Seven young players – brothers Neil and Isaac Axisa, Matthew and Mark Abela, Sam Cassar, Nigel Degaetano and Sarah Fava – have just taken part in the Merano International Youth Tournament, returning home satisfied with their results and performances.
In Italy, the players were accompanied by coaches Edmond Abela, Patrick Cassar and Norman Spiteri.
The Axisa duo participated in the U-11 and U-13 categories.
Neil Axisa became the youngest Maltese badminton player to ever compete abroad. He won a match in the group stages and also made it to the semi-finals in doubles when partnering Austrian player Matthias Linzer.
Isaac Axisa showed determination throughout as he qualified for the quarter-finals in doubles, paired with Italian Lukas Pircher.
Fava topped her U-15 group but had to bow out in the second round after losing to Austrian top seed Anna Hegspiel 21-8, 21-18.
Hegspiel eventually won the singles event in Merano.
In doubles, Fava played with Czech Anna N. Kohoutova. They lost in the first round to eventual finalists Katharina Fink and Yasmine Hamza 21-19, 8-21, 21-10.
Matthew Abela was finalist in the U-17 singles. He ousted no.1 seed Croat Dorian Cvijanovic in the last eight and performed an amazing comeback in the semis to beat Italian Simon Kollemann 19-21, 21-18, 21-18.
Having played 11 matches over two days, Abela looked tired in the final as he went down in three sets.
He then joined Degaetano in a higher age category and made it to the U-19 doubles final where they lost to Italians Jonas Gamper and David Salutt 21-8, 21-14.
Cassar was finalist in the U-15 singles but lost to favourite and no.1 seed Nicolas Rudolf 21-14, 21-9.
The most impressive result was the one obtained by Mark Abela and Cassar as they combined perfectly to win the U/15 doubles title.
They won all their matches in two sets, showing a high-level of badminton throughout.
In a statement, Chris Spiteri, Badminton Malta president, said the results in Merano affirm the positive trend the young Maltese players are going through following the recent ISF World Badminton School Championships.
“It also confirms the hard work being done by the coaches,” Spiteri said.