Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/673696
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 MAY 2016 Sport 54 RUGBY SNOOKER China's Ding Junhui became the first Asian to reach the World Championship final with a 17- 11 victory over Scotland's Alan McManus. CHINA'S snooker flag-bearer fired his seventh century of the semi- final, a classy 123, and completed a 17-11 victory over Scottish veteran McManus on Saturday afternoon. Before Ding's masterclass, the re- cord in Sheffield stood at six centu- ries in a match, achieved by Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan, but he has rewritten that corner of the history books and also becomes Asia's first World Championship finalist, a landmark moment for the sport. His earlier tons in the match were 100, 131, 100, 128, 138 and 113, and in a startling run of scoring he also fired breaks of 84, 62, 90, 97, 80 and 60. Ding's time has finally come. Snooker's biggest match beckons. The 29-year-old has been tipped to dominate snooker since his teenage years. He won the UK Championship at the age of 18 and in 2013/14 matched Stephen Hendry's record of five ranking titles in a season, becoming world number one in December 2014. A drastic dip in fortunes saw him recently slide outside the top 16, meaning he had to go through qualifying for this tournament. But sweeping through three pre- liminaries bolstered his confidence for an assault on the event in which he has previously underachieved, providing what has proven to be the ideal preparation. Snooker World Championship: Ding Junhui first Asian in final Ding Junhui: Scored a record seven centuries in his SF win Last minute spectacle gives Stompers the Cup Swieqi Overseas ...........18 Sliema Stompers ..........20 MIKE TURNER A fine evenly played match be- tween two excellent sides made it a fitting final. Stompers speedy backs always had a slight edge and at least one try was lost because of over ea- ger running to create forward pass- es. Overseas took an early lead as Stompers's over enthusiasm led to several penalties, but Stompers hit back with precise passing along the line to launch Jeremy Debattista on the right wing who brushed off two tackles to score, conversion by Gumm. This jerked Overseas into action and they created an overlap for Brown to score an unconverted try. They extended the lead with anoth- er Duchange penalty. The Overseas were weakened by an injury to Du- change which probably had a big effect on the result. The Overseas scrum was superior in the tight but the teams were pretty well matched in the lineouts. Even against the wind Overseas enjoyed a territorial advantage but could not score. Then Stompers kicked well from a penalty, and Overseas failed to respond, sending the ball direct to Gumm who kicked a magnificent ball into the corner. From there Stompers launched a series of three or four driving mauls which ended in a try to regain the lead. Another Stompers back attack was wasted when Caruana and Gumm managed to waste a try by a for- ward pass. Galea then harassed the Overseas into a poor clearance from which Stompers launched a rolling offloading attack for Gumm to power over and build the lead to 11-17. An excellent attack by Over- seas was wasted by a knock-on on the wing so the lead remained at the end of the first half. A certain three points was also wasted by Overseas when they chose a scrum rather than kick an easy three points. In the second half Overseas had the wind, but were missing the scrum power of Corner, off with a blood injury. Overseas began mak- ing some errors, such as failing to call for high balls, and Stompers's defence and tackling seemed well able to contain the rather predict- able Overseas attacks. Finally Chris Briffa came on for Overseas and the back line clicked more smooth- ly but Stompers were still able to keep them at bay, until, after se- rial attacks they finally scored in a drive, Briffa converting to regain the lead 18-17. The anxiety kicked in for Overseas and the eager Stompers took advantage to stage a really dramatic climax. Overseas gave away the possession with poor kicking and so Stompers were able to gain territory and inevitably they gained a penalty, which was converted, to win the Mediterra- nean Bank Cup. The game was well refereed by Sam Rampage and his team. The runners up match was also a drama with Falcons winning 27-19 over Kavallieri after being behind 0-19 at half time. Mediterranean Bank Cup Final Sliema Stompers celebrate their victory PHOTOGRAPHY BY IAN AQUILINA