In-form Drago breezes past Campbell in Wales

Tony Drago will play in the final stages of the opening ranking tournament of the season - the Northern Ireland Trophy - after beating Marcus Campbell 5-1 in yesterday's third qualifying round at Prestatyn, Wales.

Drago, 41, required less than two hours to negotiate the round after a stunning display of quick potting that brought back memories of the good old days in his career.

Campbell's only significant contribution to the game came in the second frame when he hit a break of 64 to level the scores at 1-1. That was the Scot's best effort of the day as Drago opened a 3-1 lead before the interval.

The second session barely lasted 20 minutes as the Valletta pro tucked in the frames he needed to secure victory. He rounded up the day with a blistering 84 in frame no.6.

Drago is looking to work his way up the rankings after a rather poor 2005/06 season which saw him slipping outside the world's top 32 for the first time in several years.

Former world champion John Parrott failed to win his qualifier yesterday and is out of the tournament. He was beaten 5-1 by Andrew Norman.

Drago now faces Leicester's Mark Selby at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. The final stages will be played between August 13 and 20.

Last week, Alex Borg, Malta's other player in the Main Tour, was eliminated in the opening qualifying round by China's Liu Song. The latter was beaten 5-3 by Drago on Sunday.