First edition starts tomorrow at Cottonera

The first Small States of Europe Championship gets underway tomorrow at the Cottonera Sports Complex.

This tournament, organised by the Malta Table Tennis Association under the auspices of the European Table Tennis Union, will be contested by Andorra, Cyprus, Monaco, Isle of Man and Malta.

Malta will take part in both the men's and women's categories.

The men's team is made up of Edward Baldacchino, Mark Azzopardi, Alex Soler, David Pace and Claudio Tufigno.

Johanna Grech, Roxanne Palla, Jessica Pace and Gayle Caruana are the four members of the women's team.

Over the past weeks, the Maltese players have been preparing in earnest for this championship under the guidance of coach Alex Anastasi.

Andrzeij Makowski, a gold medal winner for Malta in the men's team event at the 2005 Andorra GSSE where he partnered Simon Gerada, was due to join the Maltese contingent yesterday to assist Anastasi with the final training of the players.

The opening ceremony of the Small States of Europe Championship is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow.

The first matches from the men's team category will commence soon after the opening ceremony with Malta taking on the Isle of Man in the men's competition and Monaco in the women's section.