Players eye Malta trip

The qualifying rounds for the 2004 European Open begin in the UK today, with 16 places up for grabs for the final stages in Malta next March. All players ranked outside snooker's top 16 (plus Malta's Tony Drago whose qualifying match has been held...

The qualifying rounds for the 2004 European Open begin in the UK today, with 16 places up for grabs for the final stages in Malta next March.

All players ranked outside snooker's top 16 (plus Malta's Tony Drago whose qualifying match has been held over) will be heading for World Snooker's new qualifying venue at Pontin's in Prestatyn, north Wales.

The best-of-nine matches start at 11 a.m. The qualifying rounds continue for six days, finishing next Wednesday.

Higher-ranked players are seeded through to the third, fourth and fifth rounds. Star names to enter the fray next week include former world champion John Parrott, Thailand's James Wattana and Hong Kong's Marco Fu.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.