Azerbaijan beat Malta in waterpolo position match

Karl Izzo’s Malta Under-17 national team will be playing their counterparts from Ukraine today to avoid bottom place in the final rankings of the 16-team waterpolo tournament at the inaugural European Games in Azerbaijan.

Yesterday, the Maltese youth team conceded a fourth successive defeat in Baku after going down to the hosts 8-7 (3-2, 2-3, 2-2, 1-0) in a balanced clash from the 13-16 classification bracket.

Azerbaijan opened a 3-0 lead but goals from Joseph Galea and Ben Plumpton halted the rot before Galea struck again midway through the second session to level matters at 3-3.

There was no one side dominating in the pool and two goals at each end, with Plumpton again twice on the mark, saw the two teams changing ends 5-5.

James Gambin put Malta in front for the first time only for Arteom Dzikhtsiarenka to put the Azeris back in the driving seat with two quick goals. Before the third session ended, however, Plumpton scored from a penalty to keep Izzo’s team in the match.

There was action at both goalmouths in a frantic fourth session. In the end, however, it was Azerbaijan who finished on top thanks to an Egor Triapin goal, the only successful strike of the entire quarter.

Yesterday, Ukraine were beaten 11-9 by Turkey in the other match from the 13-16 position fixtures. Today, Turkey play Azerbaijan for 13th place.