Malta champion Alex Borg has advanced to the knock-out phase of the World Championship which reached its halfway stage in Hurghada, Egypt, yesterday when the final matches from the qualifying stage were completed.

Borg topped Group R after defeating Peter Bullen, of Belgium, 4-0. Both players had lost one match earlier and met in the last round-robin match with the top position and a favourable draw at stake.

Though there were no breaks, Borg regularly maintained his lead over Bullen who also had chances but failed to capitalise.

There are 44 countries participating in the championships with a total of 134 entries in the men’s category alone.

The two other Maltese players in the tournament, Brian Cini and Aaron Busuttil, are also safely through to the next round, starting today.

However, Cini’s unbeaten run in Group E came to a halt after a 4-2 upset to home player Basem Eltahhan on Saturday.

Busuttil made sure of his passage from Group V when beating South Africa cueist Abdul Mutalieb Allie 4-0.