THE Benson & Hedges Snooker Championship cues off on Sunday at the Towers Club in Mansfield, when players from all over the world will be bidding, not only for the £5,000 first prize and gold trophy, but that prestigious wild card entry into next February's B&H Masters at Wembley.

The eventual winner in Mansfield will play Dave Harold at Wembley and is guaranteed £11,000 in appearance money even if he loses in the first round.

The championship is open to all professionals who are outside the top 16 in the world rankings.

Sydenham's Mehmet Husnu is one of seven from south-east London and north Kent among the 211 players, which includes many household names like Tony Drago, Nigel Bond, Darren Morgan and Tony Knowles, in action at Mansfield.

Mehmet comes into the event at the second round stage he had a bye in round one but the unusual thing about his draw is that he will be playing a woman!

Kelly Fisher, from Pontefract, is the only female player in the tournament, but she is unlikely to be a pushover. She is the world's No.1 ranked lady and has won the last three major women's titles: European Championship, British Open and LG Cup, and played in this event four years ago.

But Mehmet does not feel this will be a potential banana skin? He said: "It is unusual to be up aganst a woman, but there are a lot of very good female players. I'm treating this game like any other and I don't want to lose.

"It's no different to any other game. It's nice to see more women play the game and they do play at a high standard."

Mehmet, who is representing his home country of Cyprus in the championships, will play world No.32 James Watana in the third round if he can beat Kelly.

He said: "I would fancy my chances against James. He has lost his game a little in recent years and has a bad run of results. I'm confident of beating him."

Twenty-nine year-old Memhet is ranked 107 in the world and has played all over the UK and in countries such as Canada and Finland. He has been in the B&H Snooker Championship three times before and the furthest he got was the last 32.

Like most of the professional players, Mehmet became hooked on snooker as a youngster.

He said: "My dad is a bus driver and he had a recreational room at the depot. It had a snooker table and when I was younger I used to go to work with him and play on it in the holidays and at weekends.

"I was 14 and started making century breaks regularly. I started to practice at West Norwood snooker hall and at Tooting.

"I realised that I had potential and eventually turned professional in 1991. I improved and made it to the top 128 and have not been ranked lower ever since."

Mehmet believes that anyone has a good chance of getting through to the Masters final, and beat the top ranking stars like O'Sullivan and Hendry because the lower listed players are catching up the best.

He said: "Anyone in the top 200 can beat each other as it is more balanced now. There's a fine line between those at the top and the bottom.

"The standard has improved so much and there's a fifty-fifty chance of beating any of the top players."

During his career, Mehmet has reached the last 32 in several major tournaments. In the 1992 European Open, he was beaten by Jimmy White, while in the International Open in 1998, he lost to Joe Swail.

Mehmet also made the last 32 of the Regal Wales Championship, before going out to Watana and now has the chance to avenge that defeat.

He has also achieved every player's dream a 147 tournament break. He did it in the China International three years ago, when his maximum clearance during qualifying was the 24th recorded in the all-time professional list in modern snooker Ronnie O'Sullivan's being the most recent in the LG Cup two weeks ago. Mehmet won his match 5-4, but failed to make the overseas finals.

"I have lots of emotions playing against people like Steve Davis, Stephen Hendrey and Jimmy White. I feel overawed, but it is satisfying to play against the best," he said.

Mehmet has set his targets for the future and is confident of achieving them.

He said: "I'm on form and it's going to take someone to play their best snooker to beat me at Mansfield.

"Although I have family commitments now I got married two years ago and we now have a three-month-old child I know as long as I'm holding a cue, there's no reason why I can't qualify for the main tournaments next year and make the top 50 in the world rankings."

The other players from south-east London and north Kent who are taking part include Anton Bishop, from Greenwich, who starts with a first-round game against Justin Astley. If Bishop makes it through the first two rounds he will meet Nigel Bond in a part of the draw which also features Mike Hallett.

Erith's Paul Sweeny comes into the event at the second round stage and, if successful against Robert Donkin, would then play

defending champion Shaun Murphy.

Benjamen Garrett, from Blackheath, is in the bottom half of the draw and, if he wins his second round game with Jason Weston, he would break off against former World No.10 Anthony Hamilton in round three.

New Eltham's Gary Martyn plays Barry Mapstone and a win would see him oppose Beckenham's Barry Hawkins he had a bye to this stage in the third round and they are in the same sector which features Husnu and Wattana.

David McDonnell, from Blackheath, completes the local entry and he also starts in round three with a game against the winner of the Matthew Street-Michael Wild second-round tie.

This part of the draw is highlighted by the apperarances of two previous winners of this event David Gray (1998) and Ali Carter, the 1999 victor.

October 31, 2001 12:31

Gordon Law