Valletta team reaches final in Rochefort tournament
The Valletta Subbuteo Club team reached the final of the Major of Rochefort tournament which was organised last weekend in Belgium.
The individual categories were played on Saturday with 181 participants from different countries, 10 of which Maltese players.
In the Open category, five Maltese players participated. Derek Conti reached the quarter final, losing his game against the Italian player Saverio Bari ending the game with the score of 0-0 but was beaten with shots 1-0. Samuel Bartolo, Angelo Borg and Massimo Cremona reached the last 32, while Tristan Fenech was eliminated in the group stage. The Spanish player Carlos Flores won this category.
In the Veteran category, Charlie Aquilina reached the semi-final, losing against the Italian player Gianfranco Calonico with the score of 4-0. The same Calonico won this category. Jason Pisani and Mario Camilleri lost the barrage against Carlo Alessi and Charlie Aquilina respectively. John Zammit was eliminated in the group stage.
Jurgen Balzan was semi finalist in the U-19 category. This category was played as a league, with Balzan reaching the third place. The final was played between the 1st and 2nd placed. The winner of this category was the Belgian player Maxime Rairuox.
The team competitions were played on Sunday and 29 teams participated. Valletta Subbuteo Club had an amazing tournament and were close to win the title when they played the final against F.Lli Bari Reggio Emilia of the Maltese player Massimo Cremona.
Valletta Subbuteo Club team was composed of Derek Conti, Samuel Bartolo, Mario Camilleri, the Belgian player Pascal Scheen and the English player Christian Short. Valletta had a good start where they won their group with maximum points, then continued to advance until they reached the final and lost against Reggio Emilia with the score of 2-1. On the same day John Zammit and Tristan Fenech were playing with their Greek team Piraeus Lions TSC and Jason Pisani was playing with his Italian team Master Sanremo.