The Malta Cup line-up is now known after the qualifying rounds were played earlier this week in Wales.

Unfortunately, Malta champion Alex Borg was eliminated by Alfie Burden on a narrow 5-4 scoreline and will not be in action at the Portomaso finals between 28 January and 4 February 2007.

Simon Zammit and Joe Grech will be taking part in the Wildcard round. Zammit will be facing Andrew Higginson who, on his way to Malta, also defeated Jimmy White 5-3 in Round 3 of the qualifiers. The winner will then face Steve Davis in the Last 32.

Former several times Malta champion Joe Grech will be meeting David Roe whose victims in Round 3 and Last 48 were Gerard Greene (5-3) and Alan McManus (5-2). The winner will meet Peter Ebdon.

As is well known, Tony Drago’s qualifying match against Lee Spick is to be played in Malta, probably on the same day as the Wildcard round. The winner of that match will then face John Parrot. The next match will be a clash against Michael Holt for a place in the Last 32 where world No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan will be awaiting the winner.

Ken Doherty of Ireland will be commencing his defence of the title with a clash against Nigel Bond. In February he had beaten John Higgins 9-8 in a nail-biting final at the Portomaso Hilton.

The following are the matches in the Last 32 round:

Ken Doherty-Nigel Bond; Steven Davis-Zammit/Higginson; Stephen Maguire-Ding Junhui; Peter Ebdon-Grech/Roe; Mark Williams-Fergal O’Brien; Matthew Stevens-Ryan Day; Barry Hawkins-Mark King; Ronnie O’Sullivan-Drago/Spick/Parrott/Holt; Stephen Hendry-Robert Milkins; Neil Robertson-Marcus Campbell; Ali Carter-Rod Lawler; John Higgins-Marco Fu; Shaun Murphy-Ricky Walden; Stephen Lee-Michael Judge; Anthony Hamilton-Tom Ford; Graeme Dott-Stuart Bingham.