Duncan Bezzina, of 147 Snooker Hall, has won the third ranking tournament of the season, organised by the Malta Billiards & Snooker Association (MBSA). In the final, played at Jesmond Sporting Club, Bezzina upstaged Alex Borg, of Juventutis Domus, 6-1. This was Borg's first defeat in 16 months in local competitions.

Bezzina was in fine form throughout the final, controlled by referee Ambrose Licari.

Borg started with a break of 54 but Bezzina hit back with a 66 to win the first frame. The second frame was similar to the first as Borg made a 43 but it was Bezzina who won it 61-51. The next two frames were shared for a 3-1 score at the interval.

When play resumed, Bezzina remained on top and breaks of 42 and 94 gave him a 6-1 victory.

Frame scores (Bezzina first): 66(66)-54(54), 61-51(43), 75(48)-25, 54(42)-61, 70-39, 70-5, 128(94)-4.

At the end of the match, Joe Caruana Curran, the MBSA president, presented trophies to the two finalists. Borg compiled the highest break of the tournament - 122.

On the MBSA provisional ranking list, Borg has 3,750 points followed by Bezzina, 2,750, and Simon Zammit, 2,550.

Meanwhile, the National Championships continued this month with matches from the final stages in all divisions.

In the Premier Division, the eight players who have qualified from the group stages have again been divided into two groups of four.

Matches will be played over two rounds on a home and away basis with the top two in each group advancing to the semi-finals.

Group A consists of Borg, Zammit, Clint Grima and Arthur Cachia while Bezzina, Clayton Castaldi, Mario Brincat and Frans Mintoff are in Group B.