Eligibility of table tennis players

Joe Borg Cardona, president Malta Table Tennis Association, writes:

Reference is made to Pippo Psaila's review 'Team Malta's Worst GSSE Performance Since 1995' published in The Times on June 11.

We think it is unfair for someone to undermine the integrity of the Malta Table Tennis Association by pointing fingers in connection with the case of our foreign players.

In all GSSE editions, including those of Psaila's era, we worked hand in hand with the Director of Sport to select the best team possible.

The Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC) was always aware of the situation. It is strange, however, for someone to doubt the players' eligibility now given that in Monaco both Yu Wang and Andrejz Makowski played for Team Malta.

It was even more strange for us to see the GSSE International Committee in Cyprus deciding against all our foreigners but give San Marino the green light to field a well-known Chinese player who competed with a club in Italy this year.

The table tennis team in Cyprus again proved to be competitive and won a medal against all odds. We also showed that we have valid youngsters coming up such as 16-year-old Daniel Bajada.

I can also mention other names in our youth team, the likes of Jessica Pace, Daniel Vella Fondicaro, Matthew Micallef, Andrew Gambina and others, who, like Bajada, could be valid players for Team Malta.

This group of youngsters was nurtured by the hard work of our association, nurseries, dedicated coaches and, of course, with the experience of foreign players.

My last words are in the form of an appeal to both MOC and Kunsill Malti għall-iSport.

Let us try to find a solution to work together in harmony and upgrade the level of sports in our country. We have to stop useless feuds which do not help in creating the best environment that our athletes deserve.