MTTA to host ITTF Junior Open this week

After hosting the World Schools Championships last year, the Malta Table Tennis Association (MTTA) has been entrusted with another top-level tournament when the ITTF Junior Open will be played at the Cottonera SC this weekend.

Around 100 players from 16 countries are here for the competition, starting tomorrow. The Maltese team is composed of 17 players in the junior and cadet divisions.

"Hosting this tournament is a huge boost for us as we seek to improve our grassroots section," MTTA president Joe Borg Cardona said.

"Due to various reasons, it's difficult for us to send players abroad so we worked hard to bring this tournament to Malta.

"Given the array of talent among the foreign teams, the main objective should be to provide our team the opportunity to gain valuable experience. It will be interesting to see how players like Daniel Bajada, at 14 years the no.1 in our rankings, will fare in this arena."

Raul Calin, chief of the ITTF Technical Commission, expressed his delight that Malta has been included among the venues for junior events.

"We are pleased to hand Malta this opportunity," he said.

"We are impressed with the MTTA's commitment to the sport at this level and hopefully this will be the first of many ITTF tournaments to be played here."

The team of officials will include Italian and Maltese umpires.

They will be spearheaded by Tournament Referee Andreas Georgiou, of Cyprus.

Malta team
Boys: D. Bajada, D. Fondacaro Vella, S. Bugeja, A. Gambina, P. Dawson, Dan. Portelli, A. Portelli, Dar. Portelli, M. Portelli, R. Tabone, L.A. Minuti, S. Agius, K. Vanhear, M. Ebejer, J. Camilleri, J. Zammit.
Girls: J. Pace.