The draws for the forthcoming first ranking tournament of the season – the Northern Ireland Trophy – have brought about the possibility of an all-Maltese clash in the second qualifying round of the tournament.
Borg enters the tournament in Round 1 and he is scheduled to meet Liu Song of China. If he wins that clash, he will set up the clash with Tony Drago in the second round of the qualifiers, which will be held at Pontin’s.
It will probably be the first time that the two Maltese cueists will have met in the professional field, if that happens.
Malta Cup confirmed
The Malta Cup will again be played for at the Portomaso Conference Centre of the Malta Hilton next year.
It forms part of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association calendar for the forthcoming season.
The season starts with the N. Ireland Trophy, the finals of which are to be held next month in Belfast. In October, there will be the Grand Prix between the 21st and the 29th.
There will be no tournaments in November, but December (4-17) will see the UK Championship being held at the York Barbican Centre.
That will be followed by The Masters tournament between 14 and 21 January 2007.
Next on the list will be the Malta Cup between 19 January and 4 February.
Between 11 and 18 February, the Welsh Open will be staged to be followed by the China Open in Beijing between 25 March and 1 April.
As usual, the world championship between April and May at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, will bring the season to an end.
Malta not taking part in
IBSF world team championship
Malta will not be taking part in the IBSF world team championship due to lack of funds.
This prestigious international event is, for the first time ever, being held in San Jose, California, USA.
Vince Pisani, MBSA PRO, said yesterday it was impossible to send the Malta team to take part without any financial aid, either from the government or from the Malta Olympic Committee. He said the association needed around Lm1,000 per head to send the team for the event.
The Malta team has taken part on some occasions in this event in the past, but it was in the European championship that it hit the headlines, winning that event on five occasions.
The organisers are hoping for a big lift-off for the game in the United States as they prepare for the first ever major world tournament. In fact, despite the long distance, men’s and senior teams from 17 different countries have confirmed their participation. In all, there will be 84 players participating in the event.
Countries taking part are Australia, Canada, China Hong Kong, England, Finland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Japan, Holland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and, of course, the United States.
The tournament will be held between 16 and 26 August.