Snooker: Paul Hunter, who beat Steve Davis in the first round of last week's Irish Open, has broken into snooker's top ten.

The 20-year-old from Moortown, who lost to Stephen Hendry in the following round, is ranked tenth in the latest Embassy world rankings, having started the season in 24th.

Bradford-based Thai James Wattana is 25th, Peter Lines (Leeds) 40th, Birstall's Jason Prince 54th, and Calverley's Joe Johnson 61st.

John Higgins has an emphatic lead at the top. The Scot, who won the Embassy World Championship and Liverpool Victoria UK Championship this year, is on 35,720 points -11,980 clear of second-placed Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Mark Williams has moved up to seventh after lifting the Irish Open at the weekend, while six-times world champion Davis slips down to 18th.

Other rankings include: 132 Paul Cavney (Rawdon), 137 Simon Bedford (Bradford), 271 Malcolm Bilclough (Leeds), 298 Steve Prest (Leeds), 316 Anthony Massey (Esholt), 332 Graham Bradley (Keighley), 358 John Dunning (Gildersome), 382 Dane Hall (Leeds), 484 Stephen Taylor (Dewsbury), 507 Ian Williamson (Leeds).

l Jimmy White has been handed a wild card for the Benson and Hedges Masters at Wembley in February.

The 'Whirlwind', who won the tournament in 1984. has dropped out of the world's top 16, but remains a crowd favourite.

He will start his bid for glory against Essex's Mark King, who will be making his first appearance in the competition, on February 7.

The other wild card went to world No 61 David Gray, who booked his place by defeating Dave Harold to win the Benson and Hedges Championship last month. White and Gray will do battle with the world's top 16 players with a record prize fund of £575,000 at stake, including £155,000 for the winner.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.