As already published exclusively in The Malta Independent during the past summer, the Malta Cup is being held again in Malta next February, though this time, it will not be a ranking tournament.

The major difference will be in the format, not in the number of players and their quality.

In fact, it is being staged on a round-robin basis which sees the players divided into four groups of five, thus having to play at least four matches each in the qualifying round to reach the semi-finals.

Explaining the system yesterday, Richard Balani, of Snooker Promotions, organisers of the event, said the decision to turn it into an invitational event will offer local snooker fans an even greater spectacle. He added that Snooker Promotions were expecting the event to match, if not exceed, the results obtained last February in terms of exposure and international audience participation.

In fact, Balani said after last year’s positive experience, this year, they are being assisted by Allevents Malta, which forms part of the Fraser Eagle Group. And from 1 December, their online ticket booking facilities on their website www.maltacup.org will actually go ‘live’ and both Maltese and overseas snooker fans will be able to book seats immediately, on a block ticket basis or on a day ticket basis.

Thanks to Allevents Malta, overseas fans are being offered full travel packages – a one stop shop – to make it easier for them to come to Malta and watch the event.

The tournament will be played between four and 10 February at the Hilton Conference Centre. Taking part will be the official Top 16 at the start of the season, two wild cards chosen by World Snooker and another two selected by Snooker Promotions. These are Tony Drago and Alex Borg.

The players will be divided into four groups of five players each with the group winners going through to the semi-finals on 9 February. The final is scheduled for 10 February.

All group matches are to be played over six frames (all to be played), the semi-finals over a best of 11 frames and the final, over two sessions, on a best of 17 frames.

The draw for the Malta Cup will be made at the World Snooker offices and will be known by 30 November, when the players will also be expected to confirm their participation.

The prize money for the event is as follows: £20,000 for the winner, £9,000 for the runner-up, £4,500 for the semi-finalists; £2,750 for the second placed in each group, £2,500 for the third placed and £2,250 for the fourth placed. The fifth placed in each group will receive £2,000.

Five international referees, two of them Malta’s Terry Camilleri and Ray Debattista, will be controlling the matches.

Block and Day tickets will go on sale from 1 December and these will be available at EUR 95 and EUR15-EUR25 through the website, www.maltacup.org. The ticket office at the Hilton Conference Centre will open on 28 January.

Earlier, Joe Zammit, on behalf of the organisers, said that they had to fight hard to be in a position to stage the Malta Cup once again. He thanked the main sponsors, that is, the Malta Tourism Authority, Air Malta, Hilton Hotel and Eagle Fraser and Allevents Malta, without whose help they would not have been able to stage such an event.

Other speakers at yesterday’s news conference were Neal Stevens, commercial manager of World Snooker, Kevin Dean, of Fraser Eagle Group, Kevin Drake of the Malta Tourism Authority, Jimmy Attard, representing Air Malta, and Mario DeCelis, of the Malta Hilton.