Liechtenstein will be under the spotlight in the next six days as the tiny alpine country in central Europe will play host to the 14th Games of the Small States of Europe which start this evening.

The Liechtensteiners have done their homework well after getting the green light to organise these Games to make sure that everything falls in place ahead of this evening’s traditional opening ceremony at the Rheinpark Stadium, in the picturesque capi-tal Vaduz.

Liechtenstein, bordered by Switzerland and Austria, has an area of just over 160 square kilometres with an estimated population of 35,000.

Having already staged the Games in 1999, the Liechtenstein NOC are heading for a bigger test this week as for the first time the GSSE will feature nine countries following the inclusion of Monte-negro whose admittance to the fold was made formal in Cyprus two years ago.

Although the former Yugoslav republic will only field a token contingent of 33 athletes and officials in Liechtenstein, their participation still caused a few extra headaches to the organisers who had promised to accommodate all visitors within close region of the venues despite a shortage of hotels and guest houses in the vicinities.

From the sporting aspect, Liechtenstein will be looking to bridge the gap with the other GSSE nations in terms of medals won.

At the moment, they are just one place off bottom with 36 golds and an overall tally of 126 but their chances of overtaking sixth-placed Malta (49 gold medals) may look somewhat re-mote this week... at least ac-cording to previous results.

The Maltese contingent, composed of 61 athletes, has been travelling to their des-tinations in Liechtenstein in different groups over the past few days with the last batch, comprising some members from the track and field team, due to arrive this morning.

The Maltese contingent will be spearheaded by MOC president Lino Farrugia Sacco and chef-de-mission Mark Cutajar.

Among those making the trip to Liechtenstein is William Chetcuti. Clay shooting is not included in the programme of sport but the Double Trap ace will still join the contingent after his appointment as ambassador of the MOC following his remarkable exploits in the World Cup this year.

Brad Hindle Deguara, of squash, will be Malta’s flag-bearer in tonight’s opening ceremony.

He succeeds young gymnast Adriana Zammit who carried the country’s flag at the official athletes’ parade in Cyprus two years ago. On that occasion, the Maltese returned home with 21 medals – 3 gold, 5 silver and 13 bronze.

This week, Malta will be competing in nine sport, namely, swimming, table tennis, tennis, squash, athletics, beach volley (women), target shooting, cycling and judo.

The first in action will be the squash players in the team competitions. The men’s selection open their campaign against Iceland this morning.

The squash team’s build-up to the Games was hit with the withdrawal of Michael Fiteni, a gold medallist in the 2003 GSSE. He suffered an ankle injury last week.

Hindle Deguara, ranked 84th in the world, will spearhead Malta’s challenge along with Daniel Zammit Lewis, Carl Camilleri, Joseph Desira, Nigel Dunkerley and Mark Lupi.

At the Vaduz Squash-house, the women’s team, composed of Diane Desira, Theresa Brousson, Annabelle Olivieri Munroe, Johanna Rizzo and Colette Sultana, also play their opening match against Iceland.

Executive meet

This morning, top delegates from the participating GSSE countries will convene for a general assembly, traditionally held prior to the start of the Games.

Malta will be again represented by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco and Maltese Olympic Committee secretary Joe Cassar at the delegates’ meeting.

Various items will be discussed and a technical commission for the term 2011-2013 will be nomi-nated.

Malta’s candidate will be Cutajar who served in this com-mission for the past two years.

During the meeting, the or-ganising committees of Luxembourg and Iceland, who will host the next two editions of the Games of the Small States of Europe in 2013 and 2015 res-pectively, will brief the assembly on the progress made so far in their preparations.

The bidding process for the 2017 Games is also likely to be on the agenda today.

All-time medals table