G. Britain halt Malta's stride

Great Britain 11
Malta 6
(4-0, 2-2, 2-0, 3-4)

Malta's unbeaten record at the group stage of the European 'B' Championship was broken yesterday when Sergio Afric's team lost 11-6 to Great Britain on the fourth day of the tournament currently being played in Lugano.

After three successive victories over Switzerland, Poland and Georgia, fatigue, perhaps, started to creep inside the Maltese players who only started training for this high-level tournament less than a month ago following the completion of the domestic league and KO competitions.

Those three successes, however, had already secured Malta a berth in the quarter-finals by the time they took to the water to play Great Britain.

In fact, fourth-placed Georgia saw their chances dashed by the Netherlands as the Dutch team beat the eastern Europeans 10-6 in yesterday's first match in the programme.

Georgia can finish level on nine points with Malta in third place but Afric's men will still play in Friday's quarter-finals thanks to last Monday's gripping victory in the group's direct encounter.

Barring some shock results, Georgia will have to settle for a slot in the classification matches.

Great Britain, now the favourites to top Group B and an automatic slot in Saturday's semi-finals, never gave Malta a chance to settle down and took a comfortable 6-2 lead by the half-way mark, after having scored four times without reply in the opening session.

The third quarter saw the Britons consolidating their lead with two other goals before the Maltese hit back admirably in the final session which they won 4-3 to make the score look more respectable.

Malta play the Netherlands today with the runners-up spot likely to be at stake as Great Britain look strong enough to beat Poland and secure the first placing in the group.

Malta: J. Cachia, A. Borg Cole, J. Gabaretta, S. Camilleri 2, C. Debono, M. Pisani, P. Privitera 1, J. Valletta 2, M. Stellini 1, J. Soler, M. Meli, J. Brownrigg, N. Lanzon.

Refs: Radonjic (Slovenia), Byelyevtsov (Ukraine).

Results

Group A: France vs Denmark 21-6; Belarus vs Ukraine 9-7; Turkey vs Slovenia 11-7.

Group B: Netherlands vs Georgia 10-6; Great Britain vs Malta 11-6; Switzerland vs Poland 9-5.

Standings

Group A: France 12; Turkey 9; Slovenia, Belarus 6; Ukraine 3; Denmark 0.

Group B: Netherlands, Great Britain, Malta 9; Georgia 6; Switzerland 3; Poland 0.

Today's fixtures

Group A: Denmark vs Turkey; Ukraine vs France; Slovenia vs Belarus.

Group B: Poland vs Great Britain; Malta vs Netherlands; Georgia vs Switzerland.