European Snooker Championship – Antalya 2025 – roundup

Six Maltese Players Secure Knockout Stage Qualification

After two days of competition at the European Snooker Championship in Antalya, six of the seven Maltese players have already secured their place in the knockout phase. Most of them still have one final group-stage match to play on Wednesday.

Brian Cini was the first to qualify on Monday after winning his opening two matches. He has now been joined by Aaron Busuttil, Chris Peplow, Alex Borg, Arthur Cachia, and Joseph Casha, all of whom secured their second group-stage victory on Tuesday.

Maltese Performances on Day 2

• Aaron Busuttil maintained his perfect record, not dropping a single frame so far. He defeated Belgium’s Yorrit Hoes 3-0, impressively compiling a 90-point break in the first frame.
• Chris Peplow recovered from a frame down against Ukraine’s Anton Kazakov to claim a 3-1 victory.
• Alex Borg and Arthur Casha both battled through five-frame deciders to edge past Norway’s Erik Dullerud and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Nedim Ramic, respectively. Both trailed 2-1 but won the final two frames to secure 3-2 victories.
• Joseph Casha, who had staged a comeback win on Monday, showed greater control in his second match, comfortably defeating Denmark’s Robin Tønnesen 3-0.

The only Maltese player eliminated after Day 2 was Philip Ciantar, who suffered his second consecutive defeat, losing 3-1 to Northern Ireland’s Fergal Quinn.

The final match of the day saw Brian Cini take on Poland’s Michał Kotiuk in a contest to decide the group winner. After a hard-fought encounter, Kotiuk emerged victorious in a 3-2 battle.

Wednesday’s Decisive Matches

The final group-stage matches on Wednesday will determine which of the six remaining Maltese players will finish as group winners. Later in the evening, the European Billiards & Snooker Association will confirm the official rankings of the 86 players advancing to the knockout stage.

The top 42 players will progress directly to the last 64, while the remaining 44 will compete in a preliminary knockout round, with 22 players advancing to join them.

The knockout phase begins on Thursday, followed by the last-16 and quarter-finals on Friday. The semi-finals and final will take place on Saturday.

European Snooker Championship: Wednesday’s Matches (Maltese Players)

(All times in Malta local time)

• 08:00 – Group I: Chris Peplow vs Filip Bermanec (Croatia)
• 08:00 – Group J: Joseph Casha vs Sybren Sokolowski (Belgium)
• 08:00 – Group N: Aaron Busuttil vs Paweł Rogoza (Poland)
• 08:00 – Group O: Philip Ciantar vs Noel Németh-Nagy (Hungary)
• 10:00 – Group Q: Arthur Cachia vs Andres Petrov (Estonia)
• 14:00 – Group AH: Alex Borg vs Steven Hallworth (England)

Stay tuned for further updates as the Maltese players continue their journey in Antalya. As always, The Maltese Herald will be covering these matches exclusively.

Gerald Fenech

Sports Editor
Veteran Journalist