By Richard Preen

World Ranking: 11
Date Of Birth: 28/03/04
Form: R32/R32/R16/QF/R32
World Championship best: Last 16 – Four times

World number 11 Mark King has had a difficult season and for the second time in his career could lose his top 16 ranking.

Up until the European Open King had not won a match although a quarter-final appearance at Torquay at least proved he would fight until the bitter end to regain his elusive position.

Another early exit at the Irish Masters soon followed although at the time of writing King had negotiated his first match in the Scottish Open.

His poor run of results has seen his provisional ranking drop to 21 after starting the season 10 places higher at number 11.

The provisional ranking is meaningless until the end of the season, although to be five places off the 16 going into the World Championships means that King will need to progress through at least one round at Sheffield.

Last year King did just that to cement his place in the higher echelon of the professional game.

After disposing of David Gray 10-5 in round one he came up against the 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty.

King produced one of his best performances and stormed into a 7-3 lead only to see `crafty Ken' work his way back into the match and take eight straight frames before progressing 13-12.

This was the fourth occasion that King had reached the second round at Sheffield.

His opponent at this year's championship is Scotland's Drew Henry, King will be eager for revenge after the Scot overcame him at the same stage in the 2000 Championships.