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Alex Borg wins National Snooker Championships
Friday night was another one to remember for cueist Alex Borg as he was crowned the Maltese National Snooker Champion for a tenth time in his career. Another breath taking final took place at Count Roger Band Club, Rabat where Borg overcame the challenge of Simon Zammit, 7 – 6.
In what was a replay of the Masters final a week before, Zammit had the better start going 4 - 1 up before the break. In the first five frames Simon was in excellent form and never gave Alex time to settle on the table.
It was a different story after the break. Borg was more confident in his potting and managed to win three frames in a row making it 4 - 4. Zammit managed to clinch the ninth frame and Borg made it all square again by winning the tenth. Frame number eleven was won by Zammit 6 - 5, leaving him a frame away from the title but with the master`s final a week before still on his mind and some excellent potting by Borg in the final two frames, Zammit`s second career title hope faded away in what was another memorable night for the Mellieha born cueist. These are the frame scores, Zammit first: 69 – 30, 70 – 0, 20 – 51, 58 -53, 74 – 37, 41 – 62, 59 – 63, 11 – 69, 79 – 11, 29 – 73, 74 – 7, 36 – 79, 28 – 66.
This was Borg`s 18th appearance in the Maltese top Division final. He had a remarkable season, in which apart being crowned Premier Division Champion on friday night, he also managed to clinch the Masters title in his first appearance in these championships. He managed the final of the second ranking tournament and in all season he only lost three games, two against Simon Zammit and one against Duncan Bezzina. On Monday Alex Borg left for Sheffield, England where he will be partecipating in three tournaments organized by World Snooker, named Q School. A total of 124 players will take part in this event.
The semi finalists of every tournament, (i.e. a total of 12 players) will book their place in the Main Tour next year. Borg will play his first game on Friday the 13th of May at 1600hrs. His opponent will be the winner of the match between Stephen Groves and Andrew Norman. Maltese referee Ambrose Licari will also be participating in this event. Apart from the Premier league final last Friday, Licari took part in the European Team Championships held in Malta earlier this year.
