Malta made an impressive start at the European Snooker Championship in Golem, Albania on Saturday, securing five victories from nine games in the individual Seniors competition. Arthur Cachia was the standout performer, winning both of his matches and qualifying for the knock-out phase.
Cachia claimed 3-0 victories against Thomas Grendelmeier of Switzerland and Saulius Pajarskas of Lithuania. On Sunday, he will face Stuart Watson of England in a decisive match that will determine the winner of Group J.
Philip Ciantar, Alex Borg, and Frans Mintoff all won their opening games on Saturday and will play their remaining matches on Sunday. Ciantar defeated Peyman Chitsaz of Austria 3-0, achieving a break of 102 points in the second frame. Alex Borg also secured a 3-0 win against Edlir Kurthysa of Albania without dropping a frame.
Frans Mintoff faced Myqerem Dervishaj of Albania, who arrived late for their scheduled match. Despite being entitled to a 3-0 walk-over, Mintoff chose to play the game, taking the first frame as a walk-over and going on to win three of the four frames played, finishing 3-1.
Tony Mifsud and Ivan Attard both lost their two matches on Saturday and are now mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the next phase. Mifsud was defeated 3-0 and 3-2 by Mark Walsh of Ireland and Declan Lavery of Northern Ireland respectively, despite winning the first two frames against Lavery. Attard lost 3-2 to Tim Van Goubergen of Belgium and later 3-1 to Philip Williams of Wales.
The remaining group games will take place today, with the fixtures for the knock-out phase to be announced in the evening. The Maltese players’ schedule is as follows:
- 10:00 Group M: Philip Ciantar vs Jean-Christophe Margontier (France)
- 10:00 Group S: Frans Mintoff vs Sergej Korolkov (Lithuania)
- 13:30 Group E: Tony Mifsud vs Bekim Aliu (Albania)
- 13:30 Group T: Alex Borg vs Darius Bublys (Lithuania)
- 16:00 Group F: Ivan Attard vs Andrius Ščerbakovas (Lithuania)
- 16:00 Group J: Arthur Cachia vs Stuart Watson (England)
- 16:00 Group M: Philip Ciantar vs Tony Morgan (Wales)
- 20:00 Group S: Frans Mintoff vs Marcin Nitschke (Poland)
- 20:00 Group T: Alex Borg vs Allan Morgan (Wales)
Malta will be hoping for further success as the competition moves into its final group stage matches and prepares for the knock-out rounds later in the evening.
