Drago and Borg fail to qualify

Tony Drago and Alex Borg failed to progress to the final stages of the Royal London Grand Prix after missing out on a top-two placing in their respective qualifying group.

A total of 64 players were split into eight groups in Prestatyn with the winner and runner-up in each section earning a place in the Last 16 of the October 21-29 ranking tournament in Aberdeen.

Yesterday, Drago was beaten in a Group C match by eventual runner-up Paul Davison 3-1. The Maltese pro finished fourth in the group with four wins and three defeats. He had the better of Mark Boyle (3-1), Chris Melling (3-2), Rory McLeod (3-2) and Passakorn Suwannawat (3-2) but lost to Rod Lawler (3-2) and Jamie Cope (3-1).

Cope flew 37 places up the ranking list to no.48 last season and is set to continue his rise. He won his final group match 3-0 against Thailand's Suwannawat with a top break of 93 to lead the group with six wins from seven matches.

Borg failed to leave his mark in Group F.

He won just one match against China's Liu Song (3-0).

Meanwhile, Jimmy White's bid to qualify for the televised stages of the Grand Prix ended in disappointment.

The 44-year-old Londoner beat Northern Ireland's Mark Allen 3-1 to register his third victory in the group. However, that was not enough as White still finished outside the top two positions.

Allen beat Lee Spick 3-1 yesterday to finish second in the group behind winner Tom Ford.