Malta's Tony Drago is one of three professional snooker players currently taking part in the World Pool Championships in Cardiff, Wales, which started on Saturday.

Snooker world champion Mark Williams and legend Steve Davis are also among the participants in the championships which finish on Sunday.

A total of 128 players have entered the main draw of the tournament. They were divided into 16 groups of eight and play each other once (best-of-nine frames). At the end of the group phase, the top four players in each pool move into the last 64 and the bottom four are eliminated.

On Saturday, Drago opened his commitments against Davis, the six-times world snooker champion, as both players were drawn in group nine. The match turned out to be an exciting affair with the Englishman claiming the decisive frame to win 5-4.

Yesterday, Drago faced Christian Reimeiring in his second group match and lost 5-2. The Valletta-born cueist later obtained his first victory of the championships when having the better of Richard Wolff of Aruba, 5-2.

On his part, Davis is firmly on course for a berth in the last 64 after winning all three matches he has played so far. Yesterday, Davis defeated Ramil Gallego of Phillippines 5-1 and Russia's Konstantin Stepanov 5-2.

Bad start for Williams

Williams was drawn in Group One along with current world pool champion Earl Strickland. The Welshman endured a poor start after losing his first two qualifiers.

Williams faced Strickland in his first match and was outpointed by the English cueist, 5-3. He then played against Finland's Marko Lohtander and was again on the receiving end of a 5-2 defeat.

The total prize money for the event is $300,000 with the winner pocketing the sum of $65,000.