Malta crowned Ultimate Pool world team shootout champions

Malta crowned Ultimate Pool world team shootout champions
By Hot Malta Newsroom

The clack of cue on resin echoed like church bells across Bugibba last night as Malta’s national pool squad lifted the Ultimate Pool World Team Shootout trophy in front of a roaring, flag-waving crowd at the Dolmen Hotel. In a nail-biting finale that had the whole archipelago glued to TV sets in village band clubs, living-room couches and corner bars, the Maltese lions beat England’s Aces 7-5 to claim the nation’s first global title in any cue sport.

Skipper Duncan Bezzina, a 33-year-old plasterer from Żejtun, sank the winning black to spark scenes reminiscent of the 2018 national football team’s summer miracle. “I could hear the fireworks from Qrendi all the way inside the arena,” Bezzina laughed, wiping chalk dust from his cheek. “My nonna rang between shots to tell me she lit a candle to Santa Marija. Looks like it worked.”

The victory is more than silverware; it is the latest chapter in Malta’s love affair with games played on green baize. Introduced by British sailors in the 19th century, billiards took root in Valletta coffee houses and evolved into a distinctly Maltese pastime. Every town has its “każin tal-biljardu” where elderly men trade gossip over ricotta pastizzi and rack after rack of eight-ball. Pool halls now sit beside traditional band clubs, creating a cross-generational melting pot immortalised in local indie film “Is-Sular Tal-Bajtar”.

Malta’s route to the crown was as twisty as Mdina’s mediaeval streets. After topping a group containing Scotland and Cyprus, the squad edged Northern Ireland on a re-spotted black in the quarter-finals before dismantling Wales 8-2 in the semis. The final itself swung back and forth, with teenager Leah Micallef, a student at St Aloysius College, producing a fearless treble to level at 5-5. When England’s captain scratched on the penultimate rack, Bezzina seized the moment, cueing under the gaze of Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo and a delegation from VisitMalta who promised to fly the team to Sicily on a celebratory catamaran cruise.

“This is massive for Maltese sport,” said coach Charles “Il-Kink” Camilleri, who learned his trade hustling tourists in Paceville before turning pro. “We’re a tiny island, but our kids grow up watching their dads and uncles play bar rules in każini. That culture breeds nerve. Tonight we proved talent isn’t measured in square kilometres.”

The win lands a €75,000 team purse and, more importantly, secures Malta as host for next year’s championships, guaranteeing thousands of visiting fans and a potential €2 million boost for hotels already reeling from post-COVID blues. “We’ll turn the Mediterranean Conference Centre into the most beautiful pool theatre on earth,” pledged Parliamentary Secretary for Sport Rebecca Buttigieg, adding that primary schools will receive 500 mini-pool tables funded by tournament sponsors.

Across the islands, spontaneous festa-style celebrations erupted. In Żabbar, the parish priest blessed a makeshift table set up in the church square while Għarb’s brass band belted out a victorious march. Hashtags #PoolPride and #MaltaCueChamps trended all night on TikTok, with influencers posting trick-shot videos from Upper Barrakka Gardens. Even rival football ultras set aside derby grudges to toast the cue kings.

Looking ahead, Malta now eyes a place in the World Cup of Pool in Milton Keynes next spring. Bezzina says the squad will keep training at their base in Paola’s Tal-Qroqq complex, fuelled by ħobż biż-żejt and the knowledge that an entire nation is behind them. “We’re not just players anymore, we’re representatives of every każin, every village festa, every kid who’s ever lined up a shot on a wonky pub table,” he said, trophy glinting under the Mediterranean moon.

Cue the fireworks. Malta is on the map, and this time the chalk is blue and white.