Malta beaten by Georgia and now face the Netherlands for eleventh place

Malta

Georgia

(2-3, 1-0, 1-2, 0-2) 4 7

Malta lost against Georgia 4-7 in the semi-final match to determine 9th to 12th placing at the Junior European Waterpolo Championships being held in Tbilisi Georgia.

Against the host nation Malta only threw in the towel in the final session when Georgia scored two decisive goals and now face Croatia for ninth place, leaving the Maltese to fight for eleventh place against the Netherlands.

Akhvledian gave Georgia a two-goal lead in the opening minutes but Nico Schiavone pulled one back with a man-up situation. Malta took advantage of another numerical superiority with Benjamin Cachia making it 2-2.

But thirty seconds later Georgia were back in front with a Luka Giorgadze shot.

In the second session the Maltese had a clean sheet with Jake Muscat scoring a penalty in the last minute for a 3-3 scoreline by the half way line.

In the third session Valika Dadvani put Georgia back in front but the local boys took advantage of another numerical superiority with Sebastian Busuttil making it 4-4. But twenty seconds later in a fast break Georgia were back in front 5-4.

In the last quarter Malta tried to get back to level terms and missed on a numerical superiority occasion through Cachia and the Maltese were made to pay when Lasha Alavidze scored a penalty for Georgia to make it 6-4.

With a minute and seven seconds to go Davit Chkheidze sealed the issue with Georgia’s seventh and last goal.