The build-up and the countdown are on

Barely had the Christmas lights been turned off that the 'Masters of the Green Baize' went back into action after a 15-day break - the Travis Perkins UK Championship came to an end just seven days before Christmas with the World Championship qualifying setting off eight days in the New Year.

A demanding eight-month competitive calendar, which started last August with the Northern Ireland Trophy, will reach its pinnacle with the final of the World Championship at the famous Crucible Hall on May 1.

Malta is again part of this dazzling spectacle of world snooker having its own branded event - The Malta Cup - recognised as a ranking tournament sharing a prestigious standing along with the other world's leading events, namely, the Grand Prix, the UK Championship, China Open, the Welsh Open, the Masters and World Championship.

This will be the second in the series after Stephen Hendry won the first edition last year, a feat which represented his 36th ranking tournament triumph in a brilliant 20-year career and also his fourth victory on Maltese soil.

Hendry will be back again this month, along with the rest of the top 16 players and 16 other qualifiers, to defend the title. With the qualification of John Parrott, now ranked 47th, all winners of the six world ranking tournaments hosted in Malta over the past ten years will contest The Malta Cup.

Actually this year marks the 10th anniversary since Parrott, in 1996, won the first of the four editions of the European Open held in Malta, with John Higgins (1997), Stephen Hendry (2001) and Stephen Maguire (2004) winning the others.

Ken Doherty, who won the 2000 Rothmans Grand Prix then endowed with a world ranking status, will also be back for the Malta Cup.

Six memorable manifestations - four European Open, one Rothmans Grand Prix and last year's Malta Cup - which not only presented the many local snooker enthusiasts with thrilling moments of high calibre competition but also gave Malta an esteemed recognition as a prime tournaments location, both with players and organisers, along with significant exposure on the foreign press media and television.

In fact, the prime network Eurosport will be presenting extensive television coverage on this seventh 'Made in Malta' world ranking tournament extending the event's reach to over 95 countries and 255 million households.

This will comprise a minimum of 20 hours of live transmission plus repeats. Furthermore, local television is scheduled to transmit approximately 60 hours of live transmission plus repeats.

The 18-year-old Chinese superkid Ding Junhui, who became the first player from outside Britain and Ireland to take the UK Championship title after a (10-6) victory over Steve Davis, failed to make The Malta Cup when he was eliminated by David Gilbert (5-1) in the qualifying rounds.

As already announced Tony Drago's first qualifying match against Shokat Ali will be played on January 30, the opening day of the tournament, a date which also brings into action the two Maltese 'wild cards', Joe Grech and Simon Zammit. They will play against the lowest two ranked players who qualified for this event, namely, Robin Hull and Mark Allen.

Alex Borg, the other Maltese player on the professional circuit, failed to make the cut as he was eliminated (5-3) in the qualifying round by Sean Storey.

Encouraging response

Encouraged by the response generated last year, Snooker Promotions have again joined forces with Air Malta and Malta Direct in a plan to further encourage overseas snooker fans consider a week's holiday in the Mediterranean and at the same time watch their favourite snooker stars in action.

Malta Direct, the official travel partner for The Malta Cup, is even advertising the holiday-tournament opportunity in popular national UK dailies like the Daily Mirror.

Such potential concept of sports-tourism can be further exploited now that the Malta Tourism Authority joined the sponsors' pool of The Malta Cup.

Definitely a committee representing the MTA, Air Malta, Malta Direct and Snooker Promotions could consider working on next year's edition well in advance targeting the several snooker clubs spread throughout the UK and in Germany as their prime attraction.

The tournament tickets were put on sale last week and as expected there has been a particular rush for the opening day programme when Drago together with Grech and Zammit will be in action.

A substantial increase in the demand for block tickets has also been perceived which comes as no surprise considering the opportunity of watching a 32-man seven-day knockout world ranking tournament comprising 35 matches for just Lm30.

The Malta Cup is being played at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso, between January 30 and February 5.

The event, organised by World Snooker and Snooker Promotions, is sponsored by Air Malta, the Hilton Hotel, the Malta Tourism Authority and Malta Direct.