Malta commenced their commitments in Group C of the IHF Emerging Nations Trophy in style after a narrow 29-28 victory over the Chinese team.

The Maltese team, under the charge of head coach Joseph Tanti and his assistant Ian Psaila, are playing in the tournament for the first time. The competition is being held in Kosovo.

Most of the teams at the tournament are from Europe but other continents are represented as well with China, Uruguay, Australia and Cameroon also fielding their men’s teams in the competition.

In all, there are 16 nations taking part. Kosovo became full EHF members last September when delegates at a congress in Dublin voted in their majority to grant them full recognition.

China took the early initiative at the Gjokova arena but Malta hit back as the game developed into a balanced encounter with the lead changing hands several times.

Then, before half-time, Malta hit six goals without reply to open a comfortable five-goal margin only for China to reduce the arrears and stay in contention ahead of a tense second half.

Neither side succeeded in claiming a breakthrough but a few seconds from time Malta opened a one-goal lead.

China tried desperately hard to save the match but in the end they ran out of time.

The final whistle saw a jubilant Maltese team savour a hard-earned but deserved victory.

In another match from Group C, Moldova, the favourites, beat Ireland 43-20.

Following the preliminary round, the two best-ranked teams in each of the four groups advance to the quarter-finals, while the remaining eight teams will figure in classification matches – 9-16 positions.

The medal matches will take place on Friday when the winners of the first IHF Emerging Nations men’s championship will be determined.

Malta’s build-up to the tournament in Kosovo started back in April with Tanti and Psaila conducting the first training sessions at the University Sports Hall after naming their provisional selection.

The squad in Kosovo is composed of Philip Mifsud, Kurt Bugeja, Alex Di Pilato, Damian Gargano (Aloysians); Mauro Camilleri Darmanin, Maurice Meli, Alan Portelli (La Salle); Luke Zammit, Jeremy Fenech, James Rausi (Kavallieri); Clinton Mifsud, Roberto Lagana (Phoenix); and Daniel Tanti and Aidan Tanti (Luxol).

Physiotherapist Jade Portelli is also part of the contingent.

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