The Malta Under-15 national Blackball team pulled off one of the most impressive comebacks at the European Blackball Championships in Ennis, Ireland, beating England 8-7.
The team, Jake Castaldi, Denzel Falzon, Dielyn Edwards, and Nick Muscat, were 7-2 down but showed great courage, confidence, and determination to turn the match around.
With this win, Malta U15 now lead the table with 18 points and have booked their place in the semi-finals, having earlier beaten Northern Ireland 13-2.
It was also a strong day for Malta’s other teams. In the Seniors B category, Malta beat Scotland 13-12 and Belgium 17-8.
In individual matches, there were more good results for Malta. Mevrick Zammit defeated Jack Carson 5-0, Clint Azzopardi beat Richie Oliver 5-3, and Clayton Castaldi won 5-2 against Adam Giddy. Later, Chaylon Castaldi edged Cohen Bradford 5-4, Neil Caruana won 5-0 against Adam Cole, Wayne Pace beat Jon Roberts 5-2, Sam Bennett defeated Miguel Amato 5-3, and Clayton Attard won 5-2 against Charlie Begley.
In the team events, Malta Men’s B beat Catalonia 17-8 but lost 14-11 to both Ireland and Scotland.
The Malta Seniors A team impressed with solid wins over Belgium (16-9) and Scotland (15-10), while the Malta Men’s A team also shone with a 17-8 victory over Northern Ireland.
In the Grand Masters category, Malta lost 13-2 to Northern Ireland.
In the closing matches of the day, Liam Mifsud beat Steven McCormick 5-3, and Matthias Debono narrowly defeated Brooklyn Chambers 5-4.
Today’s Schedule for the Maltese Teams
12:00 (Irish time) / 13:00 (Malta time)
Scotland (U15 A) vs Malta (U15 A)
Northern Ireland (Men’s B) vs Malta (Men’s B)
Wales (Seniors B) vs Malta (Seniors B)
15:00 (Irish time) / 16:00 (Malta time)
Catalonia (Men’s A) vs Malta (Men’s A)
Malta (Men’s B) vs Northern Ireland (Men’s B1)
18:00 (Irish time) / 19:00 (Malta time)
Malta (U15 A) vs Wales (U15 A)
21:00 (Irish time) / 22:00 (Malta time)
Malta (Men’s A) vs England (Men’s A)Attach
