Scottish youngster Michael Leslie has been crowned the 2012 European Under 21 Champion after a superb display of match play against Shane Castle. The win enables him to win a nomination for a place in the Snooker Main Tour for the next two seasons.
The Scot controlled the match from the start as Castle struggled to find the form he had displayed throughout the event.
Breaks of 46, 76, 42 and 121 took Leslie into a 4-0 interval lead in the best of 11-frame final.
Castle responded to take the next and rattled in 84 to close the gap to 4-2.
But the fourteen year left a long red for Leslie in the next and he constructed 100 to stand within a frame of the Championship.
In frame eight Castle broke down early and Leslie closed out the match in style with a run of 91.
A delighted Leslie revealed after the match: “I cannot believe it yet. It feels like a dream. I’ve dreamed of this a few times, that I’d won the final, and thought please don’t be a dream, but then woken up and been gutted. Last year I was just so disappointed to lose in the final, but I came here again this year and I felt stronger.”
Meanwhile only one of Malta’s five representatives failed to reach the Knock Out stage.
Wayne Pace could only finished fifth in Group J and was eliminated.
Brian Cini and Matthew Calleja finished second in Groups C and F respectively and were among the top 16 seeds for the KO stage. The others who qualified for the Last 48 were Aaron Busuttil and Chris Peplow, third and fourth respectively in Groups E and K.
Eventually, it was only Busuttil who managed to advance to the Last 16 where he was defeated 4-2 by Jamie Clarke.
The top break was compiled by Duane Jones - a 131. Malta’s Brian Cini topped the local list with a 71, followed by Busuttil with a 68 and a 66. Matthew Calleja had a 60 as his top break.
A record breaking 76 players participated from 26 countries, which was also the highest ever representation by EBSA member countries.
In the men’s team championship, Malta started its commitments with a defeat and a victory.
The strong Maltese team, consisting of Alex Borg, Simon Zammit and Duncan Bezzina, went down to a 9-2 defeat to Israel’s No 1 team, but came back to thrash Finland 9-0 in their second match.
They are in Group D alongside Bulgaria 2, Israel 1, Finland, Scotland and Bulgaria 5.
The Maltese are past winners of the event.
In the Masters event, the Maltese team, consisting of Ivan Rizzo and Manwel Mallia, has played three matches, winning two and losing the other one.
They won 2-0 (both 6-0) against Bulgaria and France, but lost 2-0 (6-3) against Ireland.
They are in Group B together with Bulgaria, France, Ireland 2, Israel 1, Russia and Wales.