Makowski, Gerada relinquish title

Andrzej Makowski and Simon Gerada's bid to defend their GSSE team's competition title ended in tatters yesterday after they were beaten by Giles Michely and Aleandro De Sousa, of Luxembourg, 3-0.

After a flawless run to the final, Makowski and Gerada were tipped as favourites to retain the honour they won in Andorra two years ago. However, the Luxembourg duo proved too strong for them on the day.

Gerada and Makowski started the day with their third successive win in the qualifying phase after outclassing Cyprus 3-0. Luxembourg had a more difficult route to the final and only managed to edge out Iceland 3-2.

The final commenced with Makowski losing the opening singles against Michely in a five-set thriller. The other singles match was more outright as De Sousa eased past Gerada 3-0 to put Luxembourg in the driving seat.

The doubles' leg was Malta's final chance to stay in contention. With the result at 0-2, Makowski and Gerada had no option but to win. Luxembourg had other ideas though and went on to seal success and a gold medal with a tight doubles win.

"Sport is like that... sometimes you win and sometimes you lose," a dejected Gerada told The Times.

"Two years ago everything was perfect for us but this time things did not work out that way. Andrej and I did all we could but in the end it was just not enough.

"Now we have to put this setback behind us and focus on the other two competitions this week."

Joanna Grech and Yu Wheng also made the medals' zone after finishing third in the women's competition for teams.

In the morning session, the Malta pair played the final group match against Monaco with the winner advancing to the semi-finals.

Yu put Malta on the way in the opening singles but Grech lost hers and the tie was locked at one-all. However, Wheng and Grech combined perfectly in the doubles leg to go 2-1 up before Wheng won her reverse singles rubber comfortably for a 3-1 win.

Things looked good for Team Malta in the semi-final against San Marino when Wheng earned the first point after beating Yan Chimei.

However, San Marino hit back quickly through D'Yao Yi and in doubles to take a 2-1 lead. Grech had to win her reverse singles to keep the tie alive but lost to Chimei. The other losing semi-finalists in the competition, Cyprus, were also awarded a bronze medal. They were beaten by Luxembourg.

"Our foremost objective in Monaco was to make the semi-finals in the teams event, so we're pleased to have achieved that. Against San Marino we came up short in key moments of the match," coach Tania Hain-Hoffman said.

"There are still two competitions left. I feel our best chance of adding a medal is in the singles where Yu can challenge the top players in the tournament."