Brian Cini won his third game from as many matches in Group B to retain his unbeaten record and qualify for the quarter-finals of the U-17 Open which is being staged at the Apple Club in Buġibba.

Cini, yet to concede a single frame, beat England cueist Josh Baddeley 3-0 (60-19, 82-26 and 51-11) in his last match to qualify as Group B winner.

Malta’s other young hopeful in the tournament for junior players, Chris Peplow, lost his last match but still succeeded in reaching the knock-out stages despite having to settle for third place in Group A.

In his last group match, Peplow lost to England’s Peter Devlin 2-3 (80-25, 36-49, 62-17, 39-70 and 36-74).

The four players who topped their respective groups were Devlin, Cini, Nico Elton (England – Group C) and Louis Heathcote (England – Group D).

All four booked their place in the last eight while those who finished second and third in their respective groups are to figure in a pre-quarter-final play-off to stay in the tournament.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.