Malta’s Tony Drago is coming to Malta this week for the Malta Cup at Portomaso with the prospect of finishing out of the Professional Tour (Top 64) for the first time in 18 years.

On Sunday he was defeated 5-4 by Joe Delaney and was therefore ousted from the Welsh Open’s second qualifying round, after having defeated Kevin Van Howe 5-1 in his first round match.

At present, Drago is occupying 69th place in the provisional ranking list and it seems clear that he has a very remote chance of keeping his place among the Top 64 when next season gets under way.

A report in World Snooker’s official website yesterday said that “Drago’s defeat leaves his place on the professional Tour in jeopardy.”

In Sunday’s match, Drago had compiled a good break of 65 to go 4-3 up, but Delaney hit back to win the next two frames and advance to the third qualifying round. Earlier, Drago had compiled a 123, the fourth best frame of the tournament until yesterday.