Malta achieved a new national record of gold medals in the Small Nations Games on Wednesday, raising its haul to 12, one more than the previous record of 11 gold medals achieved 20 years ago, when the games were also held in Malta.

Nine gold medals were won by Malta's athletes on Tuesday.

The tenth came on Wednesday afternoon in a nail-biting finale of the 10m air pistol shooting competition where Maltese shooter Eleonor Bezzina displayed both marksmanship and nerves of steel.

The next two gold medals came in quick succession with victories for both the women's and men's table tennis teams.  

Thrilling air pistol shooting finale

The first to see gold on Wednesday was Eleonor Bezzina in the 10m Air Pistol competition at the Kirkop Sports Hall.

This was Bezzina's second gold at the GSSE, the first coming in Montenegro four years ago.

It was a thrilling final on Wednesday which saw Bezzina recover from a slow start and close in on Monaco’s shooter Megali Pierre-Forest who led the way for almost all the competition.

In the closing stages it looked as though Bezzina would seize the advantage when a poor shot from the Monegasque gave the Maltese a two-point lead. Pierre-Forest bridged the gap to Bezzina to just 0.1 point to set up a tense finale. 

Bezzina held her nerve as she hit a score of 10.6 that lifted her to 229.4 while Pierre Forest only managed 8.8 to finish in second place on 226.7.

Gold in table tennis

Malta's all-important 11th gold medal was won in women's table tennis by  Viktoria Luchenkova, Anthea Cutajar, Camella Iacob and Renata Strbikova.

In the final match, Camella Iacob annihilated her opponent 11-1 in the third set, to secure a 3-2 victory over a strong Monaco side. 

This was the first gold for the women's team in a GSSE event.

Malta's table tennis golden girls - Renata Strbikova (right) and Camella Iacob.

The men's team followed on the top step shortly after. The team was composed of Felix Wetzel, Dimitrij Prokopcov, Daniel Bajada and Gabriel Grixti.

Striking gold - Felix Wetzel (left) and Dimitrij Prokopcov.

Follow our live blog for details on other medal-winners here.