Malta 7
Austria 9

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

Austria placed third at the FINA Development Trophy tournament after beating Malta 9-7 at the Shiroudi Stadium in Tehran, yesterday.

Austria won the opening session 4-3 but Malta hit back to take a 6-5 lead at half-time.

Only one goal was scored in the third quarter for Austria to level matters at six-all.

The final quarter saw no goals until the last three minutes when Austria once again took the lead which they preserved for a 9-7 win.

Malta coach Karl Izzo told reporters that he was satisfied with the way his team played in Iran this week.

“I am happy. We played five matches in five days and showed great qualities here,” Izzo said.

“This was another excellent performance, particularly in defence, against a very strong Austrian side strengthened with the inclusion of two Hungarian players and a Croatian since our defeat on penalties in April.

“On behalf of the players, I thank the ASA for making this participation happen.”

Malta’s scorers yesterday were Edward Aquilina 3, Nicholas Bugelli 2 and Alex Attard 2.

Iran won the tournament after beating Uruguay 13-5 in the final.

Final classification
1. Iran; 2. Uruguay; 3. Austria; 4. Malta; 5. Azerbaijan; 6. Indonesia; 7. Kuwait; 8. Tunisia; 9. Guatemala; 10. Morocco.