Twelve players and two referees together with MBSA President Joe Caruana Curran left Malta yesterday on their way to St. Petersburg, Russia, to represent Malta in the 2009 European team Championships and the Under 19s xhampionships which will take place in the Russian city between today and 26 March.

Malta will be represented with two teams in the Men’s category and one team in the Masters (Over 40) category while four players will participate in the Under 19 individual championship.

20 teams from 15 different European countries will participate in the Men’s category and they were divided in two groups of ten with the top four from each group qualifying into the quarter finals.

Malta has won these championships twice, that is, the inaugural edition in 2004 which was played in Latvia and the following year in Malta.

In this year’s edition, team Malta A is composed of local champion Alex Borg, Simon Zammit and Duncan Bezzina, the same team which won the inaugural edition in Latvia. Malta A will be in group B together with Scotland, Belgium, Ireland B, Poland, Iceland, Switzerland, Bielorussia and two Russian teams.

Team Malta B is composed of Mario Brincat, Clayton Castaldi and Duncan Pisani. They will play in Group A together with Ireland A, Finland, Wales, Cyprus, Germany, France, Israel and two Russian teams.

In the Masters category, 23 teams will compete in this year’s championships and they were divided into 4 groups with the top 4 placed in each group qualifying into the last 16 knock-out stages. The Malta team composed of Tony Mifsud and Peter Tonna will play in Group C together with England, Wales, Scotland, Belgium and Russia.

In the Under 19 championships Malta will be represented by local Under 19 champion Thurston Grixti, Aaron Busuttil, Matthias Mallia and Gozitan player Shaun Sultana. Fifty two players will play in these championships and they were divided into eight groups with the top four in each group qualifying into the last 32 knock-out stage.

Local international referees Willie Mifsud and Raymond Debattista will be controlling matches during these championships while MBSA president Joe Caruana Curran will lead the Maltese contingent.