Simon Gerada
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Simon Gerada is a right-handed Australian/Maltese Table Tennis Player. His father, Joe Gerada, who was born in Malta but immigrated to Australia three decades ago, is the coach of the National Maltese Table Tennis Team. Gerada was born and brought up in Melbourne, Australia and began playing as a teenager. With table tennis running through his blood he picked the game up relatively easily, representing Victoria in national junior tournaments. Gerada won the prestigious Michael Szabados award during one of these tournaments.
[edit] Commonwealth Games and Olympics Controversy
Gerada represented Australia in the Sydney Olympics as a 19 year-old. But an horrendous performance crushed Gerada's confidence, sending him all the way back to Europe, where he had a professional contract.
In January 2001, Gerada returned to Australia. On the same day, he got a phone call asking him to go to a training session. The Australian Team was training for the World Championships and it was in Gerada's Table Tennis Australia contract that he must attend this session. However, after 2 hours he walked out citing that he "could not cope". This compromised his Commonwealth Games position and despite calls from the Victorian Institute of Sport that he should be allowed to represent Australia, the authorites did not back down. Gerada accepted the offer from his father to play for Malta instead.[1]
