The Maltese team at this year’s World Cup were pitted in a tough group yesterday as Tony Drago and Alex Borg were drawn in the same section as host country Thailand, China, Australia and the UAE.
The tournament will take place at the Bangkok Convention Centre and the field for the July 11-17 event is almost surely to attract full houses with some of the world’s leading players taking part.
China’s charge will be led by Ding Junhui while former world cham-pion Neil Robertson is in the Aus-tralia team with Steve Mifsud.
The Thai team in Group B will be composed of James Wattana and Dechawat Poomyang.
Drago is still a popular face in the sport despite playing outside the top 32 and having to figure in qualifiers to reach the TV stages of the World Tour’s major tournaments these past few years.
Borg, the national champion, has been representing the country on the international scene for several years now and also teamed up with Drago in previous tournaments in Malta and abroad.
The top two in each group go through to the quarter-finals. Each match will include singles and doubles frames.
John Higgins, of Scotland, has also signed up along with Mark Williams, Mark Selby and Ken Doherty for a tournament with a prize-money sum of £433,750.
Before the tournament was organised with different names – World Challenge Cup (1979-1980), World Team Classic (1981-1983), World Cup (1985-1996) and Nations Cup (1999-2001).
It was discontinued due to sponsorship problems.
World Cup draw
Group A: Wales, Egypt, Pakistan, Germany, Ireland.
Group B: China, Thailand 1, UAE, Malta, Australia.
Group C: England, Brazil, India, Belgium, N. Ireland.
Group D: Scotland, Thailand 2, Afghanistan, Poland, Hong Kong.
Cutajar, Borg win
Roberta Cutajar reached the quarter-finals of the women’s European Championships yesterday when she beat Irina Gorba-taya, of Russia, 3-1 in Sofia.
Cutajar had an outstanding tournament so far, finishing run-ner-up in her group. She now plays Anne Hirsch, of Germany, for a place in the semi-finals.
In the men’s tournament, Alex Borg retained his unbeaten run after eliminating Ivailo Pekov 4-0 (Bulgaria) to book a place in the last 16 of the men’s championship.
However, the other Maltese player in the tournament, Simon Zammit, was beaten 4-2 by Adam Duffy, of England, in a last 32 match yesterday.