A team from the Malta Table Football Sports Association (MTFSA) have just taken part in the World Cup in Mons, Belgium.

Day One of the championship was reserved for the singles tournament.

Charlie Aquilina, Massimo Cremona, Jason Pisani and John Zammit played in the category for veterans, Derek Conti, Angelo Borg and Andrew Abela competed in the Open, Neil Mark Bonnici in the U-19, Juergen Balzan in the U-15 and Joseph Agius in the U-12.

The best results were achieved by Conti, Cremona and Balzan.

Conti was eliminated in the semi-finals by Italy’s Luca Colangelo and had to settle for a bronze medal in the Open tournament.

Cremona returned home with  silver after going down in the final to another Italian, Gianfranco Calonico, as Balzan made it to the quarter-final stage in the Under-15s.

The Maltese players joined forces on Day Two for the championship for teams.

The veterans’ side, captained by Aquilina and also featuring Cremona, Pisani, Zammit, Borg and Joe Zammit Pavia, were unbeaten after three draws against Gibraltar, Greece and eventual champions Italy in the group.

However, they still failed to make the cut.

Against Italy, the Maltese team led for most of the match but conceded an equaliser 10 seconds from time which dashed their qualification hopes.

Balzan, Bonnici and Agius were unable to keep up with their opponents in the U-19 tournament as the MTFSA could only field three players instead of a full complement of four.

During the World Cup, the international body, FISTF, took the opportunity to hold its annual general meeting where various matters of interest were discussed.

Malta was represented by Zammit Pavia who occupies the role of vice-president at the FISTF. Other Maltese delegates present for the meeting were Zammit and Pisani.