The Malta Billiards and Snooker Association (MBSA) are bracing themselves for a hectic week when hosting the European Championships for teams at the Dolmen Hotel, starting tomorrow.

Joe Caruana Curran, the MBSA president, told a news conference yesterday that Malta will be represented by three teams in a competition featuring over 150 players.

Malta 1 is made up of Alex Borg, Simon Zammit and Duncan Bezzina, the same trio that won the 2004 Championship. They have been drawn in Group A which also includes Ireland 2, Wales 1, Poland, Russia, Austria and Scotland 2.

Malta 2 (Clayton Castaldi, Simon Camilleri and Mark Saffrett) are in Group B along with Ireland 1, Germany, Croatia, Iceland, Finland and Ukraine.

The other Maltese team, Duncan Pisani, Philip Ciantar and Marius Gatt, will be playing in Group C against Israel, Wales 2, Scotland 1, Belgium, France and Sweden.

In the Masters competition, the MBSA will have two teams - Tony Mifsud and Ivan Rizzo and Arthur Cachia and Frans Mintoff.

Matthew Calleja, Chris Peplow, Wayne Pace, Shaun Sultana and Aaron Busuttil will play in the U-19 tournament.

The MBSA will also hold the Billiards Open at the Dolmen Hotel next week. Malta will be represented by veteran Joe Grech, Brian Cardona and Tommy Busuttil. This competition will be played between March 30 and April 1.

Caruana Curran said this is an exciting time for his association.

"We hope that the Championships and Billiards Open will yield a lot of success to the MBSA not only from an organisational point of view but also for our players," he said.

"We have everything in place for a smooth organisation and the players have practised really hard for this tournament. So, we are urging all lovers of this sport to give us their backing at the venue."