Chris Peplow reaches knock out stages at World Amateur Snooker Championship

Four wins on the fourth day for the Maltese contingent

Four Maltese players out of seven emerged winners on the fourth day of the World Amateur Snooker Championship while Chris Peplow qualified for the knockout phase in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Peplow was the only Maltese player scheduled to play during the first session, early in the day. He won 3-1 against Romanian Vladut Ciuche, who won the first frame but, like the previous day, Peplow recovered well and won three consecutive frames with final frame scores of: 40-64, 48-38, 58-4, 71-2.

With this third win in this competition, he has now secured qualification for the knockout phase despite having to play another match of this round robin phase.

Both Aaron Busuttil and Joseph Casha had easy 3-0 wins against German, Manuel Ederer (98-15, 19-64, 33-65) and Englishman, Steven Hughes (48-28, 60-12, 88(52)-16) respectively.

Aaron Busuttil has now finished his commitments in the first phase, and his qualification now depends on the final result between Englishman Kaylan Patel and Chinese player Wang Xinzhong, both of whom defeated Busuttil.

Joseph Casha needs to win two frames in his last game of the group to qualify for the next round.

The other Maltese player who won was veteran Alex Borg, who beat Latvia’s Nikita Bazilevics 3-1.

Borg started well in the first frame with a 65-point break and won with scores of: 77(65)-38, 59-9, 45-70, 73-39.

With a win on the last day in the group phase, Borg is almost certain of a spot in the knockout phase.

Brian Cini lost to Englishman Wayne Brown in the deciding frame 3-2.

To advance to the second phase, Cini needs to win his last match in Group I, but everything will depend on the final result between Englishman Aidan Murphy and Poland’s Sebastian Milewski.

Young Xavier Rizzo and Chris Camilleri lost their games 3-0 and are now both mathematically eliminated from the competition.

Rizzo lost to Englishman Simon Blackwell and Chris Camilleri was beaten by 15-year-old Ukrainian Matvei Lagodzinschii.

Camilleri has to compete in his final match of the group stage while Xavier Rizzo has finished his commitments since his opponent, who was scheduled to meet on the last day, withdrew from the competition.