Borg and Cini win European title in Lithuania

Alex Borg and Brian Cini are the winners of the 2016 European Snooker Team Championships after they beat Irish duo Brendan O’Donoghue and Ryan Cronin 5-3 in the final in Lithuania yesterday.

It was a fine performance from Borg and Cini who recovered from a slow start to gradually take control of the match, winning the last three frames to seal the title.

Malta and Ireland 3 had contrasting paths to the final yesterday. Borg and Cini came from behind to beat Belgium’s Wendy Jans and Jurgen Van Roy 4-1.

O’Donoghue and Cronin were taken to a tense decider before seeing off compatriots Rodney Goggins and Jason Devaney 4-3 and set up a final showdown with the Malta pair.

O’Donoghue gave the Irish the perfect start in the final when he beat Cini 84-0 but Borg soon restored equilibrium when he had the better of Cronin 82-36.

Ireland 3 regained the lead when they prevailed in the doubles match 74-34.

Borg maintained his strong form when beating O’Don-oghue 79-4 to send the teams at the interval tied at two-all.

Cronin gave Ireland the initiative when he outpointed Cini 61-25.

But Borg and Cini levelled the match when winning the second doubles’ match 62-29.

Cini finally won his first singles match in the final when defeating O’Donoghue 70-35 before Borg eased past Cronin 76-19 to seal a 5-3 victory.

Women’s title

The women’s team championship was won by Russian duo Anastasia Nechaeva and Daria Sirotina.

In the final, Nechaeva and Sirotina had the better of Latvian pair Tatjana Vasiljeva and Anna Prysazhnuka 4-1.

In the masters final , England’s Jamie Bodie crushed Ireland’s Peter Donegan 4-0.