Malta secured a strong showing at the Men’s Teams Snooker European Championship in Golem, Albania, with two teams advancing directly to the quarter-finals after completing all group matches on Thursday evening.
Malta 1, composed of Aaron Busuttil and Chris Peplow, won all three of their remaining matches with identical 3-1 scores. Their victories came against Poland 3, Hungary and Bulgaria 2, securing the top position in their group.
Malta 3, made up of Philip Ciantar and Isaac Borg, also finished first in their group after a 3-0 win over Ukraine. The team had already qualified on the opening day following wins against Albania 2 and Portugal.
Both teams progressed directly to the quarter-finals as two of the four teams with the best results in the first phase. Other teams advancing from the group stage were required to play additional matches to determine the remaining quarter-finalists.
In the quarter-finals, Malta 1 will face France 1, consisting of Nicolas Mortreux and Gauvain Bazin. Meanwhile, Malta 3 will meet Albania 1, composed of Kledio Kaci and Dorjan Maknori. If both Maltese teams win their quarter-finals, they will meet in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Malta 2, formed by Alex Borg and Joseph Casha, were eliminated after losing their last two group games. They were defeated 3-0 by Albania 1 and 3-1 by Wales.
The remaining quarter-final matches will feature Poland 1, Tomasz Skalski and Sebastian Milewski, against Ukraine, Anton Kazakov and Mykhailo Larkov, and Wales, Alfie Davies and Riley Powell, against France 2, Fabian Monnin and Gregory Kopec.
The strong performances of Malta 1 and Malta 3 highlight the depth of Maltese snooker talent and set up exciting prospects in the latter stages of the championship.
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