EIGHT of the 48 players in the starting line-up for the Travis Perkins UK Snooker Championship starting on Monday are new to the Barbican Centre.

All of them have won the right to play in York this year by coming through the qualifying rounds held at Prestatyn, north Wales, last month.

The eight newcomers among the 16 qualifiers in the first round are Marcus Campbell, Ryan Day, Tom Ford, Ding Junhui, Jimmy Michie, Neil Robertson, Sean Storey and Ricky Walden.

Chinese teenager Ding Junhui's rise to fame is featured above.

Marcus Campbell, who plays world number 20 Joe Perry in the first round on Monday, is a 32-year-old Scot who lives in Dumbarton.

Ranked 63 in the world, he has been a pro for 13 years and the furthest he has ever got in a ranking tournament is the Regal Scottish quarter-finals in 1998.

He suffered a huge setback at last season's Welsh Open when his cue was broken in airport baggage handling on his way to the tournament.

Campbell lost 5-1 to John Higgins and did not win a match for the rest of the season and slipped seven places in the world rankings.

His biggest scalp was whitewashing Stephen Hendry 9-0 in the last 64 of the UK Championship in 1998 - the second time in a matter of months he had beaten Hendry.

Campbell started this season by losing to Michael Judge in the second round of the totesport Grand Prix in Preston.

Ryan Day, a 24-year-old Welshman who lives in Bridgend, has a tough first round match against world No 27 Drew Henry starting on Monday and finishing on Tuesday.

World ranked 45, Day has never won a ranking tournament, his best feat being reaching the last 16.

In this season's first ranking tournament he lost to Graeme Dott in the first round of the totesport Grand Prix at Preston.

Tom Ford is a 21-year-old player from Leicester, world ranked 74. He was European Under-15 champion at the age of 13 and British Under-18 champion in 2001.

He has leapt 59 places in the rankings from last season and has beaten Ian McCulloch, losing finalist last month in the Totesport Grand Prix at Preston.

Ford's opening match is against world No 18 Allister Carter on Monday.

Jimmy Michie, world ranked 55, is the second Yorkshireman in the starting field of 48 - the other being, of course, Paul Hunter, who Michie taught to play snooker.

From Pontefract, Michie has been a pro since 1991 and opens his York campaign with a first round match against world 26 Gerard Greene on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old has twice reached ranking tournament semi-finals, the British Open in 1999 and LG Cup in 2002.

This isn't his first visit to York, though. A few years ago he played an exhibition evening at York's Cueball Club in James Street.

In the totesport Grand Prix last month his lost in the first round to Anthony Hamilton.

Neil Robertson, the 22-year-old world 68, hails from Melbourne but lives in Cambridge during the snooker season. His first match in York is against world No 30 Joe Swail starting on Monday and finishing on Tuesday.

Robertson beat Pickering's Paul Davison on his way through the qualifying rounds. In his final qualifying round match he beat Shaun Murphy 9-8 with a century break in the deciding frame.

The furthest he has gone in a ranking tourna- ment is the European Open quarter-finals.

Last month at Preston he got to the third round of the totesport Grand Prix before losing to Joe Perry.

Sean Storey, from Grimsby, faces world No 28 Robert Milkins in the first round on Tuesday.

Ranked 50 on the world, he won only three matches in eight ranking events last season and at Preston last month he was beaten by Steve Davis in the first round of the totesport Grand Prix.

Ricky Walden, at 78 the lowest world-ranked player in York this year, comes up against world No 29 Michael Holt in the first round on Tuesday.

Walden, who turns 22 tomorrow, lives in Flintshire and this is his fourth year as a professional.

Updated: 16:31 Wednesday, November 10, 2004