Maltese players recorded four victories during the second day of the group stage at the European Snooker Championship currently taking place in Gandia.
Five Maltese players were in action during Monday’s matches, with four wins and one defeat recorded.
Local champion Brian Cini began his campaign with a 3-0 victory over Spain’s Jose Ignacio Enciso. Cini produced breaks of 86, 101 and 66 points across the three frames to secure the win with frame scores of 90-0, 112-8 and 75-14.
Aaron Busuttil, Chris Peplow and Joseph Casha each registered victories with identical 3-1 scorelines.
Busuttil defeated Slovakia’s Martin Orinak. After losing the opening frame 58-38, Busuttil responded by winning the next three frames 66-33, 64-40 and 86-29.
Peplow also recovered after losing the first frame in his match against Austria’s Thomas Janzso. Peplow went on to win the following three frames with scores of 69-2, 66-18 and 56-9.
Casha secured his second win of the tournament by defeating Turkey’s Kayhan Durukan 3-1. The frames ended 67-44, 82-56, 30-60 and 65-43.
With these results, Peplow and Casha have mathematically secured qualification for the next round of the competition.
The only Maltese defeat of the day came for Philip Ciantar, who lost 3-0 to Spain’s Daan Leyssen Janssens. The frames finished 54-50, 66-32 and 69-2 in favour of the Spanish player.
Ciantar’s chances of progressing from Group S now depend on the results of the remaining matches in the group.
The group stage continues on Tuesday with four Maltese players scheduled to complete their remaining matches. Cini is due to play two matches during the day, facing Albania’s Diego Minxalli and Scotland’s Amaan Iqbal.
Busuttil will face Sebastiaan Kan of the Netherlands, while Peplow will play Germany’s Fabian Haken. Casha will take on England’s Craig Steadman.
These matches will conclude the group stage commitments for the Maltese players at the championship.
