The Maltese national team beat Scotland 8-7 in a thrilling final at the Imperial Hotel, in Blackpool, yesterday to seal the European Eightball Pool Championship title for a third time.

The team, managed by Carmel Cilia, was composed of Antoine Cuschieri, Clayton Attard, Mario Cutajar, Ray Caruana, Johan Attard and Philip Coleiro.

The Maltese had started the day with another close affair against England, a last-four encounter that also required all ties to determine a winner as the Maltese prevailed by the odd frame in 15.

Scotland beat Ireland 8-7 in the other semi-final to secure their berth in the tournament match.

This was the 15th time that a men’s team representing the Malta Pool Association was playing at the European Championship with the previous two successes coming in 2002 and 2008.

The other teams vying for the title in Blackpool this week were Northern Ireland, France, Morocco, Wales and Belgium.

Malta opened a 6-2 lead in yesterday’s final but the Scots hit back strongly to draw level. The next two games were shared to set up a tense finale but Cuschieri kept hold of his nerves to secure victory for his country.

Scotland had topped the standings at the end of the round-robin phase with seven wins from eight matches. Their only upset came against Wales (5-10) but finished the qualifying stage with 14 points, four ahead of England, Malta and Ireland who all had five wins to show.

Malta’s five wins in the group stage came against Ireland (9-6), Belgium (14-1), Morocco (10-5), Wales (9-6) and Northern Ireland (8-7). The national team won 70 frames with Attard and Cuschieri enjoying the best records in the group with 16 wins each from 24 matches.

In all, the championship saw the participation of 372 players in events for teams, individual events for men and women, juniors and disabled cueists.

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