Month: October 2017

The Shanghai Masters 2017 is on

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After much uncertainty and waiting, the Shanghai Masters is definitely on and the draw and qualifiers format are out.

About the history and background of the tournament, Worldsnooker published this yesterday:

The 2017 World Snooker Shanghai Masters will be held at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium from 13th to 18th November, 2017.

This world ranking event has a great reputation, having been staged for ten consecutive years since it was first held 2007. China’s top player Ding Junhui won the title for the second time last year when he beat Mark Selby in the final. Other former winners include Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Selby. Once again an extremely strong field of the world’s best players is expected.

Many top players have named the Shanghai Masters among their favourite tournaments on snooker’s global calendar. And the snooker fans in Shanghai are known for their enthusiasm and passion for the sport.

The 2017 World Snooker Shanghai Masters is hosted by the Multi-ball Games Administrative Center of General Administration of Sports of China, Shanghai Administration of Sports, People’s Government of Xuhui District, organized by Shanghai Juss Sports Development (Group) Co.,Ltd, Great Sports Co.,Ltd, and promoted by Shanghai Juss Event Management Co., Ltd. The tournament will take place as a result of active consultation and innovation from the Jiushi Sports Group, World Snooker Limited and the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association. The event forms part of the overall transformation plans for Xujiahui Sports Park, while ensuring that this ten-year-old tournament continues its prestigious history.

The 2017 World Snooker Shanghai Masters will have more players than previous stagings of the event, with at least 64 players at the final venue. With the event played over six days, it will be an intense schedule with fierce competition. A qualifying round will be staged in England from October 11-13, with players needing to win one match to make it to the final venue.

The total prize money will be £700,000, an increase of 50 per cent compared to last season. The champion will receive £150,000, equalling the record for the biggest prize paid at a ranking event staged outside the UK.

Jiushi Sports Group will continue to build and develop the reputation of the Shanghai Masters, working together with WSL and CBSA on the future vision. Meeting the demand of snooker fans throughout China and worldwide, the event’s influence will be expanded globally.

Tickets are on sale now with very affordable prices, fans can call the ticket hotline: (86) 021-64265678.

The event has launched a new WeChat Micro-blog for “the Snooker Shanghai Masters” with fans welcome to get involved. Fans can also log on to the official website for more information: http://www.snookershanghai.com

Shanghai Masters former champions:
2007 Dominic Dale
2008 Ricky Walden
2009 Ronnie O’Sullivan
2010 Ali Carter
2011 Mark Selby
2012 John Higgins
2013 Ding Junhui
2014 Stuart Bingham
2015 Kyren Wilson
2016 Ding Junhui

I was fortunate to attend the event in 2012. I have fantastic memories from the event, the place and the people. I’m very happy to see it continue, and continue as a best-of-9 event too. I would have prefered it to keep the tiered structure that made it a distinctive event, but … It’s a very well attended event too, from the start, something that isn’t the norm in Chinese events.

ShanghaiMasters2017Crowd

Here are the draw and qualifiers format, as published by Worldsnooker today:

Here’s the draw and format for this week’s qualifying round for the 2017 Shanghai Masters.

Click here for the draw

Click here for the format

Many of the world’s best snooker players will be at Robin Park in Wigan for the qualifying round, and you can watch them in action for FREE!

Robin Park will host the qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters world ranking event from Wednesday October 11 until Friday October 13. Over 120 players will be competing across eight tables, with each needing to win one match to earn a place in the final stages in China next month.

Fans just need to collect wristbands on the day of the event from the main reception desk for entry. No reservations for tickets can be made, tickets are first come first served on the day. Matches will commence from 10am, tickets available from 9.30am. For any further information relating to this event, contact Robin Park on 01942 828 550.

It’s good to see that sometimes they listen to the players… maybe. Neil Robertson suggested that the qualifiers should be free for people to watch and these are.

In the last 128 round, Ronnie will play Chris Keogan on Friday October 13 in the afternoon.

 

European Masters 2017 – Judd Trump defends his title

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Congratulations to Judd Trump, your Europan Masters 2017 champion!

Judd conducted a succesful defence of his title, a rather rare achievement. Well done.

Here is the report on Worldsnooker:

Judd Trump has defended a ranking title for the first time in his career, winning the 888sport European Masters thanks to a thrilling 9-7 defeat of Stuart Bingham in Lommel.

Trump recorded a stunning 9-8 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan to lift the title a year ago. 12 months later and the Ace in the Pack found himself in the final once again. He faced a repeat of the Welsh Open final from earlier in the year, which he narrowly lost to Bingham. On this occasion it was the 28-year-old Trump who came out on top.

Victory and the £75,000 top prize has helped world number four Trump to close the gap on third placed John Higgins in the rankings. It’s the eighth ranking crown of Trump’s career and sees him move ahead of Shaun Murphy to 12th in the list of most titles won.

Judd Trump’s Ranking Event Wins

  • 2017 European Masters
  • 2017 Players Championship
  • 2016 European Masters
  • 2016 China Open
  • 2014 Australian Open
  • 2012 International Championship
  • 2011 UK Championship
  • 2011 China Open

Bingham will rue relinquishing his 4-2 advantage this afternoon, when the ended the first session level at 4-4. However, the 2015 World Champion can reflect on his best tournament showing of the season and the £35,000 second prize.

The evening session was played at thunderous pace, with both players going blow to blow with big breaks. Bingham was first to fire in a sublime century run of 130, before Trump restored parity at 5-5 with a contribution of 107.

The Ace in the Pack claimed the following two frames to gain a two frame cushion at the mid-session, leading 7-5.

However, Bingham dug deep to win consecutive frames and level once more at 7-7. From there Trump powered to the line, winning the fifteenth frame before signing off in style with a run of 107.

Afterwards a delighted Trump immediately set his sights on further glory at next week’s English Open in Barnsley.

The eight-time ranking event winner said: “It would be nice to win two tournaments in a row, that is another aim of mine. I want to do as well as possible in every tournament and try to win as many big events as I can.

“I think it took me a few games to get used to being back out there, as I haven’t played much season. I wasn’t quite match sharp the first few games and I grew into the tournament. I played very well in the semi-final and that set me up for today. Stuart played great and maybe even better than me. I managed to stick in there and get to the interval at 4-4.

“Winning this tournament last year gave me a good incentive to defend the title. Now I have got that off my back I can set myself new targets for the rest of the season.”

Bingham was disappointed not to lift his second ranking silverware of the calendar year and felt he was playing well enough to be in the frame for the title.

“I came out today and had three century breaks. I felt really comfortable,” said the 2015 World Champion.”There were about four frames that could have gone either way. He just had the run at the right time. I snookered him a couple of times and he got the snooker back. In the end it has finished 9-7, but I have to try to take the positives.”

European Masters 2017 – Surprising line-up in the SF

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As we enter the semi finals stage today, we are treated with two unexpected matches, each of them featuring a proven top player and a young Chinese player.

Indeed it’s Judd Trump v Cao Yupeng and Stuart Bingham v Zhou Yuelong.

How did we get there?

Judd beat Mark Allen in the QF, in a high quality match, that saw Mark coming back from 3-0 down to force a decider.  Judd looks very determined to defend his title; it would be the first time that he defends successfully and a succesful defence is a rarity anyway.

Cao Yupeng beat Mark Williams by 4-2, and I don’t think that many saw this coming, especially after Mark had sent Neil Robertson home in the previous round. Cao hasn’t done much in recent years and it’s easy to forget that he reached the last 16 at the Crucible in 2012, in his first year as a pro. He’s only 26. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.

Stuart Bingham played very well to beat Mark Selby by 4-2, and that didn’t surprise me. Except for his match against Zhao Xintong, where he made 4 centuries in 4 frames he won, Mark had been on the “escape act” all tournament: he had to come through a decider in every other match in Lommel. Stuart is a much harder opponent than Mark Joyce, Lyu Haotian or Jack Lisowski. He’s a tournament winner and a former World Champion, he wasn’t going to allow another escape.

Finally, Zhou Yuelong inflicted a right spanking to Anthony McGill. He beat him 4-0, in no time, with 138 and 136 to finish. Zhou is only 19 and he’s a product of the efforts China puts into the development of their young snooker talents. There have been 5 players who reach their first SF this season, 4 of them are young Chinese.

So, who’s gonna win today?

 

 

 

 

 

English Open 2017 top players schedule and some more news

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Worldsnooker is yet to publish the draw and format of the English Open 2017 but they have announced the schedule for the top players involved.

Snooker kings including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and defending champion Liang Wenbo have already had their first round matches scheduled for this month’s English Open at the Barnsley Metrodome.

The world ranking event will feature 128 players in the flat draw, and the complete draw and format will not be available until after the seeding cut off falls at the end of this week’s European Masters.

But the following matches have already been scheduled, to give fans the chance to buy tickets to see their heroes:

Monday 16th 10am:
Barry Hawkins

Monday 16th 1pm
Judd Trump

Followed by
Liang Wenbo

Monday 16th 7pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan

Not before 8pm
Shaun Murphy

Tuesday 17th 10am
Marco Fu

Tuesday 17th 1pm
Mark Selby

Followed by
Ding Junhui

Tuesday 17th 7pm
John Higgins

Not before 8pm
Neil Robertson

Tickets are on sale now and there’s an amazing Barmy Barnsley offer currently running with all-day tickets available from Monday October 16 to Thursday October 19 for just £5! It’s an incredible chance to see many of your favourite players for the price of a single ticket, especially with action on seven tables in the early stages.

For ticket details CLICK HERE

The English Open runs from October 16 to 22 and it’s the first of the season’s Home Nations series.

On the other hand they still haven’t published the draw and format for the Shanghai Masters Qualifiers that run next week! But Ronnie (apparently sat in a train) was again on a roll on twitter and, amongst many other things (nutrition, running, his books, another hustle, tour structure) posted this:

Yeah my agent got me a good deal so Shanghai is on

So that’s good news.

The European Masters 2017 – into the last 16.

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The European Masters 2017 is underway in Lommel, Belgium, and very unfortunately I learned about it being held in my country well after I had committed to travel to Greece. So I’m missing it.

It’s a nice setup with only 4 tables, which is good. I, personally, don’t like the big arenas with 8 or more tables. They lack atmosphere, in my opinion. Also it makes the tournament easier to follow as it unfolds.

(pictures shared by Olivier Marteel on twitter)

We are already at the last 16 stage and this is the line-up:

EM2017Last16Line-up

The good news for the sponsors is that all three guys in the event poster are still in it! Three top 16 players, out of the 9 involved, lost in the first or second round: John Higgins, Kyren Wilson and Ryan Day. All of them lost to experienced veterans, and except for John, in a deciding frame.

The last 16 line-up above is a strong one, with most players involved being expected at this stage. Half of them are event winners. Ben Woollaston and David Gilbert have been ranking event finalists and are likely to win an event sooner than late. Mark Davis has been 4 times in ranking semi finals and has won the 6-reds World Championship twice, as well as the Championship League Snooker.  Zhou Yuelong has proven his value by reaching the top 32 before turning 20 and he’s a product of the very strong young Chinese crop, supported by a strong national body and excellent national structures. That leaves us with four “surprises”: Jack Lisowski, Peter Lines, Cao Yupeng and Billy Joe Castle. Jack has all the talent in the world but seemed to have lost his way, hopefully he’s getting back where he belongs. The same can be said from Cao Yupeng who really impressed when he first came on the tour then somehow faded away. As for Billy, he’s a rookie – albeit well-known on the amateur circuit – and his run here is quite remarkable. Take a bow Billy. Him and Cao play each other today.  Peter is the Seniors World Champion. He’s a hard nut to crack and the living proof that Snooker Legend’s promoter, Jason Francis, motto “dare to dream” is in fact reality!

 

The Numptiesgate

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Over the last couple of days Ronnie has been very active on twitter and has sparked a lot of reactions after he branded 70% of his fellow snooker professionals “numpties”. He suggested that 70% of the tour is made of no-hopers, which I can only understand as “players who will never win anything of worth”. He admitted that he finds it difficult to play them, and play in qualifiers, so much so that he rather avoids qualifiers and stay home unless there is a financial incentive.

I won’t copy/paste the whole stuff, you can read it here . To be fair there are a lot of other things, including very positive ones, that Ronnie tells us in this impromptu self-induced interview. But of course it’s the “numpties” comments that caught attention. And he got some stick for it of course, but also support from some who feel it’s time to drop political correctness, including fellow pro Mark Williams.

Now here are the facts and my take on the “issue”

Let me first state this: branding fellow pros as numpties was both provocative and  not very nice. The vast majority of the tour players work hard and try their best.

That said, Ronnie also used the word “no-hopers”, and in a previous interviews,  “amateurs”, which is probably closer to what he really means.

Now, frankly, how many of the current pros have a realistic chance to win as much as ONE ranking title in their career? There are currently 32 of them on the tour (source cuetracker) out of 128 – the invitational tour card holders not included, but including guys like Nigel Bond and Anthony Hamilton who are unlikely to win another one (Anthony suffers from recurrent neck injuries).

That’s 75% of the tour who hasn’t won a ranking title. How many of those 75% do you reckon are likely to win one at some point and who? You’d need 7 more to get to 70% of non winners, likely never to win. Me, right now, I can only see a couple of young Chinese (Zhou and Yan), Gilbert, maybe Sam Craigie and Hossein Vafaei … who else?

Even more worrying: if you look at who is challenging for titles, it’s still mainly the class of 92 and guys nearing 35. Last season Selby beat Ronnie for the UK, Higgins for the World, and Ronnie took the Masters, beating Perry, another 40+. This season Robertson beat Ronnie in Hong Kong, Williams won in Thailand, Higgins in India. The only really young player proving himself is Luca Brecel.

So in a way, you could say that Ronnie is right, over 70% of the players have next to no hope to ever achieve much in the game and the ones he faces in qualifiers are nowhere near the standard he used to face for most of his career, when top 16 players were seeded in last 32 in every tournament. Mismatches are not great for anybody: not for the top player who gets no challenge, not for the underdog who gets a bashing, not for the audience who gets no real thrill because there isn’t a real match. Mismatches have also lead to some top pros being demotivated to the point they don’t try as they should or lose focus. Ding’s record in qualifiers was so bad that it became a problem with the Chinese sponsors and led to holding his matches over to the main venue in China.

Another worrying aspect for me is that I don’t see many young ones coming through. Look at last season first time winners: King, Hamilton, Liang Wenbo, and this season, Day. Without condoning what Ronnie said, or at least the way he said it, I believe that Hearn should have the honesty to look at those stats and facts. The flat draw as it is doesn’t really deliver. It has advantages indeed: lower ranked players need to win less matches to reach the television stage, they have the opportunity to play the big boys more often, to get used to the television set-up. But the system is extremely brutal, the rookies meet top 64 players in their first match each and every time, they get beat more often than not and earn very little. Is that really the best way to help them develop? The current state of affairs suggest to me that the answer is no.  I’m not sure that someone like Neil Robertson would have made it in the current system, coming raw and penniless from Oz. The tiered system had its drawbacks, but it also allowed for a more progressive development. Why not have a mix of both systems? Would promoters object? I doubt it. Would it protect top players too much? I don’t think so, not if they get no “points” at all if losing their first match. Quite the opposite, it’s a lot of pressure on them then, coming cold against someone who has already secured some points/money with everything to lose.

Where Ronnie is wrong is that this is no different from what happens in any other sport. What % of pro tennis players do actually win anything significant in their career? Surely not even 25% of them. How many pro football clubs do actually win major cups? Only a few considering how popular football is and how many pro clubs exist around the world. The thing is you can’t build a sport solely around the elite. However, you won’t see Federer, Nadal, Djovovic or Murray asked to play qualifiers on court n° 254 in an obscure club, or Chelsea having to qualify for international major competitions playing FC Zottegem on a communal playground. The structure of the tennis and football tours are , de facto, tiered.

The other day Robertson urged Hearn on twitter to make the tickets for qualifiers free because it felt like playing in a morgue, and Williams insisted that there should be no qualifiers at all. I must say, I agree with them both. And yes, there is more money at the top nowadays, but older players have told me they were having a very decent living as middle ranked players in the 90th early 2000th. No more so.

As often the case with Ronnie’s outbursts, beyond the colourful and sometimes rude wording, there is a real issue here and, actually, Hearn knows it, as his reaction shows.

Here is Hector Nunns reporting on Barry Hearn’s reaction:

Snooker ace Ronnie O’Sullivan under fire for ‘numpties’ comment about fellow pros

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has been branded disrespectful by snooker supremo Barry Hearn for calling his fellow pros ‘numpties’.

By Hector Nunns /

Ronnie O'SullivanGETTYRonnie O’Sullivan has come under fire for his comments

And World Snooker chairman Hearn suspects the insult will fire up opponents at the Rocket’s increasingly rare tournament appearances.But he admits that five-time world champion O’Sullivan, 41, is unlikely to be disciplined for his latest outburst.

O’Sullivan justified his absence from this week’s European Masters by saying he: “Couldn’t cope with playing a numpty at Barnsley to qualify. See how many numpties you can spot in Belgium.”

Ironically the Rocket has just confirmed he will play in this month’s English Open in Barnsley, where he will face a lower-ranked opponent.

But Hearn said: “It’s disrespectful to fellow professionals and I wouldn’t want to encourage it, but I’m not sure it’s actionable.

“If he doesn’t rate his fellow professionals’ ability then he has to deal with that when he goes out to play them.

“I can ask players to be respectful, but that’s just common sense. And it is part of the bigger conversation about reducing the size of the tour.“Will it motivate these players Ronnie has called numpties even more? They should all want to beat top players anyway.

“But the great news for them is that it doesn’t matter what Ronnie or anyone else thinks, it’s about what they do on the table.

“In football that would be a comment that the manager would put straight on the dressing room wall, and the players would be lightning and thunder coming out on to the pitch.

“Snooker is not quite that type of game, you have to be in control of your emotions a bit more, but it might motivate a few.

“There is though a bigger picture about where is snooker going, and our plans for it. To be fair to Ronnie, it isn’t just him who thinks the tour should be smaller.

Barry HearnGETTYSnooker supremo Barry Hearn

“There are a few other big names who think that it should be cut from 128 to 64.“I have always thought that was a backwards step. I don’t think the bottom half are a waste of time, because it’s an avenue to changing your life and living the dream.

“If you are a ‘numpty’, as Ronnie so eloquently puts it, you will get beaten. And after a year or two maybe you’ll look in the mirror and get another job. But you had the chance.

“In Ronnie’s ideal world, and this is a slight exaggeration, a tournament would be him and one other person for all the money.”

…

Ronnie confirms that he will play in the English Open 2017

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This was published by Worldsnooker today :

Five-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has confirmed his entry to the English Open, which starts in two weeks in Barnsley.

Crowd favourite O’Sullivan will join a stellar field for the world ranking event which runs from October 16 to 22 at the Barnsley Metrodome.

Already confirmed for the first of the season’s Home Nations series are World Champion Mark Selby, John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson, Jimmy White, Liang Wenbo and a host of other top stars among the 128-man field.

The Eurosport-televised event will see players competing for a top prize of £70,000 and the Steve Davis Trophy. And the winner will go into the second Home Nations event of the season with a chance to land a £1 million bonus if he can win further titles in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.

With all 128 players in action over the first two days (Monday October 16 and Tuesday October 17) and with seven tables in the arena, it’s a fantastic chance for fans to see many of their heroes in action for the price of a single ticket,

Tickets are still available for the English Open and the current ‘Barmy Barnsley’ special offer has all-day tickets available for just £5 for the first four days (October 16-19) – the best value for money in the world of sport! This offer will finish soon so book now!

For all details and to book seats CLICK HERE

Good news!