Borg to defend title in Romania
Premier League final today
Alex Borg will be travelling to Romania next week to defend the European Championship title he won last year in Poland. The Malta champion will be joined by Simon Zammit for the tournament in Costanta between June 5 and 15.
Borg won the 2005 title after beating Kristjan Helgason, of Iceland, 7-2 in the final. He was also a losing finalist in two previous editions - Finland 1998 and Austria 2004.
The championships will be split in three categories with a total of 116 players taking part. The men's division will be contested by 60 players, 36 will play in the O-40 and 20 will feature in the women's competition.
Borg is the top seed in Group A which also includes Jeff Cundy (England), Babbken Melkonian (Romania), Juhan Erkinmikko (Finland), Gerrit Bij de Leil (Holland), Ryabinin Alexander (Russia), Janis Bindze (Latvia) and Anthony Brabin (Cyprus).
Zammit, who will warm up for the championships by playing in this weekend's Romanian Open, was drawn in Group E alongside Brendan O'Donoghue (Ireland), Patrick Einsle (Germany), Cristi Adonicioae (Romania), Kostyantyn Kulik (Ukraine), Shay Arama (Israel) and Rafal Jewtuch (Poland).
The top four from each of the eight groups will progress to the KO phase of the competition.
All first-round matches will be best-of-seven frames. Last 32 matches and quarter-finals will be best-of-nine and the semi-finals best-of-11. The final, on June 15, will be best-of-15 frames.
Meanwhile, Borg and Zammit will face each other in this evening's Premier League final at the Peace Band Club, Naxxar.
Defending champion Borg, a five-times winner of the championship, is contesting his 13th final while Zammit, winner in 2002, will be making his fifth appearance in the ultimate showdown.
Paul Galea is the referee for the best-of-13 contest which starts at 6.15 p.m.