Whilst others were still battling it out, trying to qualify for the German Masters 2017, Ronnie was at the Crowne Plaza in Liverpool, along with football legend Bruce Grobbelaar and boxing legend Frank Bruno, speaking at a charity dinner in order to support “Hope Liverpool” and fighting breast cancer. Here are a few pictures posted on twitter by Jason Francis:
The qualifying rounds for the German Masters 2017 were completed yesterday evening; the players had to win two matches to book their place in the television stages, in Berlin, early February. Least I can say is that it did throw a good few surprise results. Only 9 players from the top 16 will make the trip to the Tempodrom, and, among them, we have only 3 players in the top 8. How come?
To start with Ding Junhui didn’t enter and Liang Wenbo withdrew. I can only put that down to the fact that the Chinese New Year festival starts on January 28, 2017 and it’s probably the most important holiday in China. So they wouldn’d miss it. In past years Ding had voiced his displeasure that, although there is a break in snooker for Xmas and New Year in Europe, nothing was done to allow the numerous Chinese players to enjoy family time when it came to the Chinese New Year festival.
Then we had a few surprise results. John Higgins and Shaun Murphy fell to the Chinese teenagers, Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao respectively. This prompted another “anti wilcard” spree on twitter but I’ll come to that later. Anyway, John Higgins was sent packing with a 5-1 score, that’s rather severe!
Also, Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and Joe Perry were sent home. Judd lost by 5-1 to Tom Ford, who, of course, can play and is always dangerous especially when he’s not in the spotlights. More surprising is the demise of Kyren Wilson by John Astley. John is actually performing quite well since he came back to the main tour after a break into the theatrical world. Finally, and surely to the delight of many, Jimmy White got the better of Joe Perry, who, it’s fair to say, hasn’t been at his best of late.
So there we go. Mark Allen complained that the table conditions were the worst he played on as a professional. Something that echoed Ronnie’s reflections after the last 128 round. Ronnie reflected that the sponsors won’t be too happy that John Higgins will not be in Berlin; that was before the last day of play, and they won’t be happier now that they have lost Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy as well. But the World Champion and the Defending Champion, Martin Gould, will be there. Ronnie was pleading for having the whole 128 field at the actual venue, which of course is a bit of a logistic challenge, but nevertheless is how it should be in my opinion.
All detailed results are on Cuetracker as usual.
And finally my two cents on the wildcard rants on twitter. Some people suggested that having the opportunity to play as wildcards in the Chinese events is what is at the root of the Chinese teenagers recent success. Well that’s nonsense and here is why: the top-up system is used in every tournament, including the Chinese ones, and offer the opportunity to amateurs, who didn’t succeed in Q-school, to play in events. Because the Q-school is held in UK and because all qualifying rounds as well as all first rounds for the UK tournaments are played in UK, this mainly benefits to UK amateurs. They have the opportunity to play in 20+ tournaments, and their number is only limited by the number of pros who didn’t enter the events. So they have a lot MORE opportunities than the Chinese younsters to pitch themselves against top opposition and yet, they are not coming though … Why is that? Well, in my opinion, it’s about the lack of structure and the lack proper management of the amateur game, more than anything else.
In China, snooker is part of the schools curriculum. When I was at an APTC in Yixing in 2012, I saw how the CBSA takes care of the grassroots as well as of the pro game. They have excellent academies over there. And whenever a promising young player was at the table, there was a coach videocasting the match for the purpose of debriefing later. That, and not the occasional wildcard match, is what built the foundations for the current success of the likes of Zhao, Yan and Zhou.
And now, with Vic Snooker Academy in Sheffield, run by Victoria, who was Ding’s manager for a while, and Nigel Bond, they have a hub and a supporting structure in the UK itself and that’s extremely important. When I saw Lyu Haotian in China in 2012, he was a cheerful kid, full of promises. After two years in the UK, he was depressed, demotivated and, I’m afraid, drinking too. He’s gone and it’s a waste of a huge talent. Neil Robertson talked about how hard it was for him to come to the UK, as a teenager, away from his family, and yet, Neil didn’t have the barrier of language to overcome, and Australia is a lot closer to the UK culturally than is China. So one can imagine how it is for those young Chinese lads. Having now an anchor point certainly helps.
Ronnie played a lot better than he had on Wednesday to beat Gary Wilson by 5-3 in their last 64 qualifying match played in Barnsley yesterday evening. He will be in Berlin as a player next February.
As you can see above it was a high-quality affair; each frame had a break over 50. It was quite fast too, both players playing an open attacking brand of snooker, at a fast pace.
Ronnie raced to a 4-0 lead before the MSI, potting his opponent off the table for most of the first mini-session. After the MSI though, Gary came back determined to make a game of it, and, trailing badly, somehow relaxed and started getting about everything he took. Ronnie had grown cold during the break and for three frames had little answer.
At 4-3 though, Gary started to show a bit of nerves as the possibility for him to win the match became increasingly real. A couple of mistakes crept in and it’s all Ronnie needed to pounce and finish the job.
Here is the match:
There were no signs of the “I don’t want to be here” attitude that was apparent the day before. It was a professional performance on all accounts.
That does not mean that Ronnie agrees with the qualifying system in place as this tweet clearly states:
That looks well john Higgins not in the German masters. I’m sure the German fans and the promoter will be happy with that
His point is that the sport needs its stars at the television stages, if it is to succeed and find good sponsors. I’m sure that, on a personal level, he must have been delighted to see young Zhao Xintong succeed and beat John Higgins, as he rates him highly, likes his game and gave him some coaching. But this is about what the sport needs, not what he likes.
Speaking of twitter, Ronnie went on there before the match with some hilarious nonsensical ideas about how to help the skint players make some money, whilst himself would of course take his share too … Wanna be driven around by a snooker player? Read about it on Ronnie’s twitter feed … and have a look at the replies he got too.
I will do a round-up of the qualifying rounds tomorrow, when it’s all done. A lot happened out there, with Ali Carter and Ross Muir hitting a 147 each only minutes apart and playing each other today. There were a few “shocks” aswell, the biggest one being John Higgins exit at the hands of Zhao Xintong.
The players are in Barnsley this week, to play a possible two matches in order to qualify for the television stage. of the German Masters 2017.
Before the match, Ronnie had tweeted:
In Barnsley tonight playing really looking forward to it.
Which I took with a good pinch of salt because none of the top players like to play in these qualifiers.
Ronnie won his match against young Darry Hill by 5-4 but it was anything but plain sailing.
Here are the scores (Ronnie first, source Cuetracker)
51-66; 32-100(62); 72-46; 74(74)-26; 105(105)-4; 21-69; 48-76; 93(89)-0; 87(59)-1
Ronnie started badly and trailed 2-0: during the first frame a mixture of bad run and careless shots allowed Darryl to steal it; a missed long red by Ronnie resulting in a spectacular split of the pack allowed Darryl in straight away in the second and he didn’t ask twice. But somehow Ronnie regrouped and breaks of 105, 89, 74 and a 59 got him through … just.
Darryl came on Facebook, thrilled by his own performance despite the result:
Wow what a night! Thanks everyone for the support just going through the messages now! That’s the most I’ve enjoyed snooker since winning the Europeans. All I was thinking before I went on about 5 mins before was to just get a frame and not disgrace myself but I took the first and felt good from there. Tonight was a great feeling after having a difficult few months and even last week I was advised not to even travel to this so to take Ronnie to a decider is a great step forward. Thanks everyone..
Darryl certainly didn’t disgrace himself out there, he showed what he can do and I wish him all the best in the future in particular regarding his health. Darryl suffers from Crohn disease, as you can read here which is a very difficult condition to cope with when the job implies a lot of traveling, with irregular hours and pub type meals only too often.
This morning Ronnie came out on twitter again with this:
Am I the only player that feels playing in these qualifiers for ranking events is wrong ??
If they are going to play 128 from the start shouldn’t that mean we start at the main venue and not play in below average conditions
I can only agree. The players are the sport’s most valuable asset. It takes years of hard work and dedication to become a good one, not to mention a top one. They deserve conditions that allow them to show and express the full range of their skills, not poor conditions, in a rather shabby looking venue with little atmosphere and drunks in the causing disruptions (as it transpired on twitter across some fans reactions to yesterday’s matches)
Here is the match:
2017 German Masters: Ronnie O’Sullivan – Darryl Hill
Worldsnooker has just published the draw and format for the Scottish Open 2016
Tuesday 6 Dec 2016 11:29AM
The draw and format for the new Coral Scottish Open is now available. The tournament runs from December 12 to 18 at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow. Tickets are still available for all sessions, for details CLICK HERE
Ronnie’s first round match will be against Matthew Selt, and it’s fair to say that this is one of the most tricky opening matches he could possibly get. John Higgins will face Alan McManus who defeated him at the Crucible last April. Certainly a good match-up to attract audience … someone had a lucky hand at Worldsnooker when making the draw.
This, published by Worldsnooker last week, is a shortcut as to when some of the biggest names will be in action. Mark Selby gave it a miss …
Friday 2 Dec 2016 09:08PM
Snooker’s top stars head to Glasgow later this month for the Coral Scottish Open, and opening matches for some of the green baize kings have already been scheduled.
The Coral Home Nations tournament runs from December 12 to 18 at the Emirates Arena, with 128 players competing for the £70,000 top prize and the Stephen Hendry Trophy.
Tickets are available now and start at just £10 – for details click here
Local favourite John Higgins will start his campaign to win the title on home soil on Monday December 12th at 1pm.
World number two Stuart Bingham will also be in action on the same afternoon.
On the Monday evening at 7pm, Judd Trump will be among the line up.
On Tuesday December 13th at 1pm, Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan will play his first round match. He will be followed in the same session by Shaun Murphy. And another former World Champion, Neil Robertson, will take the stage that evening at 7pm.
The remainder of the schedule will be announced next week.
Make sure you book tickets fast to see live sport at its best!
The event will be televised by Eurosport and Quest.
In this interview, published today by the Yorkshire Post, Ronnie speaks about rivalry, and speaks highly about Mark Selby.
Read the excerpt here:
O’Sullivan has a new-found respect for Selby after famously describing the world champion as the “torturer” such was his granite-like displays on the table.
Where O’Sullivan is the swashbuckling rebel who scores heavily and swiftly, Selby is more conservative and a master tactician.
But O’Sullivan – who threatened a comeback after clawing his way back from 7-2 to 8-7 at the York Barbican – has revealed time spent on tour with Selby, plus a spell as a TV pundit, has given him a new perspective.
“We spent some time on the exhibition circuit, I like his mindset and I know he is in the game for the right reasons,” said O’Sullivan, denied the chance to equal Steve Davis’s record of six UK crowns. “He’s a good lad and a fierce competitor on the table. “I know if he does go a bit slow, with long drawn-out frames, it’s not just because he is playing me, that’s how it sometimes goes for him. “I know it’s not intentional, he’s just a tough match-player. “With me I just go out there and hit them with everything I have got, like a wall I just try to walk right through it. “With Mark, he will just try and defend, defend and make it difficult for you at times. “Equally, he can go for his shots and attack. He can adapt and play that game as well. I am not, I just eat the balls. “Mark’s done well to him so congratulations to him. I enjoyed my game, I just missed too many balls to win tournaments. “There were so many I should have got and probably two or three years ago would have got. In spells I was okay but ‘spells’ is not good enough. If you want to dominate and strike fear into your opponent you can’t afford to miss easy chances. “He’s a fantastic player, he’s won a lot of tournaments and he’s a very tough match player. He’s got the all-round game.”
And read the original article too: there is more to it, including a video.
Worldsnooker has today – eventually – published the draw and format for the German Masters 2017 qualifiers, played in Barnsley from 6th to 9th of December 2016.
Read here:
Monday 5 Dec 2016 02:28PM
The draw and format for the F66.com German Masters qualifiers are now available.
The qualifiers run from December 6 to 9 at the Barnsley Metrodome with the 32 winners going through to the final stages in Berlin in February.
Ronnie will play Darryl Hill on Wednesday evening, and, should he win will be in action again the next day in the evening.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 