GWENT stars Mark Williams, Jak Jones, Lee Walker and Ian Preece will make Preston their home for the next week as the new snooker season gets underway at the city’s famous Guild Hall.

The 2016/17 campaign kicks off with the qualifying rounds of three international ranking tournaments – the Indian Open, World Open and Riga Masters.

Play begins today and the action continues until next Saturday, with those taking part needing to win just one match to qualify for each event.

Winning the EBSA European Championship in February secured guaranteed Jones two years on the main tour, and his season begins on Thursday when Matthew Selt is his opponent in the World Open qualifiers.

Mark Allen, a regular in the world’s top 10, will then stand between the 22-year-old and a place in the Riga Masters – he has not entered the Indian Open.

And the Cwmbran potter is hoping for a change of fortunes this time around after two disappointing spells on the tour in the past.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot more than in previous years,” said Jones. “I’m just going to take it one match at a time and see how it goes.

“I feel better prepared for the tour this time, I’m more experienced and know what to expect.

“The top 64 get to stay on the tour so that’s where I want to be during my second season.”

He added: “It’s nice to have so many Welsh players on the tour as well.

“The first time I was on the tour, when I was 16, there were only five or six, nut now there are more than a dozen.”

Like Jones, Preece, from Newport, is starting his third spell on the main tour.

He returns after a six-year hiatus, during which he thought he would never play the game again.

But having come through Q School, the former world amateur champion is keen to make a much bigger impression than he did in his two previous stints among the sport’s elite.

Preece is the first of the Gwent quartet on the Guild Hall green baize when he goes up against Mike Dunn (Indian Open) tomorrow.

He then plays China’s Yu De Lu in the World Open qualifiers but is not in the draw for the Riga Masters.

Cwm’s two-time world champion Williams faces Bridgend’s David John (Indian Open), before playing Scott Donaldson (World Open) and Louis Heathcote (Riga Masters).

A Crucible semi-finalist in 1997, Newbridge’s Walker takes on experienced campaigner Mark King (Indian Open), Mark Joyce (World Open) and Sydney Wilson (Riga Masters).