Malta 6
Turkey 8
(2-1 1-1 2-5 1-1)

In a closely contested encounter Malta succumbed to their first defeat in the European 'B' Waterpolo Championships in Sweden last night, losing 8-6 to Turkey.

The match was practically lost in the second half of the third period, when, with Malta leading 5-3, Turkey stepped up a gear to score four times in succession, so that Malta started the final session losing 7-5.

A quick goal by the Turks in the fourth session gave our opponents a three goal lead. Despite our desperate attacks, we could only score one goal up to the end of the session.

For the record, Malta scored twice from four man-up occasions. The Malta scorers were Privitera (3), Lanzon, Zammit and Paris.

Turkey have now played all their games in Group A and collected maximum points to win the group.

Malta and Belarus will meet each other in the early afternoon (12.30 p.m.) today, in a match that will determine the runner-spot in the group. Considering the other results in the group, Malta will definitely finish in the top three in the group and therefore definitely in the top six of the championships.

In the quarter-finals the second placed team in each group will play the third placed. The winners of these matches will play against the winners of each group in the semi-finals.

Other Results: Group A: Belgium - Belarus 5-6. Group B: Finland - Bulgaria 6-10; Poland - Ukraine 6-4; Sweden - Israel 6-6

Classification after 4th day: Group A - Turkey 8 points from four matches, Malta and Belarus 4 points each from three matches, Belgium and Denmark remain pointless from three matches.

In Group B, all teams played four matches and Poland lead with 8 points. They are followed by Ukraine (6), Israel (5), Sweden (3), Bulgaria (2) and Finland (0).