Brad Hindle Deguara made his first competitive appearance of the season earlier this month when he took part in the Top Squash Open in Luxembourg.

The Maltese professional player approached the tournament with the sole intention of regaining his competitive edge after a few weeks out due to injury.

In the opening round, he beat 11th seed Daniel Kaiser 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9) but in the quarter-finals, Hindle-Deguara was handed a tougher task when he was paired with New Zealand’s Khasif Shuja, ranked third in the tournament.

The match turned out to be a thrilling affair that lasted five sets.

Hindle Deguara had two match-points in the decider which he failed to convert and lost 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-13.

The upset left Hindle Deguara to play in the positional play-offs 5-8.

He started with a 3-1 win (11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7) over Welsh player Peter Creed. Then he was involved in another five-setter against Ireland’s Arthur Gaskin which he won 3-2 (11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9) to finish fifth overall.

“It’s a good start and a step in the right direction,” Hindle Deg-uara said.

“My ultimate goal is to start winning matches again and I’m training better and working smarter than before and I want to win more than ever.”

Hindle Deguara will be leading the national team in the upcoming European Team Championships which will be played in Amsterdam between May 1 and 5.