Four Maltese victories on opening day of WSF World Snooker Championship

The 2026 edition of the World Snooker Federation (WSF) World Snooker Championship got underway on Saturday in Sofia, Bulgaria, with all seven Maltese players in action in their opening group matches.

Malta enjoyed a positive start to the tournament, with Brian Cini, Chris Peplow, Xavier Rizzo and Alex Borg all registering victories on the first day.

Brian Cini and Chris Peplow both made light work of their opponents, recording comfortable 3–0 wins. Cini dominated his match against Poland’s Sebastian Milewski, producing an impressive 88-point break in the opening frame and going on to win with frame scores of 92(88)–9, 89–2, 65–59.

Peplow was equally convincing against South Africa’s Michael Davids, controlling the match from start to finish and sealing victory with a 51-point break in the third frame. He won 60–2, 60–13, 84(51)–0.

Teenager Xavier Rizzo, fresh from reaching the last 16 of the Junior World Championship earlier this week in Sofia, also began his men’s campaign on a winning note. Rizzo defeated Latvia’s Mareks Cipsts 3–1, taking the first two frames before his opponent pulled one back. Rizzo then wrapped up the match in the fourth frame, winning 56–48, 63–23, 37–59, 68–56.

Veteran Alex Borg secured Malta’s fourth win in a closely fought encounter against Serbia’s Vasilije Pešić. Borg made the perfect start, taking the first two frames with breaks of 70 and 66, but the Serbian player fought back to level the match at 2–2. Borg held his nerve in the decider, producing a key 22-point contribution before finishing strongly to win 3–2. The frame scores were 70(70)–23, 91(66)–0, 14–71, 51–53, 61–18.

The remaining three Maltese players suffered defeats. Aaron Busuttil started well against England’s Kaylan Patel, winning the opening frame with a 75-point break, but Patel responded by taking the next three frames to complete a turnaround. Joseph Casha and Chris Camilleri both lost 3–0, beaten by Thailand’s Nattanapong Chaikul and England’s Billy Castle respectively.

Sunday’s schedule sees Chris Peplow, Alex Borg and Chris Camilleri without fixtures, while the other four Maltese players return to action in their second group matches:

• 09:00 – Group I: Brian Cini vs Aidan Murphy (England)

• 11:00 – Group Q: Aaron Busuttil vs Mostafa El Younsi (Morocco)

• 15:00 – Group AE: Xavier Rizzo vs Marcos Dayao (England)

• 19:00 – Group F: Joseph Casha vs Thiru Siva (England)

Gerald Fenech

Sports Editor
Veteran Journalist