The Malta women’s national team continued to enhance their reputation after beating Poland 2-1 in a decisive match at the European Team Championships in Holland to win Division Three with maximum points from five matches.
Always at the forefront when representing the country in international tournaments, the squash girls yesterday extended their positive streak at the prestigious European event, hosted by the Dutch Squash Federation at the Frans Otten Stadion.
National coach Ivan Balzan had good reason to be satisfied at the end of the championships as the men’s team also produced an outstanding performance in Amsterdam.
They finished third in Division Three, claiming the bronze medal after beating Gibraltar 3-1 in a play-off for third place yesterday.
Israel won the men’s title following a clear 4-0 win over Norway.
In the crucial game against Poland, the Maltese team was made up of Colette Sultana, Theresa Camilleri and Johanna Rizzo.
Sultana, Malta’s no.1 player at the age of 17, had the better of pro player Dominika Witkowska 3-1 (13-11, 8-11, 11-5, 13-11) in 34 minutes. Camilleri followed suit with a comprehensive win (11-7, 11-8, 12-10) over Poland no.2 Anna Jurkun in 22 minutes.
Victory was in Malta’s bags but Magda Kaminska provided some consolation for the Poles after beating Johanna Rizzo 3-0 (11-1, 11-5, 11-3) in 17 minutes.
The women’s team will compete in a higher division in next season’s championships in Italy thanks to their high placing in the final standings.
Poland had to settle for second place ahead of Latvia. Malta is now bracketed among the top 16 nations in Europe.
In all, Sultana, Rizzo and Camilleri played 50 matches during the three-day tournament and won 39 to seal their gold medal.
Brad Hindle Deguara paved the way for the men’s team with a 3-0 win (11-2, 11-3, 11-2) over Gibraltar’s Anthony Brindle. Daniel Zammit Lewis made it 2-0 after a straight-sets victory (11-3, 11-4, 11-9) against Christian Navas.
Stephen Shacaluga beat Mark Lupi (11-7, 11-5) but Carl Camilleri made sure of Malta’s third place in the final classification after winning a set against Mark Tewkesbury 11-5.
His effort was enough for the national team to wrap up the match 7-2 in favour.
Women’s final standings
| P | W | D | L | Matches | Pts | |
| Malta | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 13-2 | 10 |
| Poland | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12-3 | 8 |
| Latvia | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9-6 | 6 |
| Russia | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5-10 | 2 |
| Croatia | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3-12 | 2 |
| Slovenia | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3-12 | 2 |