Steve Mifsud, current IBSF world champion, earned a lot of respect following his great performance at the prestigious Liam O'Connor Memorial Pro-Am tournament in Killarney, Ireland.

This attracted one of the largest pro-ams organised for years. The strong field was led by Ronnie O'Sullivan, Jimmy White, Ken Doherty among others.

Tony Drago was also among the 128 competitors who were divided into 32 groups of four, with the top players in each group advancing to the last 32.

Mifsud beat George O'Hara 4-1 and Drago got the better of Leo Fernandez 4-2 to progress to the last 16. While Mifsud hammered Ryan Day 5-0, Drago succumbed to Paul Hunter's challenge.

In the quarter-finals, Mifsud was drawn against Hunter and showed his good form when he beat him 5-0.

In the semi-finals, Mifsud put up a big fight against Ian McCulloch but went down 4-5. The match was transmitted on TV and this rendered Mifsud nervous as he had never played in a televised game. McCulloch lost the final against Ken Doherty 6-2.

Maltese-Australian Mifsud moved to England last month to prepare himself for the Main Tour.

Despite his mild and quiet disposition, he has already attracted a lot of attention.

The local sporting public will be able to see Mifsud in action at the World Professional Billiards Championship at the Jerma Palace Hotel, Marsascala, between April 1 and 3. He has been awarded a wild-card entry.

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