Youngsters hone skills at Eurokids Camp

The Malta Table Tennis Association has just hosted the Eurokids Camp with the participation of players from 14 other countries besides Malta. These hailed from Belgium, Czech Rep., Holland, Italy, Spain, Luxemburg, Cyprus, Estonia, Turkey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Moldova, Israel and Azerbaijan.

"We had players of different levels of knowledge and cultures but all of them were like one European family.

"We had excellent conditions and 20 tables in the big hall that was available for training throughout the whole day," Aleksey Yefremov, the head coach, said.

Among the priorities at the Eurokids Camp was giving youngsters a chance to improve their skills and to introduce new training methods and exercises on the table.

All participants then competed in the Mini Champ Challenge Trophy.

Activities were held at the Tal-Qroqq Sports Hall.

"The schedule was demanding," Yefremov said.

"We used all the time we had for table tennis only. There were three sessions daily and we practised on strokes and movement techniques. We also had our coaches attending seminars that covered various aspects of the game."

The MTTA is now focusing on the first Juniors International Table Tennis Open at the Cottonera Sports Complex. This tournament, between March 8 and 15, forms part of the International Table Tennis Federation Junior Circuit.