The action of this year’s Badminton Malta National Championships will start this Saturday at 9:00am at the National Sports Complex in Pembroke. Will the current national champions keep the top spot or will we have new champions this year?

Men’s Singles – Starting on Saturday at 9:00am we will be having the first round of the Men’s Singles. Matthew Abela will be defending the title and will start his first match against Matthew Galea. We will be looking forward for some hard fought matches in MS this Saturday with Nigel DeGaetano facing Samuel Calì, Kenneth Vella will be playing against young Mark Abela and Stefan Salomone will be challenged by Owen Grech. The second Round will be played on Saturday at 2pm.

Women’s Singles – Will Fiorella Marie Sadowski keep her dominance in this category? This years WS will definitely be a great experience for the young contestants like who will be gaining invaluable experience playing against more established players in this high level competition. We will also see the return of Women’s Singles Champion for 4 times in a row from 2002-2005 Jacqueline Abela De Giovanni. The action in this category will start at 10am this Saturday.

Men’s Doubles – Some high level early clashes are expected in this year’s MD Category with Matthew Abela/Owen Grech will be facing Mark Abela/Sam Cassar and veterans Aldo Polidano/Kenneth Vella will be facing Stephen Ferrante/Nigel Degaetano on Saturday at 11am. Last year champions Samuel Calì/Stefan Salomone will come into action in the second round in the second weekend of the games. We will surely watch some fast paced games which will not disappoint!

Women’s Doubles – Fiorella Sadowski/Yanika Polidano will be defending their title and will be looking to win their third title in 4 years in the WD category. In the first round we will see ex-champions Jo’Anne Cassar /Jacqueline Abela De Giovanni who will be pairing up and will face Tiziana Mifsud/Klara O’Berg in the first round on Saturday at 11:30am.

Mixed Doubles – Some interesting clashes will be played in the first round of this year’s Mixed Doubles category on Sunday 28th January at 2pm. Stephen Ferrante/Fiorella Sadowski will be defending last year’s victory over Robert Salomone/Tiziana Mifsud in the second round on Sunday at 3:30pm. We all expect technical mixed doubles matches and we look forward for some tight matches.

The final weekend of the tournament will be played on Saturday 3rd February and the Finals will be played on the 4th of February at the National School of Sports. Badminton Malta will also be organising a Free Amateur Tournament on Saturday 3rd in the afternoon which will be open to all Badminton Malta full members. This initiative is taken by the Association to make the Malta National Championships a celebration of sports for all Badminton enthusiasts. To be part of this competition one must apply by Friday 2nd February 6pm by sending an email on [email protected]

Badminton Malta wishes all participants a great competition and hopes for some exciting matches, a learning opportunity for many players and an occasion where all badminton enthusiasts enjoy this beautiful game together! The Badminton Malta academy will be