Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/810144
22 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 APRIL 2017 Sport FOOTBALL DARTS Godfrey Abela and John Agius complete the National Team selection THE seventh and final week from the Malta Premier League of Darts group stage took place at La Rovesciata in San Gwann which notably saw Godfrey Abela and John Agius securing their place in the 2017 National team scheduled to compete at the Mediterranean Cup in France during the month of May. They join Norbert Attard and Albert Scerri who had already qualified. Vincent Busuttil v Albert Scerri 4-2 The opening match of the night had no implications on who the final four players would be as A. Scerri had already qualified and V. Busuttil already eliminated. Busut- til raced to a 2-0 lead with Scerri reducing the deficit in the 3rd leg but the once again veteran player, Busuttil opening a two-leg cushion by winning the 4th leg. He could have closed out the match in the 5th leg but numerous misses on the doubles gave Scerri a glimmer of hope reducing the gap back to one leg. Despite this set back, Bu- suttil clinched the win in the 6th leg which sees him ending his cam- paign on a 3 win – 4 loss record. Brian Abela v John Agius 0-4 J. Agius fulfilled his boyhood dreams by securing a berth in the national team as he comfortably defeated B. Abela 4-0 in his final group match. High scorer, Agius left the best for last as he recorded his highest 3 dart average (82.35) in this competition. David Attard v Godfrey Abela 1-4 Going into game-week seven this was the match everyone was wait- ing for as a win for either player would ensure them of a place at the final four stage. In the opening leg, G. Abela managed to break throw and backed this up by also claim- ing the second leg to assert his dominance on this match. Attard held his throw in the 3rd leg but on the night Abela was the better player of the two winning the next two legs for a 4-1 win. Norbert Attard v John Ciantar 4-0 N. Attard concluded the group stage in style as he dispatched J. Ciantar 4-0, averaging a mouth- watering 103.65 3-dart average along the way. To put this feat in perspective the average at this year`s UK Premier League of darts is 97.63 with this competition fea- turing the likes of Michael Van Gerwen, Phil Taylor and Gary An- derson. This win also secured top spot for N. Attard as he ended the group stage on a 100% record. Final Group Standings: 1st N.Attard (qualified) – (7-0) 2nd A.Scerri (qualified) – (4-3); 3rd G.Abela (qualified) – (4-3); 4th J.Agius (qualified) – (4-3); 5th D.Attard – (3-4); 6th V. Busuttil– (3-4); 7th J. Ciantar – (2-5); 8th B.Abela – (1-6). Statistics: Best 3-dart average – N.Attard – 103.65; Best leg – N.Attard – 12; 180s – V. Busuttil – 1 ; Highest checkout – N.Attard – 92. Streaming for this event can be found on the association`s You- Tube channel - Malta Premier League of Darts 2016/17 – Day 7. Finals night will take place on Wednesday 26th April 2017 at Red Square, St. Venera with Nor- bert Attard taking on John Agius and Albert Scerri playing against Godfrey Abela in the semi-finals. The first match scheduled to start at 20:00hrs. 5 A SIDE CUP COMPETITION – SEMI FINALS Mosta Horseshoe Bar A have one foot in the final as they swept past Birzebbugia Cox Sports Club 5-0 in the first leg of the 5 a-side Cup, semi-final stage. Wins for Horseshoe coming from Tony Borg, Albert Scerri, Neville Grech, Edward Azzopardi and Godfrey Abela. The other semi- final featured the two National league title contenders Kalkara St Joseph and Floriana Ajax with the latter edging out their oppo- nents 3-2 to claim a first leg lead. Kirsten Aquilina and Andy Keen winning for Kalkara and Norbert Attard, David Attard and John Agius for the greens. Albert Scerri Godfrey Abela Argentina sack coach Bauza, line up Sevilla's Sampaoli TWICE World Cup winners Argen- tina sacked coach Edgardo Bauza on Monday after a string of poor results in South American qualifying left them struggling to reach the 2018 finals in Russia. Media reports suggest Sevilla's Ar- gentine coach Jorge Sampaoli, who has never disguised his ambition to take charge of the national team and steered neighbouring Chile to the Copa America title in 2015, will step into the vacancy. "We've reached an agreement, we've told Bauza he's ceased to be the national team coach," the Ar- gentine FA's recently elected presi- dent Claudio Tapia told reporters after a meeting at the organisation's Buenos Aires headquarters. Argentina, whose captain Lionel Messi has been banned for four matches for insulting a match offi- cial, are fifth in the South American group with four qualifiers remain- ing. The top four in the 10-nation group go through to the 2018 finals in Russia, while the fifth-placed country qualifies for a playoff against a team from Oceania. Bauza presided over eight match- es, all 2018 World Cup qualifiers, with three wins, two draws and three defeats. If the AFA can successfully prize Sampaoli away from Sevilla at the end of the season, he would have un- til August 31 to prepare for Argen- tina's next qualifier, a tricky trip to play Uruguay in Montevideo. Tapia has announced a news con- ference for Tuesday to give details of Bauza's departure and his possible successor. The new AFA leadership made the decision to dispense with Bauza after Argentina were lucky to beat Chile 1-0 at home with a Messi pen- alty then lost 2-0 away to Bolivia at high altitude in La Paz last month. Argentina, who had Messi sus- pended before the Bolivia game, could be without their talisman in Uruguay and at home to Peru and Venezuela later this year unless they manage to get the ban reduced on appeal. If the appeal fails, Messi would on- ly come back for the final, potential- ly decisive qualifier away to Ecuador at high altitude in Quito in October. Bauza was appointed last July by Armando Perez, who headed a FIFA committee that administered the AFA and prepared it for the presi- dential election that Tapia won last month. Messi had quit international foot- ball after Argentina's second suc- cessive Copa America final defeat on penalties by Chile in the United States in June, having missed the opening spot kick in the shootout. Bauza persuaded Messi to return in August and the captain respond- ed with a goal in a 1-0 home win over Uruguay on Sept. 1. The 59-year-old's team were un- convincing, though, with draws away to Venezuela and Peru, losses to Paraguay and Brazil and a win over Colombia between September and November. Messi missed all but the Brazil and Colombia matches through injury. Sampaoli quit as Chile coach af- ter lifting the 2015 Copa America but had just taken charge at Sevilla when the Argentina job became va- cant last July after Gerardo Martino resigned. The AFA would have to pay a buy- out clause to trigger Sampaoli's re- lease from Sevilla.