Please note that this is NOT an official website. At this point in time Ronnie O’ Sullivan does not have an official website, nor does he wish to have one.
Snooker champion Graeme Dott jailed for seven years for child sex abuse
by Jonathan Geddes, Glasgow and west reporter and Paul O’Hare,at the High Court in Edinburgh
Graeme Dott was sentenced to seven years in jail at the High Court in Edinburgh
Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott has been jailed for seven years after being convicted of child sexual abuse.
Judge Lord Harrower said Dott robbed his victims of “a significant part of their childhood” and said his behaviour bore the hallmarks of grooming.
Dott had denied two charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour towards a girl and a boy between 1993 and 2010 but was found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
The 49-year-old Scot, who won the world snooker title in 2006, showed no emotion as he was sentenced, only nodding to someone in the public gallery as he was led away.
Lord Harrower told the High Court in Edinburgh that each of Dott’s victims were vulnerable for reasons beyond their age.
He said Dott rewarded the victims with treats and disguised his abuse as being part of a game.
The former snooker champion was 16 or 17 when he abused the girl, who was about nine when her ordeal began.
There is nothing to add really, only that my thoughts are with Dott’s (ex?)wife and children. There will be very unpleasant consequences for them as well, no doubts, and they have done nothing to deserve it. They will almost certainly face questions from the neighbourhood and/or schoolmates, they maybe be “ostracised”. Where they aware of what Graeme was doing? I hope not. I hope he didn’t abuse his own children as well, something that, alas, can’t be completely excluded, I’m afraid.
A total of 67 cueists, just one less than the record entries for a WSS Tour event, competed in the three-day competition and it was the former world number six and current World Snooker Tour (WST) player who earned the title in Berkshire.
Day began with back-to-back whitewash wins against Kevin Willsher and Matthew Day before a 4-1 defeat of former World Seniors champion Aaron Canavan put him into Sunday’s quarter-finals against Stuart Watson.
A break of 76 from former WSS world number one Watson put him 2-0 ahead of Day in a race to four but the WST player was able to rally and ran out a 4-2 victor. He would then defeat former professional Mark Davis by the same scoreline despite Davis making two century breaks in their semi-final match.
The title match pitched Day against 51-year-old Lavin, who had reached his first WSS Tour event final with a memorable run that saw him defeat former Crucible Theatre qualifiers Wayne Townsend and Daniel Ward before whitewashing Karl Ashmore in the last four.
Lavin made a break of 68 in the second frame to restore parity but, from there, Day hit a break of 91 to regain the advantage and later took the title with a magnificent contribution of 127.
SEMBI IS THE SUPER SENIOR
Bal Sembi beat John Hunter 2-1 to win the first Super Seniors title of his career at The Crucible Club in Reading, England.
The 57-year-old won through a field of 35 cueists on Sunday before overcoming the current Super Seniors world number one Hunter in the title match.
Open to players aged 55 and over, the one-day event saw Semby defeat Andrew Barrett (2-1) and Brian Sharpe (2-0) to reach the quarter-finals where he then whitewashed event one winner Wayne Martin.
A deciding frame victory over Andy Milliard saw Sembi set up a final meeting with Hunter where breaks of 62, 32 and 59 saw him earn a 2-1 victory to take home the title.
Event three of the World Seniors Tour takes place at The Crucible Club in Reading, England on 9-11 October. Enter now via WPBSA SnookerScores.
Ronnie was beaten by Jian Jun in his opening match at the 2026 Shenzhen Open and he wasn’t the only big casualty. In fact, none of the “class of 92” survived their opening match, and, as far as I know, this had never happened before. Lewis I’m sure will correct me if I’m wrong …
Home hero and world number one Zhao Xintong was one of a number of big-name casualties, after losing out 5-4 to Scotland’s Scott Donaldson on the opening day of the Shenzhen Open.
Zhao, who became China’s first World Champion in 2025, shot to the summit of the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings for the first time earlier this season. The 29-year-old went on to be runner-up at the Wuhan Open, losing out to compatriot Chang Bingyu in the title match. A huge crowd of over 3,500 fans watched on this evening, hoping for Shenzhen cueman Zhao to win, but they left disappointed.
World number 66 Donaldson has had a slow start to the season, but showed sparks of his form at the recent qualifiers, earning places in the final stages of the Northern Ireland Open and the Scottish Open.
A break of 77 in the third frame tonight gave Donaldson a 2-1 lead, before runs of 51 and 82 helped Zhao en route to two in a row and a 3-2 lead.
Donaldson replied emphatically and breaks of 105 and 62 took him to the verge of victory at 4-3. He had the first opportunity to clinch the win in the eighth but broke down on 50, before a run of 79 from Zhao forced a decider. Both players spurned chances but crucially it was a run of 46 from Donaldson which gave him a momentous win. He will face Pang Junxu in the next round.
“I don’t think he turned up to the level he can today, but I felt that I was the best I’ve been this season. I’m just happy that all the work I’ve put in is reaping the rewards,” said 32-year-old Donaldson.
“I know what it feels like. When I play the Scottish Open, I don’t want it to feel different but I do. If he got through that match he might have gone on to win the tournament, but I got through and I’m very happy.
“You can only control how you feel out there. Just because you are losing games doesn’t mean you are doing anything wrong. It is a brutal sport and I just want to keep feeling alright.“
Two-time ranking quarter-finalist Jiang Jun scored a stunning 5-2 win over seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Despite having made the semis of the Wuhan Open earlier this season, O’Sullivan has been openly critical of his form in recent times. Earlier this season, he suggested the 2028 World Championship could mark the end of his playing career.
This evening’s encounter was the first-ever meeting between the pair, with 21-year-old Jiang expressing his delight at a maiden win over the 41-time ranking event winner. His reward is a meeting with Zak Surety in the next round.
Jiang said: “O’Sullivan is a legendary player. I’ve watched him and learned from him since I was a kid. I had never played against a top player like him before, so this was my first time. If I get the opportunity in the future, I hope I can play against players like him more often and learn from them.
“I’ve played against Ding Junhui twice before, and I felt the atmosphere was probably quite similar to this. I didn’t specifically look at the crowd, but I felt there might have been even more people this time. During my matches, I don’t look at how many spectators there are because I know it could affect my mentality.“
Mark Williams, who won this event last year when it was staged in Xi’an, suffered an early end to his title defence with a 5-4 loss against Fan Zhengyi.
Williams was runner-up at the recent English Open, but bows out at the first hurdle this week. After potting what appeared to be a match-ball pink in the decider, the white went in-off. Fan stepped up and deposited the pink to seal victory. He now plays Yuan Sijun.
Judd Trump required just 54 minutes to beat Huang Jiahao 5-0 in a blistering display. Breaks of 109, 69, 67, 67 and 54 saw him sprint to the line this afternoon. He now gets a bye to the last 16 after Anthony McGill was forced to withdraw due to medical reasons.
Here are the scores for Ronnie’s match
And some more images of that match
As well as some videos, shared on Youtube by WSt and TNT:
Top snooker stars have ‘massively unfair advantage,’ says Chris Wakelin
World number 12 Chris Wakelin feels in too privileged a position (Picture: Getty Images)
Chris Wakelin says he is feeling the benefit of a ‘massively unfair advantage’ as a top 16 player in the current snooker landscape.
The 34-year-old is firmly inside that elite group at number 12 in the world, havign won last season’s Scottish Open and produced a string of other good runs in ranking events.
It is a great time to be in the top 16 as many tournaments have moved to tiered draws, meaning lower-ranked players have to qualify to join the top stars at the main venues of events.
That set-up sees lots of matches being played behind-closed-doors at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena for the lesser lights of the tour as they attempt to earn their spots alongside the brightest stars.
Over the last week-and-a-half there have been qualifiers for the Northern Ireland Open, International Championship in Nanjing and Scottish Open, all held at the Mattioli, meaning that if you’ve had a bad few days then your calendar looks pretty bare in the coming weeks.
Wakelin does not have to deal with many of these qualifiers, but did have to play a match to reach the main stage of the International Championship and he feels he is in too privileged a position to avoid as he avoids that fate more often than not.
It’s something that needs to be addressed for sure,’ Wakelin told Metro. ‘From my perspective it’s a massively unfair advantage, being in the top 16 and not having to go to these qualifiers. It’s not the most lively of places, a little bit soulless and playing in front of nobody.
I understand why they have to do things in that manner, but for the guys that are having to go to qualifiers and they’re never actually seeing the inside of a proper venue, it’s not really the dream a lot of people had when they turned professional, to play in front of nobody.’
With the tiered system, top players can win one match at the venue and earn more money – and therefore ranking points – than their opponent has for winning multiple matches to get there.
This has long been the case in some tournaments, most notably the World Championship, but Wakelin feels it is not a fair system to be used across the tour.
‘We all know qualifying is an important part of progressing in the sport, but being in the 16 is such a massive advantage at the moment,’ he said. ‘I’ve only won four or five matches so far this season, while there’s players that have won 10, maybe 15 matches that still haven’t got the same number of ranking points that I’ve accrued.
It’s a nice position to be in from my point of view, but I don’t think it’s fair on the other players that are trying to make progress up the rankings.’
Wakelin spent over a decade on tour before cracking the top 16, so even though he doesn’t think it warrants the rewards he is now enjoying, he knows just how much work it takes to get there.
‘I’ve served my apprenticeship. I did 10 years of not really achieving a great deal,’ he said. ‘To be in this position now, I feel very, very fortunate.
‘There’s a lot of players that graft their whole careers and don’t manage to get into the top 16 and for me only a couple of years ago it seemed impossible.
‘But look at the points that you need over two years to get into the top 16. It’s a massive challenge. If you’re in the top 16 you’ve won some big matches, you’ve gone deep in a lot of tournaments.’
At next week’s Shenzhen Open, Wakelin takes on a player who has been in rampant form in the qualifiers, Liam Davies.
The 20-year-old from Wales is in the situation Wakelin has described, winning a huge amount of matches compared to his higher-ranked rivals, but without receiving the same rewards.
As Davies beat Long Zehuang in Scottish Open qualifying on Wednesday, he picked up his 19th win of the season in ranking events. Wakelin has won eight but sits ahead of him on the one-year ranking list.
Wakelin says the youngster may even go in as favourite when they meet in China, given the amount of games he has been winning.
‘He’s a smashing lad, smashing talent,’ said Wakelin. ‘He’s got the potential now to go deep in pretty much every tournament he plays in and good luck to the kid.
‘I want to see these guys doing well, I’m a big advocate of the youngsters from this side of the world. They’re learning how to win matches against people that have been doing it since before they were born.
‘The likes of Liam, Liam [Pullen], Liam [Graham] and Stan [Moody]. Antek [Kowalski] and [Iulian] Boiko, they’re all making their way up.
‘Last season I think Liam Davies struggled to really find his feet, but I’m buzzing for him now that he has done.
‘If anything, I’d say he probably goes into the match in Shenzhen as favourite because he’s done really well in recent tournaments. Obviously found himself comfortable in these big arenas and big tournaments and I’m sure it’ll be a good game, whoever wins.’
Following that interview, Phil Haigh also spoke to Jason Ferguson, who expressed his point of view:
Jason Ferguson on tiered tournaments
WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson spoke to Metro about wanting a balance between tiered and flat draws.
‘If you want my personal opinion, it’s not necessarily an opinion of the company, but my personal opinion is a balance is correct,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to see all events going to tiered structures. I still want to see some events retain open draw, flat draw structures where talent can progress quite easily.’
He added: ‘One of my concerns with this structure is the amount of downtime that certain amounts of the membership are now feeling.
‘We’re looking long and hard at that at the WPBSA in terms of the structure of the tour and whatever else needs to happen to make sure players can keep busy.
‘The problem with qualifiers after qualifiers is it’s very easy to get on a downward spiral. You lose one close match and you’ve played well, you’re still going downhill quickly. Before you know it, you’re thinking about saving your season rather than winning events. It’s a different mindset when you’ve got lots of qualifying rounds and I absolutely get it. I remember it well from my own career and I don’t like many qualifiers one after the other. I really don’t like to see that.’
For me, both raise very valid points, notably the fact that those qualifiers are “grouped” in the calendar, leaving some players with very little to do for long periods. But the big issue is elsewhere … the really big issue is the money list ranking system itself.
I have written about this in the past, I have explained why an ELO type of rating system has my preference and I won’t repeat it all. Instead I will just point why it’s unfair with an example: in the current money list system player A could play player B twice in the season, both times they play a best of nine, both times in the last 32, both time the score is the same 5-3, A wins the first match, B wins the second. It’s clearly the same effort from both and yet they may well end up in very different positions ranking wise, simply because one tournament carries much more money than the other one. THAT is where things are unfair and it could be the reason why one stays on tour and the other is relegated at the end of the season.
The 35-year-old from Malta had never previously advanced beyond the last 16 stage of a Q Tour but managed to win through seven matches to make history for his nation by becoming the first ever Maltese event winner.
Despite falling at the final hurdle, it was an unforgettable coming of age performance 17-year-old Edward Jones from England as he reached the title match at a Q Tour competition for the first time – his previous best run being the last 64.
A total of 109 players from 24 nations contested the four-day tournament, which was hosted alongside the 2026 European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA) European Championships in Bulgaria.
Busuttil was perhaps not one of the tournament favourites upon arrival in Sofia but he swept aside cueists from six different countries to earn a maiden title match appearance.
Victories over Bulgaria’s George Petrunko (4-2) and France’s Niel Vincent (4-0) put the Maltese player into a last 32 contest against former Q Tour event finalist Patrick Whelan.
A top break of 95 earned Busuttil a 4-1 win against Whelan to equal his best run and he then beat Matvei Lagodzinschii, who had earlier made the tournament high break of 137, to reach the final day in Sofia.
Busuttil’s dream run continued as he dropped just a single frame across the quarter and semi-finals – overcoming Riley Powell (4-1) and Sybren Sokolowski (4-0) to reach the final.
Awaiting him was teenager Jones, who had never previously made it beyond the last 64 but had earned a place in the title match with outstanding performances to defeat former professionals Peter Devlin and Dean Young among others.
It was Busuttil’s day, however, as he managed to complete a 4-0 victory over Jones to make history as the first Maltese Q Tour champion.
Reflecting on his success, Busuttil said: “I’m over the moon, I can’t believe it to be honest. I was just playing one frame at a time from the very beginning and this happened!”
“I won the European Six-Reds Championship earlier in the week which gave me some confidence. I wasn’t doing anything different specifically, I just kept going”
Speaking about his final opponent, Busuttil said: “I think Edward (Jones) is unbelievable. I saw some of his matches before the final and he was hitting some big breaks. I think he started off better than me but the first frame was crucial.”
Looking ahead, he added: “I feel confident going forward – I’m aiming for the number one spot now.”
The 2026 Scottish Open Qualifiers were played over the four previous days and, hereafter, you will find the reports shared by WST as well as the full list of results. Ronnie has not entered that event, which was probably the sensible thing to do … It was certainly a better decision than entering and withdrawing again. Anyway…
Scottish amateur wild cards Jack Borwick and Steven Wardropper both scored superb wins in the first qualifying round of the Scottish Open, needing one more victory to reach the final stages in Edinburgh.
…
Borwick, age 19 (pictured), enjoyed a 4-1 success against Ross Muir, highlighted by breaks of 54, 50 and 78. The teenager now meets Stan Moody on Tuesday with the winner to progress to the televised stages in December.
Wardropper, age 18, edged out Xu Yichen 4-3, compiling a run of 54 in the decider to set up a match with Jordan Brown.
Austria’s Florian Nuessle fired breaks of 133 and 112 in a 4-3 win over Deng Haohui, while China’s in-form Yao Pengcheng saw off Hammad Miah 4-2. Antoni Kowalski came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to edge out Sam Craigie 4-3. Last season’s Rookie of the Year Michal Szubarczyk notched his first win of the current campaign, beating Ka Wai Cheung 4-2 with a top break of 84.
I am very pleased with Michal Szubarczyk win … but I would have preferred if it had come over another opponent as I like Cheung as well.
Onyee Ng scored a tremendous 4-0 victory in a Hong Kong derby against three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu in the first qualifying round of the BetVictor Scottish Open.
…
Three-time World Women’s Champion Ng will face Xu Si on Wednesday with the winner to go through to the final stages in Edinburgh in December.
Ng and Fu, Hong Kong’s most decorated snooker stars, have played three times in ranking events within the past ten months, and Fu won the first two of those but today Ng dominated, making top breaks of 66 and 53.
Jimmy White followed up on last week’s win over Matthew Stevens in the International Championship qualifiers by beating Leone Crowley 4-2 with a top run of 69. The Whirlwind now meets Liu Hongyu.
Liam Davies top scored with 77 in a 4-1 defeat of Julien Leclercq, while Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon fired runs of 74, 80, 79 and 121 in a 4-0 victory over Paul Norris. Jamie Clarke came from 3-0 down to beat Fergal Quinn 4-3 with a top break of 98.
Oliver Sykes edged out Reanne Evans 4-3, while Liam Graham beat Bai Yulu by the same scoreline. Connor Benzey notched his second win of the season with a 4-3 defeat of Anton Kazakov.
Chatchapong Nasa will have the chance to reach for the stars when he takes on defending champion Chris Wakelin in the televised stages of the BetVictor Scottish Open, having beaten Louis Heathcote 4-3 in the final qualifying round.
Thailand’s Nasa won just two matches during his debut pro season in 2025/26, but the much-improved 28-year-old has already won six in the current campaign. Having beaten Allan Taylor 4-1 earlier in the week, he edged out Heathcote today despite seeing a 3-0 lead reduced to 3-3. After taking a 35-minute deciding frame on the colours, Nasa will head to Edinburgh in December to play Wakelin in the last 64.
Iulian Boiko edged out Ben Mertens 4-3 with a top break of 84 and will face John Higgins in Scotland. Aaron Hill was in magnificent form in a 4-2 win over Antoni Kowalski, firing runs of 139, 121, 56 and 100.
Perth’s Scott Donaldson qualified for his home tournament as he saw off Mitchell Mann 4-2, while Matthew Stevens won the deciding frame on the final black to beat Florian Nuessle 4-3. Luca Brecel made it three wins out of three in the current set of qualifiers as he beat Gong Chenzhi 4-0 with a top run of 71. Stan Moody top scored with 83 in a 4-1 win over Jack Borwick.
Regarding Florian Nuessle defeat to Matthew Stevens … it surely is a difficult one to take because Florian had battled very hard to come back from 2-0 down and 3-1 down to force the decider, only to lose it on the final black 💔 … and he also had made the highest break of the match, an 88.
Anthony McGill secured a place in his home tournament by beating Wang Xinbo 4-2 in the final qualifying round of the BetVictor Scottish Open.
Glasgow’s McGill will meet Si Jiahui in the televised stages in Edinburgh in December. Tour rookie Wang was on a run of four consecutive qualifying wins and took the opening frame today with a break of 77, before two-time ranking event winner McGill went 2-1 up with runs of 64 and 60. Wang’s superb 132 made it 2-2 but McGill won the last two frames with a top break of 72 to progress to the last 64.
In-form Liam Davies edged out Long Zehuang 4-3 and has now won 19 matches on the tour this season. Robbie Williams top scored with 100 in a 4-3 defeat of Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon while Mateusz Baranowski enjoyed a 4-1 success against Ricky Walden.
Matthew Selt top scored with 92 in a 4-1 win over Scotland’s Liam Graham, while Liam Pullen enjoyed a 4-0 success against Artemijs Zizins.
As a fan, born and living in mainland Europe, I (almost)1 always “support” the mainland Europe players and there were quite a few “satisfying” results in those qualifiers. 😄 The big shame was that Boiko and Mertens had to play each other is the final round… 😕
This might seem bizarre but the exception is Luca Brecel. Yes, he is Belgian, like me, but far too often his attitude has not been great and he has not done his fantastic talent justice at all. ↩︎
