... loses 5-2 in play-offs final against Kurt Maflin of Norway

Norway’s Kurt Maflin earned a nomination for the 2010-11 World Snooker Association (WSA) Main Tour after defeating Malta’s Alex Borg 5-2 in the final of the European Billiards and Snooker Association European play-offs in Bucharest, Romania.

The two-day event, ahead of the European Championships being staged till the end of next week, saw Maflin producing a stunning scoring performance which enabled him to return to the Main Tour next season.

After the match, Maflin was really pleased with his performance. He said: “If you play like that it’s hard to get beaten. I am really happy about that win.”

Another Maltese player, Duncan Bezzina, also took part in the event but his dream ended in the semi-final when he was beaten 4-1 by the eventual winner Maflin.

In the quarter-finals, Bezzina had defeated Kevin van Hove of Belgium 4-3, while Borg beat Kristjan Helgason of Iceland 4-2.

Maflin earned €1,000 for his victory while Borg pocketed €500 as the runner-up.

The presentations were made by EBSA secretary Maxime Cassis and Joe Caruana Curran, the EBSA vice-chairman and president of the Maltese Association.

Euro championships underway

Meanwhile, the European championships which will come to an end today week, got underway and both Maltese players, Alex Borg and Duncan Bezzina have won their opening matches.

In Group E, Borg beat Romanas Baradulinas 4-0 while Bezzina beat Gary Crawford 4-3 in a Group H match.

In the Masters field, Tony Mifsud also started his commitments with a commanding 3-0 win against Frederic Letcheur while Simon Camilleri obtained a walk over Venislav Daskalov.