makowski 3-1 in the final at the Encamp Sports Pavilion.

For Gerada, this was his second GSSE title in a week after teaming up with Makowski to top the competition for teams. The result also wrapped up a great week for the Malta Table Tennis Association clan who return home with a total of three medals following the bronze in the doubles on Friday.

The singles final yesterday also marked a first for GSSE table tennis as never in the previous ten editions had two players representing the same country contested the gold medal match.

"This is absolutely awesome," Gerada told The Sunday Times yesterday.

"I have been dreaming of winning a gold medal in the GSSE since my first participation in San Marino and to obtain two in one edition is remarkable... simply fantastic.

"Our main target was that both Andrzej and I reached the final and once we both qualified it didn't really matter much who would win gold... whatever the result, one of us was sure to receive the gold medal."

Gerada's passage to the final was far more strenuous than Makowski's. The Polish-born player breezed through to the final after a comfortable-looking 3-1 win over Airlindo De Sousa, of Luxembourg.

Gerada had a far more difficult assignment after going two sets down against Iceland's top player Gudmundur Stephensen.

But the Melbourne-based player refused to buckle. Inspired by the presence on the sidelines of coach Mario Genovese and MTTA official Alex Anastasi, he was soon back in business before executing some excellent shots that soon put him level at 2-2.

Gerada took the early initiative in the decider, building a 5-3 advantage. Stephensen came back and levelled matters at 7-7 but that did little to unsettle Gerada who sealed victory with an impeccable forehand.

The final was played in a friendly spirit with Gerada taking the first match before Makowski equalised after a tie break. Gerada then seemed to step up a gear and took the next two frames to crown a memorable day.

Despite his defeat in the final, Makowski was still happy with the result as he believed that more important on the day was that Malta occupied the highest two places on the podium.

"I am very happy for Simon because he has been trying to win the singles title for four years now... he deserves it," Makowski said.

"To be honest, it was a bit strange playing against him but at the same time it meant that we had succeeded in putting Maltese table-tennis on top for the second time during the week."

Striking GSSE gold was one of Gerada's chief ambitions. The 24-year-old has now set his sights on fulfilling another dream... winning a medal in next year's Commonwealth Games in Australia.

"That is my main goal now," he said. "I have been playing table-tennis since I was nine and I always dreamt of winning a medal in the Commonwealth Championships. The one of 2006 has extra value for me as it will be staged in my home town.

"It's going to be tough, but in life you don't gain anything unless you work hard for it and that is what I'm going to do from now on."

Anastasi said winning two golds, one silver and a bronze medal was indeed a remarkable achievement even though he had also been highly optimistic that the doubles title would go to Gerada and Makowski.

"We clearly had the best two players here and I feel that we should have taken all three titles at stake but you can't have everything in life I suppose," he said.

"Hopefully, we can keep the good work going and go one better in two years' time."

Women's singles: Chumei Yan (San Marino) bt Simonne Haan (Luxembourg) 3-0.