There will be three Maltese players taking part in the event at the Portomaso Hilton Conference Centre.
Local top professional Tony Drago still has to play his qualifying match this evening at 8pm, while Guzi Grech and Simon Zammit have received a wild card entry and will be playing their qualifier this afternoon.
Alex Borg had been eliminated in the qualifying rounds earlier in the season.
The following are three profiles of the three Maltese participants:
TONY DRAGO
World ranking: 36
Last five seasons: 22-24-28-29-26
Date of birth: 22-09-65
Lives: Valletta
Turned professional: 1985
Best ranking event performance: Runner-up – International Open 1997
Last season’s prize money: £30,825
Career prize money (up to start of 2005/06 season): £1,047,955
Highest tournament break: 147 – Benson and Hedges Championship 2002
Tony Drago won just three matches in eight ranking tournaments last season and the
Tornado was blown down the rankings after 18 consecutive seasons in the top 32.
There was some consolation for Malta’s leading sportsman as he qualified for the televised stages of the Embassy World Championship thanks to a 10-4 defeat of Nigel Bond in the final qualifying round. But he lost 10-5 to Stephen Lee at the Crucible.
Drago is one of snooker’s most popular players with a flamboyant personality and a
remarkably fast, attacking style. He compiled a century break in just 210 seconds during the 1995 UK Championship and holds the record for the fastest frame – just three minutes – which he set at the 1988 International in Stoke against Danny Fowler.
He made his World Championship debut in 1986 and his first appearance at the Crucible two years later, when he defeated Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor on his way through to the quarter-finals. Steve Davis was his opponent but, over the best-of-25-frames, he could win only four.
Drago reached the final of a world ranking tournament for the first time at the 1997
International Open in Aberdeen, beating John Parrott 5-3 in the quarter-finals and John
Higgins 6-5 in the semis. The exertions of that match took their toll in the final, which Stephen Hendry won 9-1.
Performances like that helped him climb as high as No 10 in the world rankings. Away from the table, he is a fan of Italian football giants Juventus and also enjoys tennis.
SIMON ZAMMIT
Date of Birth: 20 August 1966
Home Town: Valetta, Malta
Club: Jesmond Snooker Club
High Match Break: 112 (2003 European Championships)
High Practice Break: 147
Country Ranking: No. 2
Favourite Player: Jimmy White
Achievements: 2005 Malta Cup Wildcard Round, 2004-5 Malta Ranking Event 1 Semi Final, 2004 Malta Championship Semi Finalist, 2004 European Championship Last 32, 2004 European Play offs Quarter Final, 2004 European Team Cup – Malta Champions, 2003-4 Malta Ranking Event 6 Winner, 2003, European Championship Quarter Finalist, 2002 European Championship Semi Finalist, 2002 Malta Champion
JOE GRECH
Date of Birth: 9 July 1954
Home Town Club: 147 Snooker Club
High Match Break: 138 (1998 UK Championship) 141 (Malta event)
High Practice Break: 147
Country Ranking 2004-5: Malta No 4
Turned Pro: 1988-2000.
Highest Ranking: 68 (1991)
Achievements: 2005 Malta Cup Wildcard Round, 2004-5 Malta Ranking Event 2 runner up 2004-5 Malta Ranking Event 1 Winner, 2004 Malta Championship Runner Up, 2003 Malta Championship Quarter Final, 2003 Lowenbrau 147 Club Event Winner, 2003 Tivoli Ranking Event Semi Final, 2000 Malta Champion, 1999 Thailand Masters Round 5, 1999 China International Round 5, 1999 Embassy World Championship Round 7, 1998 IBSF World Championship Semi Finalist, 1996 Rothmans Malta Grand Prix Quarter Finalist, 1989 Dubai Classic Quarter Final, 1987 IBSF World Snooker Championship Runner Up, 1987 IBSF World Billiards Champion, 1985 IBSF World Snooker Championship Semi Finalist, 1982 Teachers Whisky Invitation Snooker Winner,
1980, 1981 Malta champion.
Despite being a veteran now, at 50, Grech still reaches the latter stages of Maltese ranking events regularly.
In the 2004 championship he finished runner up to Alex Borg, but made his mark on the event with back to back centuries, 105 and 125, in one match.
One of the best moment’s of Grech’s professional career came as long ago as the 1989 Dubai Desert Classic when he beat Tony Knowles and Gary Wilkinson, both Top 16 players at the time, before losing out 5-4 to Alex Higgins in the quarters. Grech is one of the few cue sports all-rounders and has won the IBSF World Billiards title and been a finalist in the snooker.