The first day of events at the Small Nations Games in Luxembourg saw Malta winning seven bronze medals with Judo winning a total of five medals.

Swimmer Andrew Chetcuti won a medal in the 100m freestyle and the last medal of the day came on the track with Giselle Camilleri finishing in third place in the 10,000m women's final.

Malta was the only country left without a gold or silver medal after day one of competitions. In Judo, Marcon Bezzina, 27, started strongly, winning her opening two bouts in the 63kg category.

She first saw off Monaco’s Anne-Laure Bonnet and then had little difficulty in defeating Regina Biedermann, of Liechtenstein.

Next up for Bezzina was Taylor King, of Luxembourg, in a bout tagged as decisive for the medals after the home judoka had won her opening three matches.

In the end, it was King who secured gold as Bezzina had to settle for third place after going down to GSSE nemesis Laura Salles Lopez, of Andorra, in her next showing on the mat.

Bezzina still found some positives despite her failure to secure a better result.

“To be back among the medal winners in a GSSE is all that matters to me,” Bezzina told The Times of Malta.

“In the last four years I battled against injuries that deprived me from being competitive in these Games. This time I had no injuries so I gave my all.

“Maybe I could have done better in my last two bouts but I still feel great to have a medal around my neck.”

Jeremy Saywell and Joanna Camilleri had an identical path on their way to placing third in their respective categories.

Camilleri, competing in the 57kg, lost her opening bout against Judith Biedermann, of Liechtenstein, and also came up short against eventual gold medallist Tanya Bozovic, of Montenegro.

But the former GSSE gold medallist bounced back in style to overcome the challenges of Svenia Hunnewald, of Luxembourg, and Sophia Allag, of Monaco, to finish third.

Saywell, a silver medallist in Liechtenstein in the 66kg, was up against a stronger field this time round.

He lost to Montenegro’s Nikola Gusic and Monaco’s Guillaeme Ereseo but performed more convincingly in his victories over Christos Kaouranis, of Cyprus, and Liechtenstein’s Patrick Marxer to finish third.

“I was up against some strong judokas today,” Saywell said.

“The level in GSSE is getting better and better but this result still fills me with motivation to come back stronger next time.”

Murman Korchilava was back on the GSSE podium after an absence of 10 years when he placed third in the U-73kg.

He beat Phedias Konnaris (Cyprus) by superiority but was then beaten by San Marino’s Paolo Persoglia.

However, the Georgian-born made up for the upset by having the better of Monaco’s Maximin Chaudet to land his second bronze medal in the Games after the one of 2003 in Malta.

Isaac Bezzina followed in the footsteps of his father and coach Alex Bezzina, a silver medallist in Cyprus 1989, by finishing third in the 90kg category.

Bezzina beat Monaco’s David Berardi but then lost to Mirko Kaiser in the semi-finals.

He regrouped to down San Marino’s Giacomo Gennari in the bout for bronze.

Medals table