After losing narrowly against England 7-8, the Malta team returned to winning form as they beat France 9-6 yesterday in the European Championship being held in Dublin, Ireland.

The victory has pushed the Malta team closer to qualification for the semifinals.

Meanwhile, in the individual categories, Mario Brincat, Clint Azzopardi and Marius Gatt all won convincingly and advanced to the third phase of the championship.

Earlier Malta had opened its campaign with three straight victories.

On Monday, the Maltese team beat Belgium 9-6. On Tuesday, there was a narrow 8-7 win against Scotland as well as a convincing 11-4 win against Northern Ireland.