Four of the five Maltese players competing in the European Seniors Individual Snooker Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, secured their places in the knockout stage following Thursday’s matches.
Malta enjoyed a positive second day of competition, suffering just one defeat from six matches, with Alex Borg and Philip Ciantar winning their respective groups in the Over-40 category.
Borg played twice during the day, starting with a 3-1 victory over Belgium’s Patrick Geysels. The Maltese player won with frame scores of 68-53, 57-34, 30-56 and 66-28.
He followed that result with another 3-1 success, this time against Wales’ Gavin Colcombe, with frame scores of 61-52, 62-54, 34-59 and 63-14.
Those two victories ensured Borg finished top of his group and advanced to the last 32.
Ciantar also secured first place in his group after defeating Welshman Darryl James 3-1. He prevailed with frame scores of 71-7, 61-70, 63-49 and 58-47 to book his place in the last 32.
In the Over-55 category, France Mintoff, who had already secured qualification on the opening day, completed his group commitments with a 3-0 victory over Belgium’s Eddy Kinderemans.
Mintoff won with scores of 74-48, 82-29 and 47-37 to finish top of his group and advance directly to the last 16.
Ivan Attard, who had already been eliminated from contention, ended his campaign on a positive note with a 3-1 victory over Ireland’s Paul Arnold.
Emanuel Mallia also secured qualification despite suffering Malta’s only defeat of the day. Mallia went down 3-1 to Wales’ John Breeze, with frame scores of 58-51, 55-63, 38-58 and 22-56.
Mallia will now contest a preliminary knockout match for a place in the Over-55 last 16.
The knockout stage continues on Friday, with Borg facing Wales’ Darryl James in the Over-40 last 32 at 9am, while Ciantar takes on Germany’s Miro Popovic at the same time.
Mallia will face Hungary’s Peter Varga in the Over-55 preliminary round, also at 9am.
Mintoff, meanwhile, will meet John Breeze of Wales in the Over-55 last 16 at 11am.
All times are Malta time.
Sports Editor
Veteran Journalist
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