The Malta Cup will be held between January 28th and February 4th and the Hilton Conference Centre. The event was launched during a press conference on Thursday.
"World Snooker is delighted to be heading back to Malta in January for another World Ranking tournament. It’s one of the highlights of the calendar for the players and officials because of the warm hospitality we receive," said by Mike Ganley, Tournament Director of World Snooker.
"This will be the eighth time we have staged a ranking event on the island and we are always guaranteed enthusiastic support from the knowledgeable Maltese fans.
"The top players in the world will once again be flying to Malta to compete for ranking points and prize money of over £200,000. The quality of snooker last year was outstanding and Ken Doherty’s 9-8 victory over John Higgins in the final was a classic match.
"Doherty and Higgins will again be in contention for the title, as well as the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and World Champion Graeme Dott. And of course the local interest is provided by Maltese legend Tony Drago plus wild cards Simon Zammit and Joe Grech.
The Press Conference was introduced by Joe Zammit, director of Snooker Promotions (Malta). "Despite great competition from several countries around the world vying to stage a world ranking event, we are once again proud to be able to stage a top class snooker tournament," he said.
"The Malta Cup is only one of the two ranking events that are staged outside the UK this season, and we know that the event ranks very highly in the players’ personal lists of preferred events.
"This time, we have once again managed to secure the participation of 2 ‘wild card’ matches, where two of our top local players will pit their skills against some of the world’s best players in front of their own supporters. Besides this, Malta’s top professional, Tony Drago, has agreed to play his three qualifying matches in Malta at the start of the tournament.
"Once again, this tournament would not have been possible without the support of our local sponsors, primarily the Malta Tourism Authority, Air Malta and the Hilton Hotel. Our sincere thanks go to them all for their tremendous support over the years. This year, however, we have added another important and prestigious sponsor: Vodafone Malta."
Richard Balani, director of Snooker Promotions, then went on to give further details on the event itself: "The 2006 Malta Cup once again proved that snooker is very popular amongst the Maltese, and it also confirmed that the event is highly followed by snooker fans across the world. The Eurosport coverage has served to spread the popularity of the game in new areas, and also encourages snooker fans from other countries to come to Malta and watch the tournament live. In fact, we calculate that up to 50% of the audience who watched the snooker at the Hilton last season were from overseas.
"I am sure that the Malta Tourism Authority is as pleased as we are with this, and we have already received several enquiries from all over Europe about tickets for the event. This interest has encouraged us to set up our own online ticket booking facilities on our website www.maltacup.org, which will actually go ‘live’ as from the 1st December. Both Maltese and overseas snooker fans will be able to book the best seats immediately, on a block ticket basis or also on a day ticket basis. We are also providing full travel packages for our overseas fans – offering them a ‘one stop shop’ - to make it easier for them to come to Malta to watch the snooker. So far we have had enquiries from the UK, Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. Many of these have already confirmed their trips to Malta and are waiting to buy their snooker tickets when our online shop goes live.
"The tournament will be played from the 28th January to the 4th February at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso. It will be played on the usual 32-man knockout format, plus three qualifiers which have been held over to be played here. Besides these, however, 2 of Malta’s top players, Joe Grech and Simon Zammit will also be given the chance to play as ‘wild cards’ in this event. They will play against the lowest 2 ranked players who qualify for this event in Malta, namely, Andrew Higginson and David Roe.
"Both ‘wild card’ matches, as well as Tony Drago’s first qualifying match against Lee Spick will be played on the 28th January, the opening day of the tournament, where local crowds will be expected to give their usual vociferous support for our players. Three other last 32 matches (Round 1) will also be played on this day. On Monday 29th, the winner of the Drago – Spick match will play the last 64 qualifier against John Parrott, along with five other Round 1 matches. Tuesday 30th will see the last of the qualifiers with Michael Holt, as well as five other Round 1 Matches.
"The last three matches of the last 32 round will be played on Wednesday 31st, along with three of the Last 16 round, while on Thursday 1st February, we will see the other five Last 16 matches played out. Till this stage, all matches will be played on a 3 table setup and will be on a best of nine frame basis.
"The quarter finals will see the setup changed to a 2 table format and these will be played on 2nd February starting at 4 pm, all matches best of nine.
"Both semi finals will be played on a 1 table setup on the 3rd February, at 3pm and 8pm, best of 11 frames, while the final will be contested on Sunday 4th. This will be played over 2 sessions, one at 2pm and the second at 7pm, and will be best of 17 frames.
"All the matches of the Malta Cup will be controlled by 5 international snooker referees, 3 of whom are Maltese. These are Michael Attard Montalto, Terry Camilleri and Ray Debattista.
"Block and Day Tickets for the Malta Cup will go on sale as from the 1st December 2006, and these will be available at Lm35 and Lm5-Lm8 through our website, www.maltacup.org. The ticket office at the Hilton Conference Centre will open on the 22nd January.
"As in past years, we are also looking to make special parking arrangements purchase tickets, as a substantial discount on parking charges will be available to them on presentation of a validated ticket. Parking facilities will be available at the Portomaso Hilton car park.
"The event will be covered extensively by television, both local as well as international. The well known and prestigious television network, Eurosport, will also be broadcasting the event on a live and recorded basis, extending the tournament’s reach to over 95 countries and 255 million households. Such international exposure will also serve to once again put Malta on the sporting map. This event is arguably the only sport that is staged in Malta and that ensures the participation of all the world’s best players, in effect, sports tourism at its very best."
Also addressing the Press Conference were Mr Kevin Drake, Personal Assistant to the Chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority, and Jimmy Attard, Section Head, Marketing Services of Air Malta.
© Copyright 2006 - MaltaMedia Online Network
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