2008 Malta Cup Explained

Tournament Name:	2008 Malta Cup
Venue:	Hilton Conference Center
Location:	Portomaso
Country:	Malta
Organisation:	WPBSA
Format:	Non-ranking event
Total Prize Fund:	£76,000
Winners Share:	£20,000
Highest Break:	(137)
Winner:	Shaun Murphy
Runner Up:	Ken Doherty
Score:	9–3
Previous:	2007
Next:	2016

The 2008 Malta Cup was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 4 and 10 February 2008 at the Hilton Conference Center in Portomaso, Malta.

The Gambling Commission looked at allegations of match-fixing during the round-robin stage of the tournament.^[1]

Shaun Murphy won the title by defeating Ken Doherty 9–3 in the final.__TOC__

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[2]

• Winner: £20,000
• Runner-Up: £9,000
• Semi-final: £4,500
• 2nd place in group: £2,750
• 3rd place in group: £2,500
• 4th place in group: £2,250
• 5th place in group: £2,000
• Maximum break

£10,000

• Total: £76,000

Group stage

Group matches were played over 6 frames. A win was worth 2 points and a tie 1 point. The top player from each group qualified to the semi-finals.^{[3] [4]}

Group 1

witdh=20	POS	width=165	Player	width=20	MP	width=20	MW	width=20	MT	width=20	ML	width=20	FW	width=20	FL	width=20	FD	width=20	PTS
1	John Higgins	4	3	1	0	18	6	+12	7
2	Joe Perry	4	2	1	1	12	12	0	5
3	Ryan Day	4	1	2	1	12	12	0	4
4	Ali Carter	4	1	1	2	12	12	0	3
5	Alex Borg	4	0	1	3	6	18	−12	1

• John Higgins 6–0 Alex Borg
• Joe Perry 3–3 Ryan Day
• John Higgins 4–2 Ryan Day
• Ali Carter 5–1 Alex Borg
• Joe Perry 4–2 Alex Borg
• John Higgins 3–3 Ali Carter
• Joe Perry 4–2 Ali Carter
• Ryan Day 3–3 Alex Borg
• John Higgins 5–1 Joe Perry
• Ali Carter 2–4 Ryan Day

Group 2

witdh=20	POS	width=165	Player	width=20	MP	width=20	MW	width=20	MT	width=20	ML	width=20	FW	width=20	FL	width=20	FD	width=20	PTS
1	Ken Doherty	4	4	0	0	18	6	+12	8
2	Marco Fu	4	2	1	1	15	9	+6	5
3	Neil Robertson	4	2	1	1	13	11	+2	5
4	Stephen Lee	4	1	0	3	9	15	−6	2
5	Joe Swail	4	0	0	4	5	19	−14	0

• Ken Doherty 4–2 Marco Fu
• Neil Robertson 5–1 Stephen Lee
• Ken Doherty 4–2 Stephen Lee
• Joe Swail 1–5 Marco Fu
• Ken Doherty 5–1 Joe Swail
• Neil Robertson 3–3 Marco Fu
• Neil Robertson 4–2 Joe Swail
• Stephen Lee 1–5 Marco Fu
• Ken Doherty 5–1 Neil Robertson
• Joe Swail 1–5 Stephen Lee

Group 3

• Shaun Murphy 6–0 Tony Drago
• Stephen Hendry 4–2 Mark Selby
• Stephen Maguire 4–2 Tony Drago
• Shaun Murphy 4–2 Mark Selby
• Stephen Hendry 4–2 Tony Drago
• Shaun Murphy 4–2 Stephen Maguire
• Mark Selby 4–2 Tony Drago
• Stephen Hendry 3–3 Stephen Maguire
• Shaun Murphy 5–1 Stephen Hendry
• Stephen Maguire 3–3 Mark Selby

Group 4

witdh=20	POS	width=165	Player	width=20	MP	width=20	MW	width=20	MT	width=20	ML	width=20	FW	width=20	FL	width=20	FD	width=20	PTS
1	Ding Junhui	4	3	1	0	17	7	+10	7
2	Dominic Dale	4	3	0	1	14	10	+4	6
3	Peter Ebdon	4	1	1	2	11	13	−2	3
4	Mark Williams	4	1	1	2	9	15	−6	3
5	Graeme Dott	4	0	1	3	9	15	−6	1

• Graeme Dott 2–4 Dominic Dale
• Peter Ebdon 2–4 Ding Junhui
• Graeme Dott 3–3 Ding Junhui
• Mark Williams 2–4 Dominic Dale
• Graeme Dott 2–4 Mark Williams
• Peter Ebdon 2–4 Dominic Dale
• Mark Williams 3–3 Peter Ebdon
• Ding Junhui 4–2 Dominic Dale
• Graeme Dott 2–4 Peter Ebdon
• Mark Williams 0–6 Ding Junhui

Knock-out stage

^{[3] [4]}

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames Hilton Conference Center, Portomaso, Malta, 10 February 2008.
Ken Doherty	3–9	Shaun Murphy
Afternoon: 91–1 (91),,,,,,, Evening: 0–110 (75),,,
91	Highest break	76
0	Century breaks	0
1	50+ breaks	2

Century breaks

^[4]

• 137, 110, 104 Shaun Murphy
• 134, 127, 118 Ken Doherty
• 129, 100 Ali Carter
• 128, 103 Peter Ebdon
• 127, 125, 125, 123, 106 Ding Junhui
• 127, 110, 101 Mark Selby
• 116, 107 Neil Robertson
• 113 Ryan Day
• 108, 106, 101 Marco Fu
• 103 Stephen Hendry

Notes and References

1. News: Snookerfaces match-fixing probe. 12 February 2008. BBC Sport. 13 February 2008.
2. Web site: 2008 Malta Cup – Information. Global Snooker Centre. https://web.archive.org/web/20081007110601/http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk/files/Results/2007-8/07-8-Professional/2008-Malta-Cup-Information.htm. 7 October 2008. dead. 20 May 2024.
3. Web site: Malta Cup 2008. Snooker.org. 13 March 2011.
4. Web site: 2008 Malta Cup. Global Snooker Centre. https://web.archive.org/web/20080405194555/http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk/files/Results/2007-8/07-8-Professional/2008-Malta-Cup.htm. 5 April 2008.