Malta Under-21 clinch title but juniors lose final

The Maltese Under-21 national team are the new world champions in their category after winning the title in Blackpool, England, yesterday.

In a tense final, the national team trio – Maverick Zammit, Thurston Grixti and Matthias Mallia – had the better of pre-tournament favourites England.

The home team were tipped by many to retain the title they had won in the previous world championships but coach Adrian Camilleri and his players had other ideas and went on to clinch the match 5-4.

In the semi-finals, Malta eliminated Scotland 5-2 as England had the better of their stablemates England ‘B’ 5-4.

This has been a tournament to remember for Zammit, in particular. The Maltese lad was also prominent in the U-21 singles after a series of fine displays that saw him reaching the semi-finals.

In the last four, Ashley Radford, of England, beat Zammit 7-4 before going on to win the title after an 8-7 win over Ryan Fleming, of Scotland.

Also yesterday, the Maltese junior team in the Blackpool championships failed to emulate their peers from the Under-21 team as they lost the final to England 8-4 yesterday.

The team did well to beat Wales 8-6 in the morning semi-finals but could not repeat the act against England later in the day.

The hosts had reached the final after ousting Australia from the last four with an 8-5 win.

Meanwhile, the Malta senior team in the Open tournament continued to show progress following a comprehensive 16-5 win over England to finish in third place in the group qualifiers and book a place in the knock-out stage.

On Monday, Malta play Aus-tralia with a place in the semi-finals at stake.