Malta’s U-17 waterpolo team rallied well against Slovakia but their efforts were not enough to prevent a second defeat in Group D as they lost 15-8 (6-1, 2-4, 2-0, 5-3)

The Slovakian selection powered through the first quarter, hitting six goals without reply before Jacob Sciberras netted Malta’s first goal.

Malta did stage a mini-revival in the second session, reducing the gap to 8-5 with goals from Jeremy Abela, who scored two, Ben Plumpton and Kyle Navarro.

Slovakia all but sealed their victory after adding two more goals in the third. They went on to extend their margin after winning the fourth quarter 5-3.

Plumpton struck twice to complete his hat-trick for Malta with Darren Zammit getting the other goal.

Michal Uradnik was Slovakia’s top scorer with four goals.

Malta, who went down 22-4 to favourites Spain in their opener on Saturday, will conclude their group commitments this morning when they face Serbia.

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