Cremona crowns fine patch with England Grand Prix triumph

One of the four Maltese players at last weekend's Grand Prix of England, Massimo Cremona, won the honours at Milton Keynes after a superb showing throughout the competition.

Cremona and Hansel Mallia took part in the Open while Joseph Mifsud and Joe Debono played in the competition for veterans.

Cremona, who also reached the final last year, beat Axel Donval, of France, 4-0 in the final.

Forty players took part, coming from 11 different nations.

In the group stages, Cremona beat Jessica Hardenne, of Belgium, 5-0 and English duo Steve Hawkins 1-0 and Mike Parnaby 5-0.

In the knock-out phase last 16, Cremona eliminated Manfred Pawlica, of Austria, 2-0, Bjorn Kegenbeim, of Germany, 2-1, before beating Chris Short, of England, 1-0, in the semi-finals.

On his part, Mallia reached the quarter-finals, losing to Short 0-2.

In veterans, Mifsud made it all the way to the final but he was beaten 3-2 by Belgium's Olivier Pere.

Cremona is lately on a high.

Last month, he retained the Malta Grand Prix title for a third consecutive year after beating Charles Aquilina 3-2 on shoots, following a 0-0 stalemate, in the final.

A day earlier, Cremona had made it all the way to the final of the International Open but this time he had to bow to Mark Gauci who won the decisive match 2-1.

Both competitions were played at the Magazino Hall at the Valletta Waterfront.