Malta snooker champion Alex Borg and finalist Simon Zammit, who together with Joe Grech retained the European Team Championships title in March, will be representing Malta in the 2005 EBSA European Championships being held in Ostrow Wielkopolski, Poland between next Tuesday and 10th June. They will compete in the men’s event while also representing Malta will be Tony Mifsud and Paul Galea who will compete in the seniors event (over 40).
A record 133 players from 28 nations around Europe have registered to compete in this year’s championships, 64 in the men’s event, 40 in the seniors and 29 in the ladies. Players from Italy, Spain, Romania and Ukraine will compete for the first time. The venue, which can hold 1,800 spectators will accommodate 14 match tables plus a further four tables for practice.
Alex Borg will be trying to go one step further than last year when in a nail-biting final he lost 7-6 on the black against Mark Allen of Northern Ireland who will be defending his title in Poland. Borg was also finalist in 1998 in Helsinki while Paul Mifsud reached the final in 1988 in the Netherlands.
Participants in the men’s championships were divided in eight groups of eight players with the top four in each group moving into the last 32 knock-out stage.
Alex Borg has been drawn in Group B together with Sean Gray (Northern Ireland), Roey Fernandez (Israel), Gustavo Zito (Italy), Jyri Virtanen (Finland), Peter Roscoe (Wales), Mircea Ursu (Romania) and Roman Wasilewski of Poland.
Simon Zammit is in Group E together with Douglas Hogan of Switzerland, Peter De La Rosa (Gibraltar), Stefan Mazrocis (Netherlands), Martin O’Neill (Northern Ireland), Lasse Munstermann (Germany), Konstantin Kulik (Ukraine) and Marek Zubrzycki of Poland.
Matches during the group stages will be on a best of seven frames. The last 32 up to the quarter finals will be over the best of nine frames, semi-finals over the best of 11 frames while the final, scheduled for 10 June will be over the best of 13 frames. There is an added incentive for the men’s title winner this year as he will be awarded a direct place to compete on 2005-06 World Snooker Main Tour.
Polish Open
Meanwhile before the European Championships, Borg, Zammit and Mifsud will be among 80 players from all over Europe competing in the Polish Open Snooker Tournament which will be held between Monday and Tuesday at the same venue.