After the latest round of fixtures played in the Singles Individual League, several Birkirkara players are challenging for the honours in their respective divisions.

Div. 1

Without being in action in this round, and despite forfeiting two walkovers in his opening matches, Stefan Salomone finds himself leading division 1 with one point above Birkirkara’s Stephen Ferrante and Paola’s K. Vella and O. Grech (all three joint second) with one match still to play. This came about when Paola’s K. Vella, the division’s leader before this round of matches, unexpectedly lost against his clubmate H. Thomsen.

Samuel Cali lost his encounter against Paola’s K. Vella 21-9, 21-9, a match which Samuel needs to forget very quickly. He played well below his usual self. Stephen Ferrante, on his part, beat Paola’s H. Thomsen 21-11, 21-14. Samuel and Stephen then shared the points in their direct encounter with Stephen winning the first set 21-17, and Samuel winning the second 21-16. This point enabled Stephen to go second in the table.

Div. 4

Marica Micallef drew her first match against Paola youngster S. Cassar 21-19, 14-21 whereas Daniella Galea lost against Paola’s A. Galea 21-14, 21-14. In their direct encounter Marica emerged winner over Daniella 21-11, 21-10. With the points won Marica went to the top of the division, three points more than clubmate Matthew Galea, who however has played two games less.

Div. 5

Birkirkara’s lone representative in this division – young Yanika Polidano – lost her first match against Z. Cilia of Shuttles 20-22, 12-21, but then won her second match against M. Ellul of Paola 23-21, 21-15. The points won meant that she goes second in the table, one point less than the leader.

Div. 6

The final round of matches in this division were played and resulted in Birkirkara’s Sarah Debono finishing runner-up. She first lost against C. Privitera, the eventual winner of the division, 21-15, 21-16. As the score shows, Sarah gave a heartening performance despite finishing on the losing end. She then found little difficulty in beating J. Abela 21-3, 21-8, a win which gave her second placing.

Birkirkara’s other representative – Clarissa Grech – won three out of a possible four points when she first drew with M. Gatt 21-19, 11-21; then she beat M.C. Mizzi 22-20, 21-18 in a hard-fought match.