Maltese players qualify to European Snooker Championship last 32

Borg and Ciantar win their Group

Wednesday’s first session of the third day of the European Snooker Championship being held in Albena, Bulgaria saw the three Maltese players, Alex Borg, Philip Ciantar, and Arthur Cachia, who are participating in the Seniors category advance with the last 32 for the Knock Out phase which will be played later today.

Borg had an easy win against Marcin Bek of Poland with a score of 3-0, with frames scores of 68-23, 67-40, and 64-12. In the third and final frame, he closed the encounter with a break of 42 points. With this victory, Borg won both games and won Group E.

Ciantar made up for Tuesday’s loss, although Wednesday’s match against the Finnish Jani Kananen was a balanced one, especially in the first and third frames. He won 3-0; 55-47, 54-13, and 72-51. With this result Ciantar not only qualified but also won Group G as well.

The last group game for Cachia was the duel for the Group K winner. He faced the Dutchman Joris Maas who, like Cachia, won the two games in the previous days. The Dutch emerged victorious 3-1 (23-54, 59-25, 39-67, and 19-51) thus winning the group. On Tuesday, Cachia was the first Maltese player who assured himself of qualification to the knockout phase.

At the moment the last session of the group phase is being played and immediately after, the fixtures of the next 16 knock out games will be issued. These games are to be played later today as well.