Team Malta added five more medals to its tally on Day Two of the Games of the Small States of Europe to reach the 11-medal mark with one gold, six silver and four bronze medals.
Table tennis duo Victoria Luchenkova and Jessica Pace reached the final of the team competition after defeating Montenegro 3-1. However, their hopes were ended by tournament favourites Luxembourg who sealed the gold medal with a convincing 3-0 win.
Despite the defeat it was still a remarkable feat from the Maltese pair who have improved on the result of two years ago when they had won the bronze medal.
“We were not expecting to reach this far here and surely all the praise should go to the players,” coach Joanna Grech said yesterday.
“Jessica Pace has shown remarkable improvement in the last two years and she is playing at a very good level. As regards, Victoria everyone knows what a good players she is and surely both players can aspire for more positive results in the next few days.”
Today, Luchenkova and Pace will be in action in the doubles where they will be targeting another place on the podium.
In bowls, David Farrugia, a silver medallist with Stefan Farrugia in the doubles event, won his second medal in San Marino when he clinched the bronze medal in the singles event.
In the semi-finals, Farrugia put on a brave fight against San Marino player Jacopo Frisoni but it was not enough as the home favourite clinched a 12-7 win.
That left Farrugia with a bronze medal play-off against Nicola Caroccia, of Liechtenstein.
Italy-born Caroccia turned out to be a hard-nut to crack but Farrugia used all his experience to clinch 12-9 win to secure third spot.
Enrico Dall’Olmo won the gold medal after he defeated his fellow compatriot Frisoni 12-10 in the final.
“I’m really happy with my performance at the GSSE,” Farrugia said.
“I prepared well for the tournament and my hard work was rewarded with a very good showing.
Judoka Rodney Zammit capped his debut in the GSSE by securing a bronze medal in the 60kg category.
Facing three other opponents in a round-robin competition, Zammit found the going tough when he lost his opening two bouts against Monaco’s Yann Siccardi and Christos Skouroumounis, of Cyprus.
However, Zammit never lost faith in his ability and he won his third and final bout against Liechtenstein’s Kurt Kuser to secure third place in his class.