Battling Gerada goes down in singles semi-finals

Simon Gerada was denied a place in the men's singles final yesterday by San Marino player Dagi Wang who won the semi-final 3-1 at the Evangelos Florakis Hall in Nicosia.

Gerada gave a good account of himself against the highly-rated Wang, of Asian descent. Wang plies his trade in the Italian top league with Modena.

Gerada was off to a flier when he managed to come from behind to win the opening set 11-9. However, Wang clicked into gear and applied his devastating forehand to good use to turn the match on its head by claiming the next two sets 11-8 and 11-7.

Gerada came out strong in the fourth set and took a 4-1 lead. However, Wang got back in contention and at 9-all forced the Maltese player to commit two errors that handed the final berth to the San Marino player.

In the final, Eggert Stephenson, of Iceland, beat Wang 3-1 to win the gold medal. The women's tournament was won by Luxembourg's Lian Ni Xa.

Speaking to The Sunday Times after the match, Gerada admitted that he had lost to a more accomplished player.

"Wang put me under a lot of pressure throughout the match," Gerada said.

"His only weakness is his backhand. I was always trying hard to attack him in that area but I ended up committing costly mistakes.

"All in all, I'm pleased to be back among the medal winners in the GSSE."

Gerada said the bronze medal in Cyprus came at an appropriate time in his life when he had just rediscovered his love for the sport.

"Since my first GSSE for Malta back in 2001, I had been through an interesting ride that saw me leaving Australia at the age of 19," Gerada said.

"After the poor show of 2007, I returned home and finally settled down after so many years on the road. Today I can say that I am enjoying my table tennis even better. I am always looking forward to play for Malta and expect more players like Daniel Bajada to break through."