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Marco Fu
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Fu looks to wow his home crowd

Marco Fu

The last time Marco Fu Ka-chun played competitively in front of his home crowd was four years ago. Today, Hong Kong's star player will get a rare opportunity to entertain his loyal fans when the Euro-Asia Masters Challenge gets under way at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

'It has been a long time since I last played here and I'm looking forward to the opportunity of playing in Hong Kong again. I enjoy playing in front of local crowds and I hope I can do well,' said Fu yesterday.

Ranked 19 in the world, Fu is Asia's number one player and as such is expected to carry the brunt of the challenge to the likes of world champion and world number one Mark Williams, number two Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty, number six , and the ever-popular Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White.

He is not overawed a bit by the strength of the opposition. 'I have beaten them all previously and I'm confident of doing well. Of course, this is a rare opportunity for me to play a number of top players on my home pitch,' he said.

Fu, 25, ended last season - his fifth as a professional - on a high note when he entered the quarter-finals of the World Championship before going down to England's Stephen Lee 13-7. A week later he caused a sensation when he beat newly crowned world champion Williams 9-5 to win a Premier League event in Sunderland, his first major title.

Sadly it came at the tail end of the season and Fu has been forced to wait impatiently until the new season begins to see if he can continue where he left off. This weekend's tournament will perhaps give a small glimpse as to what lies ahead for him.

'I have been training hard these past two months and I'm looking forward to the new season which begins next month. My first tournament, however, is in October. This event will give me a chance to assess myself,' said Fu.

When Fu beat Williams last May, he won GBP63,000, the biggest payday in his career. Fu is pooled with Hendry, Doherty and Shokat Ali in the preliminary round. He will have only one match today, against Ali, but will come up against sterner opposition in the form of Hendry and Doherty tomorrow. The top two players at the end of the best-of-three frames round robin format in each pool advance into the semi-finals.

The other pool comprises Williams, White, Thai James Wattana and China's 16-year-old Ding Junhui, who meets White in the first match at 6pm today.

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