Maltese table tennis champion Gabriel Grixti on Saturday lamented that he feels, “tired, betrayed, discarded” by the Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC) after the latter announced the team for the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) in Andorra 2025, excluding him despite being the current National Seniors Champion.
In reply, the MOC said it had set higher standards than a national championship for athletes to be selected for the games.
Grixti took to Facebook to speak out publicly on the matter. He said that to his disbelief, he was excluded from the table-tennis team for the Small Nations Games this year.
“Let me be clear: even while in my fifth year of medical studies, I have consistently dedicated over 18 hours a week to my sport sacrificing a lot to train on the table, in the gym, on the track, and in mental preparation. All for one goal; to represent Malta with pride on the international stage,” Grixti said.
Grixti said that in the past four years, he has been consistently at the top, winning three national senior singles titles (2021/22, 2022/23, and 2024/25) and the national doubles title this season.
“I’ve competed abroad for years and won the Maltese Premier League seven seasons in a row. My commitment to this sport and this country is undeniable. And yet, I have been left out,” Grixti said.
He said that the selected table tennis team includes Maria-Carmelia Iacob, Viktoria Lucenkova, Dmitrij Prokopcov, Renata Strbikova, Felix Wetzel, and Daniel Bajada.
“Out of all six athletes only one person is a Maltese born athlete,” Grixti wrote.
He said that to understand the full picture, one must go back to the GSSE 2023, when the Maltese Government and the MOC granted four passports to non-Maltese athletes just days before the games.
“They said this was to give Malta the best chance of winning. I disagreed, but I stayed with the team, even though I was not given the chance to play a single point. I believed in the promises made for a better tomorrow, that these high-level players would contribute and help develop the sport in Malta, the first of MANY empty promises,” Grixti said.
He said that these same players trained with them briefly in 2022, reappeared just before the Games in 2023, and vanished right after not to be seen for two whole years.
“Now we find ourselves in 2025 with these players once again reappearing out of nowhere not to represent Malta out of passion or pride, but for pay,” Grixti said.
He continued that taxpayer money is being spent on athletes who have never contributed to Malta’s sporting community, while Maltese-born athletes who train, sacrifice, and work relentlessly are pushed aside.
“What message does that send? We were promised better. We expect better,” Grixti said.
He posed some questions to the MOC; “Why has the current National Champion who has done everything right been left out?”
“Was the criteria used the same for everyone? Why is the MOC not transparent about who and how decisions were taken? Why am I being discriminated against despite other members of the team not reaching the required criteria?” Grixti wrote.
“This is not just about me. This is about fairness. This is about accountability,” Grixti added.
Everything mentioned is a point of fact. Anyone who knows a bit about table tennis in Malta, knows exactly what I am speaking about! A relentless vicious circle!
He said that the Maltese contingent should feature the country’s best player.
Grixti said that while the MOC had said that a selection criterion, published in December 2024, was used to select athletes, in practice, it was applied inconsistently, to their advantage when needed and to discriminate against others.
“I have always been proud to wear Malta’s colours. But today, I feel abandoned by the very institutions that should be protecting athletes and the sport,” Grixti wrote.
MOC reply
In reply, the Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC) said that in 2023, the Malta Table Tennis Association was being temporarily administered by the MOC in an attempt to keep the sport afloat. At that point the MOC had no option but to focus on the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe and offer the best support to keep the sport alive.
In its efforts to ensure that athletes are offered the appropriate development opportunities, the MOC revamped its Athlete Development Scheme after GSSE 2023. The scheme engages athletes into categories based on their level, and not in a haphazard manner.
“Unfortunately, it looks like Mr Grixti still believes that by support he understands only personal funding. Fortunately to develop this scheme, MOC worked with other National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to develop the Athlete Development Pathway,” the MOC said.
The pathway ensures that Financial support together with related services are offered to our top athletes – this includes access to a gym, medical, physiotherapy, coaching schemes etc.
Nonetheless, an athlete needs to show that they deserve to be part of this scheme if not the said taxpayers money are wasted, the MOC said.
“Being a small state, it’s very nice to be the national champion however the weight given to the title is not high,” the MOC said. Competing abroad, more important competing abroad in a higher level than Malta, is crucial to evaluate the actual competence and level of an athlete.
In 2024, discussions started to find a long-term solution and in fact MOC together with the MTTA set a development squad for our young ones while helping the older athletes to attend these sessions. Grixti attended only two sessions from the beginning of March 2025 whilst claiming he is training 18 hours a week, the MOC said.
“As can be seen in the conditions of selection, the attendance, the technique, the skills and fitness level are factors as well and the MOC needs to evaluate these together with the trajectory for improvement and tactical plan to have positive results,” the MOC said.
During this season, Grixti played only in one of the two local ranking tournaments. More importantly, he was also offered twice to represent our nation in approved MOC international competitions for evaluation; however, he refused to attend to.
The MOC said it accepts that Grixti’s priorities were his studies but amicably he needs to accept that the MOC needs to choose the best team for Malta.
On the athletes chosen to represent Malta, the MOC said one of them has been residing in Malta since 2011 where the player not just represented Malta but assisted and coached athletes from any academy.
Another athlete has trained with the national team of Malta for most of the editions of GSSE from 2005 even though she was NOT part of the selected team, who is currently offered training opportunities to female athletes. Another athlete had offered the same to the male athletes specifically to the squad of GSSE2023 (of which Mr Grixti was part of), free training with his club in another country. Last but not least, one needs to mention, the family of another athlete has an international academy and a number of domestic athletes have attended training and has always made himself available to welcome any Maltese players. In fact, one athlete resided for 6 months at this academy last year, the MOC said.
During the last edition held in Malta, Grixti opted to abandon the team halfway with the excuse to study instead of cheering and supporting the team to victory, the MOC said.
The world of sports changed and keeping the mentality of “we are small state and I am the national champion” does not fit in the MOC’s vision. Whilst it is an honour to be the national champion however the MOC is setting a higher standard, it said.