The 20 contestants vying to win Saturday's Malta Eurosong festival began rehearsing yesterday, perfecting their moves and getting a feel for the stage at the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre in Ta' Qali.

The rehearsals will continue all week, as the executive producer works to ensure the four-hour show runs without hitches or delays.

The national winning entries of Turkey (Hadise) and the UK (Jade) will be among the supporting acts. PBS, which has been entrusted with organising this year's festival, was keen to invite Kevin Borg, who won the Swedish Pop Idol, to perform during the show, but Sony Sweden, his record label, was not really interested.

The 20 finalists will be shortlisted to three by five foreign judges on the night. These three will go on to compete in the so-called Super Final, in which the public will choose the winner through 100 per cent televoting.

The winner will represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow in May. To make it through to the final on May 16, Malta will first have to compete in one of the two semi-finals.

The semi-final allocation draw took place on Friday in downtown Moscow, under the supervision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - Malta will be competing in the first semi-final on May 12.

The other countries it will be competing against in the first semi-final are: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Sweden, Israel, Belgium, Andorra, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Iceland, Georgia, Bulgaria, Portugal, Switzerland, FYR Macedonia, Finland, Belarus, Turkey, Romania, and Armenia.

The draw for the running order of the semi-finals and the final will take place in mid-March in Moscow, under supervision of the heads of delegation from the 43 represented countries.

The local event is sponsored by Go and Hamilton Travel. Tickets cost between €12 and €20 and can be bought from the MFCC Millennium Stand, PBS Television House, Embassy Cinema box office in Valletta, or online at . For information call 7964 6407.