Gerada, Makowski and Wheng close in on semi-final berths
Male players in Malta team prefer to go it alone
Simon Gerada, Andrzej Makowski and Yu Wheng are in a good position to reach the semi-finals of the singles competition after encouraging starts at the Louis II Stadium Hall yesterday.
Playing in Group A, Gerada chalked up three wins from four matches, beating Patrick Rodriguez, of Andorra, 3-0, Monaco's Eric Andre 3-0 and Marco Vannucci, of San Marino, 3-0. Today, he completes his round robin commitments when he plays against Guomundur Stephensen, of Iceland, and Luxembourg's top player Giles Michely.
Makowski yesterday conceded one defeat from five matches in Group B.
He started badly, losing to Ogyan Serafimov, of Cyprus, 3-1 but responded in style, brushing aside the challenge of Sylvain Franceschi, of Andorra, 3-0, Monaco's Arnaud Manfredi 3-1, Riccardo Tentoni, of San Marino, 3-0, and Peter Fromselt, of Liechtenstein, 3-0.
Today, the Polish-born Makowski plays two tough matches against Arlindo De Sousa, of Luxembourg, and Magnus Magnusson, of Iceland.
In the women's singles, Wheng has a perfect record in her group after identical 3-0 victories over Louisa Kourea (Cyprus), Anouk Meis (Luxembourg), Olaf Magnes (Luxembourg) and Sylvia Mouret (Monaco).
Today, she completes her first stage matches when facing San Marino's Yan Chimei.
Grech's chances of qualification look slim after completing the day with two wins and two defeats. She beat Manuella Bertrand (Andorra) and Ana Bjornsdottir (Iceland) 3-1 but lost to San Marino's Yi Diao 3-0 and Gerganou Atanova, of Cyprus, 3-2. Monaco's Orphelle Nudin and Lian Ni Xian, Luxembourg, are Grech's opponents today.
Coaching options
Gerada and Makowski yesterday raised a few eyebrows after it transpired that they had refused the technical assistance of national coach Tania Hain-Hoffmann during the Monaco GSSE.
In fact, for the teams event and singles Gerada and Makowski opted not to have anyone on the bench and offered to give instructions to each other during their matches.
"Andrzej and Simon informed the table tennis association that they had opted to do without the services of coach Hain-Hoffmann in Monaco," chef-de-mission Pippo Psaila told reporters yesterday.
"She was prepared to sit on the coach's bench during their match but they felt that they could handle the situation by themselves. It's a situation we were aware of and we couldn't intervene."
Germany's Hain-Hoffmann is a renowned player on the continent. After the Monaco GSSE, the world no.55 will be travelling to South Korea to compete in a WTTA tournament.