Luxembourg’s Olympic Committee president, Michel Knepper, has accused Malta of “buying athletes” by fast-tracking citizenship ahead of the Small Nations Games starting on Monday. Malta Olympic Committee (MOC) president Kevin Azzopardi dismissed the claims, describing them as a cheap stunt from "someone who’s completely new". "He’s either trying to impress or getting defensive ahead of the games in case he loses,” Azzopardi told Times of Malta. On Saturday, Luxembourg news outlet RTL reported that Knepper criticised Malta’s athlete recruitment practices during a press conference, saying: “It's regrettable to see a nation [like Malta] buying athletes by handing out ID cards just for these games... They did it two years ago, and apparently, it's still happening.” Azzopardi dismissed the allegations as “incomprehensible,” pointing out that Luxembourg had previously brought in foreign table tennis players to represent the country. Chinese-born Ni Xia Lia represented Luxembourg in the 2024 Paris Olympics. She had moved to Luxembourg in 1991, according to the European Table Tennis Union. Azzopardi also mentioned Romanian-born Ciociu Traian, who, according to the International Table Tennis Federation, first played for Romania but then began representing Luxembourg in 2002. He also highlighted Knepper’s inexperience, who has only been president of Luxembourg's Olympic Committee since March, describing the remarks as “a stunt to try and impress". The accusations that Malta is buying athletes come after reigning Maltese table tennis champion Gabriel Grixti got into a public feud with the MOC after they left Grixti out of the national team. Athletes who were not born in Malta seem to have been preferred over the Maltese, he said, and of the chosen six, only one is Maltese-born. Grixti's comments had also been rebuked by the MOC. The Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) are set to kick off on Monday in Andorra.