Alex Borg to face Rod Lawler in World Championships qualifiers on Tuesday

Malta’s professional snooker player Alex Borg will start his bid to qualify for the televised stages of the World Championships on Tuesday when he takes on Rod Lawler in the first qualifying round in Sheffield.

The World Championship qualifiers get under way on Monday at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield where snooker players will look to book a place in the championship proper that gets underway at the Crucible Theatre on April 17.

The qualifiers will see the 128 participants try to win one of the 16 berths to join the top 16-ranked players in the world list who earn a direct place in the championship proper.  

On Tuesday, Borg will be up against Rod Lawler in the first qualifying round, in a match over the best of 11 frames.

The Maltese professional player has had a quite tricky build-up to these qualifiers due to the COVID-19 restrictions currently in place but will be hoping that he will have enough in his tank to see his experienced opponent on Tuesday.

Throughout his career, Lawler has only one ranking event final to his name, when reaching the International Open final in 1996 where he was beaten by John Higgins 9-3 in the final.

Lawler won his first professional tournament, 22 years after turning pro at a Players Tour Championship even in Gloucester, beating Marco Fu in the final.

The winner of this tie will be facing Chinese player Yuan Sijun.