Maltese badminton players continued to bring more positive results on the international scene with Fiorella Marie Sadowski and Nigel De Gaetano registering wins in the Bulgarian International tournament while Sam Cassar also left his mark in the Slovakia U-17 tournament.

Sadowski and De Gaetano, under the guidance of Elite Squad coach Martin Farrugia, managed to qualify to the main round of the Babolat Bulgarian International after beating home players Vasil Tsonev and Irena Atanasova 21-15, 21-19.

In the main draw Sadowski and De Gaetano gave a very good challenge to a strong Austrian pair Phillip Drexler and Carina Mainke and only lost 18-21 and 17-21 in a match that lasted 25 minutes at the “Europe” Sports Hall in Sofia.

In the men’s singles both De Gaetano and Matthew Abela were eliminated in the first round, De Gaetano went down to the strong Bulgarian Ivan Panev 10-21, 14-21 while Abela was beaten by Swede Nils Ihse 17-21,13-21.

In the men's doubles, De Gaetano and Abela were handed a very difficult draw when facing the strong Indian pairing of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla who eased to a 9-21, 12-21 victory.

Sadowski also played in the singles and lost against the Armenian Lilit Poghosyan 8-21 and 7-21.

She then teamed up with Italian Giulia Fiorito and were beaten by Swedish pair Olivia Hellman and Althea Ljungqvist 10-21, 16-21.

In the U17 Slovak International, Sam Cassar managed to get home a win against young Czech player Vratislav Erhart 21-13, 21-19.

Cassar, accompanied by his coach Edmond Abela, was then defeated in the second round by Slovak JakaIvancicin 13-21, 21-18, 14-21.

Mark Abela lost  his first round match against Ukraine’s Yehven Kobzar, 17-21, 16-21.

In the Boys’ Doubles Abela/Cassar were eliminated in the first round against Karol Budny/Mikolaj Piorkowski 13-21,22-24.

In a statement, Badminton Malta said that is very happy with the overall performance of the Maltese players and looks forward for more opportunities on the international scene.