Malta Grand Prix 1996

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Malta Grand Prix 1996
Rothmans Malta Grand Prix 1996
Billiard Picto 2-black.svg

Tournament type: Invitation tournament
Attendees: 12
Venue: Jerma Palace Hotel, Marsaskala , Malta
Opening: October 8, 1996
Endgame: October 13, 1996

Winner: EnglandEngland Nigel Bond
Finalist: MaltaMalta Tony Drago
Highest Break: 136 ( Ken Doherty ) IrelandIreland
1995
 
1997

The Malta Grand Prix 1996 , also Rothmans Grand Prix 1996 , was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1996/97 season . The invitation tournament was held from October 8th to 13th at the Jerma Palace Hotel in Marsaskala . The port city in the east of Malta was the venue for the second time, and the tournament was held for the third time.

Last year's winner, Peter Ebdon , did not, as was the case last time, defend his title. Local hero Tony Drago made it to the finals for the second time after 1994 , but again missed victory. Englishman Nigel Bond won the title with a 7-3 victory in the final. It was his fourth win in a professional tournament.

Final round

The 8 international professionals who came to the tournament this time all came from the 5th to 25th place in the world rankings . There were also four other Maltese players, the same as last year. But it was only the three Maltese professionals Tony Drago , Joe Grech and Alex Borg who had taken part in all three editions of the tournament so far. As before, Drago, as the top local player, was set for round 2 together with the three best professionals. In round 1, the remaining 8 players played for the remaining 4 places in the second round. The mode also remained the same, the tournament began with two best-of-9 rounds and then increased via best of 11 in the semifinals to the final with 7 winning frames (best of 13).

Round 1
(Best of 9)
Quarter Finals
(Best of 9)
Semi-finals
(Best of 11)
Final
(Best of 13)
                                   
  1  MaltaMalta Tony Drago  5    
8th  EnglandEngland Willie Thorne  3
9  MaltaMalta Joe Grech  1    
9  MaltaMalta Joe Grech  5   1  MaltaMalta Tony Drago  6th
  6th  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Mark Williams  5    
3  IrelandIreland Ken Doherty  2
6th  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Mark Williams  5
6th  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Mark Williams  5  
A.  MaltaMalta Paul Mifsud  3   1  MaltaMalta Tony Drago  3
  2  EnglandEngland Nigel Bond  7th
4th  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  3
5  CanadaCanada Alain Robidoux  5
5  CanadaCanada Alain Robidoux  5    
A.  MaltaMalta Simon Camilleri  3   5  CanadaCanada Alain Robidoux  0
  2  EnglandEngland Nigel Bond  6th  
2  EnglandEngland Nigel Bond  5
7th  Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Joe Swail  5
7th  Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Joe Swail  2  
10  MaltaMalta Alex Borg  0  

A = amateur player

final

Tony Drago was in the final for the second time in his third tournament participation. Nigel Bond was there for the first time and, as a tournament favorite, had made it into the final straight away. Bond was the slightly more successful player and had reached the highest ranking of his career with 5th place this season, while Drago stagnated at the bottom of the top 16, but the Maltese had their last encounter in the round of 16 of the Asian Classic at the beginning of the season with 5-1 won.

In this final, however, it was Bond who first took the lead 2-0. After that, Drago managed to equalize until the break, but when Bond clearly won the 5th frame, he got better and better. He increased to 4: 2 and got the next two frames with high breaks. With a score of 6: 2 for the favorite, Drago had his back to the wall. With a 73-point break he was able to shorten it again, but a nearly century of 98 points brought Nigel Bond the victory, which was clearly 7: 3. Drago then took part in all other editions of the Malta Grand Prix, but he never won it and did not reach the final a third time.

Final: Best of 13 Frames
Jerma Palace Hotel,  Marsaskala , Malta , October 13, 1996
MaltaMalta Tony Drago 3: 7 EnglandEngland Nigel Bond
54: 62 , 16: 73 , 77 : 26, 58 : 8, 1: 67 , 28: 82 , 46: 76 (67), 33: 75 (60), 98 : 0 (73), 3: 98 (98 )
73 Highest break 98
- Century breaks -
1 50+ breaks 3

Century breaks

Only twice this year the mark of 100 points was exceeded, less than in previous years. In the quarterfinals, Ken Doherty scored the highest tournament break of 136 points.

IrelandIreland Ken Doherty 136
MaltaMalta Tony Drago 130

swell

  1. Malta Grand Prix - Malta cup. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on November 6, 2019 .
  2. a b 1996 malta Grand Prix - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed November 6, 2019 .
  3. 1996 Malta Grand Prix. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 6, 2019 .
  4. a b Rothmans Malta Grand Prix 1996. snooker.org, accessed on November 6, 2019 (English).
  5. Rankings - 1996-1997. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 6, 2019 .