Malta to host World Billiards championship

Local followers of the games of snooker and billiards are in for a treat in the coming weeks as the Malta Billiards and Snooker Association (MBSA) have joined forces with private firm Snooker Promotions to organise two prestigious international events in Malta.

At a news conference yesterday, Benny Pace, the MBSA president, announced that the Snooker Continental Cup and the World Billiards Championship will both be staged at the Jerma Palace Hotel, Marsascala between March 27 and April 3.

With the world's top players set to participate, the World Billiards Championship is expected to be the highlight of this sport bonanza at Marsascala. This is the first time that the tournament will be staged outside India and the United Kingdom.

Richard Balani, director at Snooker Promotions, said 16 players will compete in the championship.

The world's top eight players have secured automatic qualification. World no. 1 Mike Russel of England leads the field. Four other players have yet to qualify from events being held in India and the UK.

Malta, as host, has been awarded four wild cards and will be represented by Paul Mifsud, Joe Grech, Pullu Grech and Maltese-Australian Steve Mifsud, the IBSF snooker champion.

The players have been drawn into the following groups: Group A - M. Russel (UK), G. Sethi (India), Qualifier 1 (UK), P. Grech (Malta). Group B - C. Shutt (UK), N. Patel (India), Qualifier 4 (India), S. Mifsud (Malta).

Group C - D. Causier (UK), R. Chapman (UK), Qualifier 3 (India), J. Grech (Malta). Group D - P. Gilchrist (UK), R. Foldvari (India), Qualifier 2 (UK), P. Mifsud (Malta).

The group stages will start on April 1 with the final scheduled for April 3. Games will be played on a 100-up basis, with the round robin matches held on best of seven frames and the quarter-finals and semi-finals on best of nine. The final will be contested on best of 11 frames.

Malta with four teams in Continental Cup

In the Continental Cup, Malta will be facing the challenge of 12 other European nations namely Holland, Gibraltar, Poland, Iceland, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, France, Hungary, Belgium, Austria and Cyprus.

The MBSA will be fielding four teams with Maltese professional snooker player Tony Drago leading Malta 1 alongside Duncan Bezzina and Simon Zammit.

Malta 2 is composed of Alex Borg, Joe Grech and Arthur Cachia while Malta 3 comprises Simon Camilleri, Mario Brincat and Tony Brincat. David Cortis, Philip Ciantar and Marlon Bugeja make up Malta's fourth team.

The draws of the group stages, which get underway on March 27, resulted as follows: Group A - Holland, Malta 2, Gibraltar, Poland; Group B - Iceland, Germany, Malta 4, Switzerland; Group C - Finland, France, Hungary, Malta 3; Group D - Malta 1, Belgium, Austria, Cyprus.

Malta will also be represented by Karen Grech in the women's plate event. Grech was drawn in Group A along with R. Lo La Jong (Holland), J. Ho (France), C. Dehaene (Belgium), N. Correa (Gibraltar) and I. Kazoka (Latvia). Group B features W. Jans (Belgium), L. Lindhaet (Holland), S. Tulinas (France), N. Niermann (Germany) and M. Klysz (Poland).

The finals of both the women's and the team tournament will be played on March 30. The closing stages of the Snooker National Championships will serve as a dress rehearsal for these two international events. On Wednesday, March 26, the semi-finals of the national championships will be played with the final to be held on March 31.

Also present for yesterday's news conference at the Jerma Hotel was Parliamentary Secretary for Sport Jesmond Mugliett who welcomed the renewed ties between Snooker Promotions and the MBSA.

Mugliett said that the organisation of such tournaments further strengthens the view that Malta is fast establishing itself as an ideal sporting venue. He augured that the MBSA and Snooker Promotions would lure more top events to Malta.

First International, the IT company, are the main sponsors of these tournaments.