The Maltese snooker team, currently taking part in this year’s Snooker International Challenge Cup, lost their first match against France. This year’s tournament is being hosted by France in Dunkirk.
In this competition, only the number of frames won matters. Each match has 27 frames, and the country that wins the most frames overall will be crowned the winner.
The Maltese team lost 16-11 to France. The French, playing at home, selected some of their best amateur players. They had already beaten the defending champions, the Republic of Ireland, 15-12.
From the Masters category, Arthur Cachia won all three frames (3-0) against Jérôme Chatet. Philip Ciantar and Frans Mintoff also won their matches 2-1 against Yann Lanvin and Jean Marc Beauchamp. However, Tony Mifsud lost 3-0 to Greg Kopec.
In the men’s category, the only Maltese win came from Chris Peplow, who beat Nicolas Mortreux 2-1. Joseph Casha lost 2-1 to Yannick Poulain. Isaac Borg and John Farrugia didn’t win any frames in their matches against Fabian Monin and Neil Vincent. Both Borg and Farrugia were unlucky in their final frames, as their opponents got flukes when only the last coloured balls were left on the table.
In the Junior category, young Xavier Rizzo lost 2-1 to Matéo Ochoiski of France.
In another match played on the first day, Scotland beat Northern Ireland 18-9. So, after day one, France leads with 31 frames from two matches. Scotland is second with 18 frames, Ireland third with 12, Malta fourth with 11, and Northern Ireland last with 9.
Today, Malta is set to play their second match of the tournament against Scotland.
