Malta 48
Luxembourg 45
(20-12, 6-10, 9-15, 13-8)

The women's national team celebrated their gold medal in style yesterday after staving off the bold challenge of Luxembourg 48-45 to maintain their 100 per cent record in the Cyprus Games.

Santino Coppa's players were already assured of top place in the final standings after Luxembourg's slip-up against Iceland on Thursday.

However, the Malta coach had made it clear that he wanted to complete the tournament with a perfect record. His players looked to have heeded his instructions in the opening quarter after surging to a 20-12 lead.

However, the team lost composure in the next two quarters and Luxembourg started to reduce the gap. At lemon time, the Maltese only had a four-point lead to show, 26-22, and by the end of the third session Luxembourg had forged ahead 37-35.

However, Coppa rallied his troops in the final session and his pep-talk looked to have worked wonders, as usual. The Maltese rediscovered their best form to come from behind and lead 46-45 with less than a minute to play.

Luxembourg had the chance to sneak back in front but Malta defended stoutly and in the end Kirsten Micallef converted two free-throws to seal victory and kickstart the celebrations.

Roberta Brincat Thoresen was again the game's top scorer with 23 points.

Malta captain Josephine Grima was among those who couldn't hide her joy.

"I'm just relieved that we have won this match as we did not want to lose our unbeaten record," she said.

"Luxembourg were very tough opponents but this is the kind of match we like to figure in as it brings the best out of our team."

For Grima this was her second GSSE gold medal after the one of 2003. It was difficult to identify which one was the special for her.

"It's hard to say. In Malta we won it in front of a packed house but this is our first away from home. But, perhaps, this team is more consistent overall."

Coppa admitted that he had to rely on his inspirational skills to steer the team to victory.

"I wanted the team to beat Luxembourg as it would not have been nice for us to win the gold medal and lose the final match," the wily Italian said.

"With the gold medal already in our bags, it was hard to motivate the players. The team struggled midway through the match and I had to yell at times to shake up the players and get them back on track.

"But this is another great result for the entire team even though I still think there is room for improvement. Our approach will not change as we have to reach for higher objectives."

Final standings: Malta 6 (3-0); Iceland 5 (2-1); Cyprus 4 (1-2); Luxembourg 3 (0-3).

Men's tournament

Cyprus 69
Malta 55
(28-7, 18-8, 14-21, 9-19)

A remarkable fightback in the last two sessions was not enough for the men's team to avoid a fourth successive defeat when they lost to gold medal favourites Cyprus last night.

The Cypriots, who are leading the way with maximum points from four matches, led 46-15 at half-time.

However, Bruno Dipietrantonio's men kept fighting and started their recovery in the third session when they bridged the gap to 60-36.

In the final 10 minutes, the Maltese kept the upperhand and won the quarter by a ten-point margin but that was not enough to save the day.

Today, the Maltese will be looking to avoid bottom spot in the standings when they face San Marino in their final match.