Fine showing by locals at Dingli

Thirty-five foreign players were among the 80 participants in the MTFSA Malta Open and Grand Prix which were played at the Savio College, Dingli earlier this month.

The international tournaments attracted teams from six other countries apart from Malta, namely, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Wales, England and Holland.

Besides the Malta Open and Grand Prix, the MTFSA also held other competitions for various categories, including women, veterans and teams.

The Malta Open had an entry of 54 players, grouped in 18 sections.

There was a surprise elimination from the group stages when Francesco Mattiangeli, the 22nd seed in the world, failed to make the cut.

In the last 16 stage, top seed Eric Verhagen, of Holland, lost to Italian Andrea DiVincenzo 2-0.

There were three local players still in contention at the semi-finals stage. Hansel Mallia, who faced DiVincenzo, and Joe Mifsud and Joe Borg Bonaci who figured in the other all-Maltese semi.

Borg Bonaci and DiVincenzo eventually reached the final which was won by the Perugia player following a last-minute goal in extra-time.

Grand Prix

The Grand Prix, staged on the second day of the international weekend, involved another 58-player entry list, most of whom enjoying high rankings in the world list.

Mifsud was surprisingly beaten by Kenneth Attard in the last 16 and in the quarter-finals Mark Gauci was eliminated by Verhagen in the sudden death 3-2.

Borg Bonaci lost to Italian Massimiliano Nastasi 1-0 and Attard was ousted by Greek player Kostas Triantafillou.

In the semi-finals, Verhagen was beaten by an outstanding Samwel Bartolo 2-1. However, the Maltese player failed to keep up the good work in the final where he was beaten 2-0 by Nastasi.

Falcons, of Athens, won the teams' tournament final 2-1 against 2006 winners AS Hennuyer. The Belgians are captained by Mallia.

In this competition, Hamrun pulled off an upset after defeating giants AS Perugia to qualify from the group. Hamrun and Catania were the other semi finalists.

The MTFSA was assisted by the sponsorships of McDonalds, Fino Futura, Estetika, Sports Experience and Tony Borg.