World ranking: 13
Last five seasons: 22-14-16-20-39
Date of birth: 28-03-74
Lives: Romford, Essex
Turned professional: 1991
Best ranking event performance: Runner-up Regal Welsh 1997
Last season's prize money: £53,600
Career prize money (up to start of 2001-2002 season): £335,260
Highest tournament break: 143 - Thailand Open 1997

Mark King is still waiting to fulfil his lifelong ambition of winning a major tournament, although he came pretty close at the 1997 Regal Welsh.

Victories over Steve Davis, Michael Judge, Tony Chappel, Fergal O'Brien and Mark Williams took him through to his first major final, where he found Stephen Hendry too strong, going down 9-2.

That performance propelled the Essex professional up the world ranking list, but he had to wait another season before claiming his place among the world's elite top 16.

King's stay in the top 16 lasted two seasons. He slipped to 22nd in the rankings after a disappointing 1999-2000 campaign but bounced straight back after some consistent displays during 2000-2001, when he reached the quarter-finals of the British Open.

A 10-8 victory over Fergal O'Brien at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre enabled him to reach the second round of the Embassy World Championship for the third time in four years.

A more than useful footballer, King used to rush back from tournaments to turn out for Gidea Park Rangers in the Romford Sunday League but hung up his boots because of the risk of injury. His main ambition remains the same. "I would love to win a tournament - any tournament, I'm not greedy," he says.