Malta’s last act in the European Championship 2nd qualifying round Group D matches turned out to be an honourable performance never mind a defeat at the hands of a clearly higher-ranked team, Georgia, yesterday.

The 16-12 scoreline, a close one by waterpolo standards, reflected a battling display from a tiny country which has lived up to its billing of a relatively good standing in the continental ranking list.

The only blemish for the Maltese in this tournament was the unexpected 11-10 defeat at the hands of Belarus, a result which was probably due to a complex of stage fright.

There was no question of this element yesterday morning as the Maltese faced the strong Georgians, replete with players of Russian and Slav school.

Karl Izzo’s men battled on and were still in with a chance of a positive result till midway in the last session. Georgia, then, made their class tell.

In the opening session, Malta reacted well to level matters through Matthew Zammit and Jerome Gabaretta after Damir Tsrepulia had given the visitors a 2-0 lead.

Marko Jelaca regained the lead for Georgia before a break released Mark Meli who made it 3-3.

With a fraction of a second to go in the first session Steve Camilleri reminded one and all of his exquisite scoring instints when he netted a brilliant goal after rounding a defender from position no.4.

The Maltese kept battling and twice took the lead through Dino Zammit and Meli after Jelaca and Marko Elez had levelled the scores.

A second lost chance when Georgia were a man short, proved costly as Gegelashvili and Galaktion Laitadze scored to put the team coached by Valeriy Zavizion 7-6 in front midway through.

The Maltese had been more than competitive and very much in the contest at that stage.

This was underlined in another closely-fought third quarter with Georgia 9-8 ahead and 55 seconds to go. Then, Elez and Tato Nikoleishvili scored to make it 11-8.

Dino Zammit and Gabaretta showed their opportunism when scoring Malta’s goals in the third session.

However, the mental alertness and physical resistance of the Maltese were now slightly on the wane. Tsrepulia and Jelaca, two great performers, kept up their scoring momentum, with Dino Zammit getting his hat-trick and Camilleri his second for a 13-10 scoreline.

But there was no stopping Georgia, yesterday.

Three more goals from them, with Malta responding with two from Gabaretta and Jordan Camilleri, made it a final 16-12 scoreline for Georgia who thus finished with a perfect record from four matches.

This was the lowest victory margin for Georgia in this tourna-ment. At least, Malta bowed out with their heads held high against the Group D winners.

Ukraine runners-up

In the opening match yesterday, Ukraine made sure of second place when they beat Israel 9-7.

The Ukrainians kick-started by taking a 3-0 lead. Israel hit back to reduced the arrears to 6-5 by the end of the third session.

However, Ukraine, for whom Yevgen Obedinsky scored four times, held sway to emerge winners.

Summaries

Malta 12
Georgia 16

(4-3, 2-4, 2-4, 4-5)

Malta: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon, J. Gabarretta 3, M. Stellini, M. Meli 2, M. Zammit 1, S. Camilleri 2, J. Camilleri 1, J. Brownrigg, S. Gravina, T. Sullivan, D. Zammit 3, D. Camilleri.

Georgia: Z. Chumburidze, M. Jelaca 4, D. Tsrepulia 5, M. Elez 2, G. Laitadze 1, B. Kavtaradze 1, G. Khvedeliani, M. Buaghaturia, Z. Rurua, K. Gegelashvili 2, T. Nikoleishvili 1, M. Francichevic, B. Kapanadze.

Refs: L. Santos (POR), K. Dvoracek (CZE).

Israel 7
Ukraine 9

(0-1, 1-3, 4-2, 2-3)

Israel: G. Katzir, O. Polatsek, I. Keren, G. Strugo 2, I. Goldschmidt 1, O. Keren 2, D. Eros, E. Shoham, R. Yuval, Y. Murvitz Lahav 1, Y. Zonan-stern 1, I. Peled, N. Cohen.

Ukraine: V. Petrov, O. Tsvirkun, Y. Shylin, M. Ratkov, O. Dyadyura, S. Hrishyn, O. Abramov, D. Alyek-syeyev, V. Sytnyk, V. Voitenko, Y. Obedinsky, V. Babaienko, D. Volon-chuk.

Refs: R. Daniel (SLO), L. Krol (POL).

Final standings