Malta’s Tony Drago advanced to the third qualifying round of the UK Championship yesterday after completing a 9-7 win against Issara Kachaiwong of Thailand.

It was a morale-boosting win for the Valletta-born player who will now be meeting Ricky Walden in the third round tomorrow.

The winner of this third round tie will be facing Ian McCulloch in the Last 48 round.

On Wednesday, Malta’s other professional, Alex Borg, was eliminated from the tournament after losing 9-4 to Liang Wenbo.