Maltese Senior Teams eliminated in Knockout Stage after positive group performances

On Wednesday, during the European Snooker Championship in the Senior Teams category, both Maltese teams that had qualified from the group stage earlier in the day were immediately knocked out in the Round of 16.

The group stage commitments had ended on a positive note for Malta on the fifth day of the championship, with all three teams winning their respective matches.

Malta 3, represented by Tony Mifsud and Ivan Attard, registered a 3–1 win over Lithuania 3 (Romanas Baradulinas and Laimonas Gaubys). Although already eliminated, Malta 3 finished third in Group E.

Malta 2, formed by Philip Ciantar and Frans Mintoff, secured two victories to top Group D. They first beat Lithuania 2 (Darius Bublys and Saulius Pajarskas) 3–0, before overcoming England 3 (Stuart Watson and Ali Anwar) 3–2 in a direct decider for first place.

Malta 1, made up of Alex Borg and Arthur Cachia, claimed a hard-fought 3–2 victory against the Netherlands (Nick Tielemans and Joris Maas) in their final Group G match, finishing second but still advancing to the last 16.

In the knockout stage, however, both qualified teams found the going tough. Malta 1 fell 3–0 to England 2 (Mark Joyce and Wayne Brown), while Malta 2 lost 3–1 to Ireland 1 (Thomas O’Donoghue and Benny O’Brien), ending Malta’s participation in the senior category for players aged 40 and over.

Snooker teams event next on the list

Attention now turns to the EBSA European Snooker Championship Men’s Teams event, which will be held from Wednesday 15 to Sunday 19 October. Malta will once again be represented by three teams:

• Malta 1: Aaron Busuttil & Chris Peplow

• Malta 2: Alex Borg & Joseph Casha

• Malta 3: Philip Ciantar & Isaac Borg

In the lead-up to the team competition, three individual events will also take place: the Shoot Out and 6 Reds, both organized by the EBSA, and Q Tour Event 3, organized by the WPBSA.

Maltese players competing in these events are:

• Shoot Out & 6 Reds: Aaron Busuttil, Chris Peplow, Joseph Casha, Philip Ciantar, Alex Borg

• Q Tour Event 3: Aaron Busuttil, Chris Peplow, Joseph Casha, Philip Ciantar.