Waterpolo: Malta lose to Slovenia

Malta ended its participation in the Waterpolo European ‘B’ Championships today with an 11-6 defeat to Slovenia in this afternoon’s fifth/sixth place play-off.

Having reached its objective of a top-six finish and a place in the qualifiers for the European Championships, to be held in Zagreb next year, Malta had been hopeful of closing its commitments in Lugano with a win, but ran out of steam in their final game.

Slovenia emerged comfortable winners after Sergio Afric’s team, having temporarily bridged the gap to one goal in the second quarter, fizzled out in the final two sessions, scoring only two goals to their opponents’ six. Niki Lanzon (four goals), Paul Privitera and Steve Camilleri were Malta’s scorers against Slovenia. In the quarter-finals, played on Friday, Slovenia lost 9-7 to the Netherlands and Malta were beaten 10-4 by finalists Turkey.