Malta Cup starts today at Hilton

Stephen Hendry's defence of his Malta Cup title will be no Mediterranean cruise for the seven-times world champion.

The Scottish legend has yet to win a title this season; in fact it's 12 months since Hendry last grabbed a piece of silverware - his 36th ranking title.

But even though world no. 1 Ronnie O'Sullivan won't be at the Hilton Portomaso for the seven-day tournament starting today, there are plenty of players capable of taking Hendry's crown, many of them in his half of the draw.

Indeed, Hendry faces one of the qualifiers most of the top seeds want to avoid, Australian left-hander Neil Robertson, who has a fine record in the event having reached the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2005. Hendry is seeded to play rejuvenated Masters semi-finalist Stephen Lee in the last 16 followed by a possible quarter-final against champion John Higgins.

The Wizard of Wishaw, eyeing his third title of the season, starts against Robert Milkins this evening at 8.

In the bottom half of the draw are last year's runner-up Graeme Dott and yet another Scot, Stephen Maguire. Malta was where it all began for world No. 3 Maguire, beating Jimmy White to win the 2004 European Open.

World champion Shaun Murphy shouldn't be discounted though he could be forced to negotiate his way through a tough first game.

Murphy meets the winner of today's wild card match between IBSF World Champion Mark Allen and local favourite Joe Grech.

Drago vs Ali sold out

Grech is one of three Maltese players in the field, none more so popular than 'L-istilla ta' Malta', Tony Drago.

This evening, Drago meets former Asian Games gold medallist Shokat Ali in a qualifier held over from Prestatyn. And then he would tackle Barry Pinches for the right to meet Lee.

Snooker Promotions yesterday announced that the tickets for Drago's match against Ali have all been sold.

With the qualification of John Parrott, all winners of the six world ranking tournaments hosted in Malta over the past 10 years will contest the Malta Cup.

And the 2006 event marks the 10th anniversary since Parrott, in 1996, won the first of the four editions of the European Open held in Malta, with Higgins (1997), Hendry (2001) and Maguire (2004) winning the others.

Today's matches: 4 p.m. - Wild card match 1, J. Grech vs M. Allen; Wild card match 2, Simon Zammit vs Robin Hull; First round, A. McManus vs A. Carter. 8 p.m. - Qualifier 1, T. Drago vs S. Ali; First round, J. Higgins vs R. Milkins, P. Hunter vs D. Dale.