Tony Drago and Alex Borg, Malta’s two most experienced snooker players, will team up for the country at next month’s 2015 World Cup in China.

The tournament will take place in the city of Wuxi, in the Jiangsu province, from June 15 to 21.

The 24 two-man teams, from 23 countries, will be chasing a top prize of $200,000 from a total fund of $800,000. Malta are in Group A along with China A, Austria, Singapore, Norway and India.

The home favourites, Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong, are top seeds as China won the last World Cup in 2011 when they beat Northern Ireland in the final in Thailand.

Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham, the last two world champions at the Crucible, make up a strong English team as John Higgins and Stephen Maguire will represent Scotland.

Mark Williams hopes to recover from a shoulder injury in time to play for Wales alongside Michael White.

Australian pair Neil Robertson and Vinnie Calabrese will also be among the main contenders in the tournament.

The Ireland formation is made up of veterans Ken Doherty and Fergal O’Brien while Kurt Maflin will team up with his wife Anita Maflin for Norway in Group A.

The teams will be divided into four groups of six teams each.

The top two in each section qualify for the KO stages. The short format will be a combination of singles and doubles play.