Month: March 2020

Barry Hearn seriously considering the “closed doors” option for the World Championship

Monique Interview, Professional snooker tournament ,

This was published today by Sports Business

Hearn calls for closed-door sports events during coronavirus outbreak

Barry Hearn

Matchroom Sport’s Barry Hearn has suggested live televised sport should continue behind closed doors during the coronavirus outbreak and that snooker will wait for government advice before suspending any events.

The snooker, darts and boxing promoter told BBC Radio Scotland that he would continue to schedule sporting events “where possible”, or delay them at worst.

He said: “I’m not sure of the benefit of not staging outdoor events. People talk about spreading the virus, but unless we’re all going to be locked indoors for the next few months, we’re all going to be down the pub or mixing with people at work, or travelling on trains.”

Hearn suggested this year’s World Snooker Championships, scheduled to take place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from April 18 to May 4, could be played in front of empty seats.

He added: “My gut feeling is to carry on whenever possible subject to normal health requirements.

“I’m actually looking at events behind closed doors, to actually expand the events I’m doing. Because there’s an opportunity there to keep everyone busy and happy. It does present an opportunity for indoor sports, behind closed doors, even boxing may well have a market in the absence of any other live sport existing.”

Yesterday (Sunday), the final of the World Snooker Tour’s Gibraltar Open took place behind closed doors. The tournament was initially limited to a crowd of 100 people but then switched to going behind closed doors halfway through.

After it was announced two referees had fallen ill, players were asked to referee their own matches. In one case, Chinese player Liang Wenbo had to pick the balls out of pockets for his opponent James Cahill.

Following the final, Hearn responded to calls to suspend the upcoming World Championships by tweeting: “We need directive from government based on specialist advice. Then we have three options – cancel/delay/play within government rules. Time will tell.”

Matchroom sports has already had to announce a provisional reschedule programme for the Professional Darts Corporation’s 2020 Premier League event. Last Thursday it was announced that a double-header scheduled to take place in Rotterdam on March 25 and 26 had been postponed due to regulations forbidding large public gathering in the Netherlands. The event is now scheduled to take place on September 9-10 in the same country.

Hearn remarked: “Already I’ve got a team of people working on alternative dates. I’ve cancelled next week’s Premier League in Rotterdam and immediately booked 9-10 September so we can have something to look forward to maybe.”

Like Hearn, PDC chief executive Matt Porter has said the darts organisation will continue to follow government advice on whether events should be cancelled or postponed. In spite of a swathe of cancellations to sporting events around the world, darts has continued to organise a busy schedule during the coronavirus outbreak. The Premier League went to Liverpool last week and is scheduled to be in Newcastle this week.

Last Friday (March 13), World Snooker issued a provisional statement indicating the World Snooker Championships and next week’s Tour Championship in Llandudno would take place as planned, provided the situation didn’t change.

Hearn noted: “I’m playing the Gibraltar Open [snooker] behind closed doors at this moment in time. Next week I have the tour championships and I’m waiting to hear if I’m allowed to do it.”

And it also sheds some light about the reason why players were self-refereeing in Gibraltar… With seven referees already missing because they couldn’t make it, two more falling ill was probably not sustainable. Refereeing asks for huge concentration, the referees can’t be doing a 24/7 and sustain the high level that their job requires.

Judd Trump wins the 2020 Gibraltar Open

Monique Professional snooker tournament

Judd Trump beat Kyren Wilson by 4-3 in the final of the 2020 Gibraltar Open yesterday evening. This is Judd’s sixth ranking title this season, setting a new record.

Congratulations Judd Trump

Here is the report by WST

Judd Trump became the first player to win six ranking titles in the same season by beating Kyren Wilson 4-3 in the final of the BetVictor Gibraltar Open.

Stephen Hendry, Ding Junhui, Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan have all won five ranking events in a season, but Trump becomes the first to land six in a single campaign, having already lifted the trophy at the International Championship, World Open, Northern Ireland Open, German Masters and Players Championship.

Trump came into this weekend needing to win the title in Gibraltar to pip Neil Robertson to the £150,000 bonus available for the player earning the most money across the four events of the BetVictor European Series – and he did just that.

On a momentous night for snooker’s dominant player, Trump also collected the £50,000 first prize and the £5,000 high break bonus. When the £20,000 he is guaranteed at next week’s Tour Championship is added on, his prize money for the season will go past the £1 million mark. If he goes on to win next week’s event and the World Championship, he could take that total past £1.7 million.

The World Champion and runaway world number one now has 17 ranking titles to his name, bringing him level with Selby in seventh place on the all-time list. He has won his last nine ranking finals in a golden spell covering the past 16 months, and it seems likely that in the coming seasons the massively talented 30-year-old will go on to challenge the record of 36 ranking crowns held jointly by Hendry and O’Sullivan.

By making nine centuries over the weekend, the Bristolian accelerated his march towards yet another record as he has now compiled 97 tons this season, within range of Robertson’s record of 103 in a single campaign, set in 2013/14.

Wilson missed the chance to win a fourth ranking title and first since last season’s German Masters. Victory would also given him a place in the Tour Championship, but the £20,000 runner-up prize wasn’t enough to vault him into the top eight of the one-year rankings, so instead John Higgins will be heading to Llandudno to face Trump in the opening round on Wednesday.

In the first ranking final to be played behind closed doors,  Trump took the opening frame with a break of 125. World number eight Wilson responded with 115, then Trump fired a 144 total clearance, the highest break of the week. A superb long pot on the final yellow helped Wilson take frame four and leave the score at 2-2.

Kettering’s Wilson made a 43 clearance in the fifth to lead for the first time, only for Trump to hit back with 123, his third century of the match. In the decider, Trump led 52-0 when he missed the black off its spot. After a safety exchange, Wilson attempted a tough thin cut on a red to a baulk corner which would have set up a scoring chance, but failed to convert and his opponent added 63 to seal his record breaking victory.

“I missed the chance to go 3-1 up, then Kyren came back and led 3-2 so I had to recompose myself and go again,” said Trump after winning the Gibraltar event for the first time. “I made a good break to go 3-3 and that settled me down. I’m pleased with the way I handled myself under pressure.

“To win six ranking titles in a season, something which no one else has ever done, is an amazing achievement for me. It’s nice to beat these records when I have the chance, and to keep my run going of wins in ranking finals.

“I knew what I had to do when I came here, to win the £150,000 bonus, and I decided to come here and give it my all. I wasn’t thinking about that tonight until it got to 3-3. It was a lot of money at stake and that added a bit of pressure. But Kyren was also playing for his place at the Tour Championship so there was a lot at stake for both of us.”

Like him or not, there is no doubt that Judd is currently the best player in the world. He’s also matured a lot. Rarely now does he go for ridiculous reckless shots seemingly in total disrespect for his opponent abilities. Wether this was just expressing frustration or actually underestimating his opponent, we will probably never know. There was nothing like that yesterday evening, and to be fair to Judd there hasn’t been any of it for quite some time now. It was a good match, with both players giving it their best under pressure. And when it was all over they both gamely waved at the non-existent crowd durind a frankly awkward trophy ceremony.

I won’t lie though, I would have preferred to see Kyren lift this trophy. That would have got him in the Tour Championship, at the expense of John Higgins.

This is now the draw and format of the 2020 Tour Championship:

Here’s the draw and schedule for the 2020 Coral Tour Championship.

Judd Trump (1) v John Higgins (8): Wednesday March 18, 1pm and 7pm
Neil Robertson (4) v Ding Junhui (5): Tuesday March 17, 1pm and Wednesday March 18, 1pm
Mark Selby (3) v Yan Bingtao (6): Tuesday March 17, 7pm and Wednesday March 18, 7pm
Shaun Murphy (2) v Mark Allen (7): Tuesday March 17, 1pm and 7pm

Semi-final 2 (Selby / Yan v Murphy / Allen): Thursday March 19 at 1pm and 7pm

Semi-final 1 (Trump / Higgins v Robertson / Ding): Friday March 20 at 1pm and 7pm 

Final: Saturday March 21 at 7pm and Sunday March 22 at 1pm and 7pm

The tournament at Venue Cymru in Llandudno is going ahead as planned and runs from Tuesday to Sunday.

It’s the final event in the Coral Series, with only the top eight players in the one-year rankings in the field. Tickets are available here and the event will be televised by ITV4.

In the current situation it’s quite incredible that WST intends to go ahead with this event, and do that with an audience too. They wouldn’t continue to advertise tickets if they indended to play it behind closed doors,would they? This is IMO  totally irresponsible. Mind you, Ireland has now decided to close all pubs … if that doesn’t tell you that the situation is beyond serious, nothing will!

The situation with the epidemy is getting seriously worse by the day in the UK. It becomes increasingly unlikely – in my eyes at least – that they would go ahead with the World Championship qualifiers. This event, no matter the efforts put into keeping players, fitters and officials safe, would be involving a high number of persons all present in one closed place at the same time. It is also to be expected that a high number of players would withdraw, either because they are unable to travel to Sheffield, or because they don’t want to put themselves, and as a result those close to them, at risk. But I don’t trust Barry Hearn to put poeple’s health, well-being and even lives above big money.

 

2020 Gibraltar Open – Pro Stages Day 2

Monique Professional snooker tournament

This is the very report by WST about yesterday’s action in Gibraltar:

World Champion Judd Trump won three matches on Saturday to stay in the hunt for the £150,000 BetVictor European Series bonus, reaching the last 16 of the BetVictor Gibraltar Open.

The Ace in the Pack defeated amateur Lee Prickman and Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo, before a late night 4-1 win over world number 34 Martin O’Donnell.

Trump will face China’s Li Hang next, who defeated Mark Joyce 4-3 in the last 32. The remainder of the tournament from the last 16 onwards, will be played on Sunday with a top prize of £50,000 up for grabs.

The player who accumulates the most prize money over the four event series will secure the £150,000 bonus. World number one Trump, who won the BetVictor German Masters, needs to win the title to overtake BetVictor European Masters winner Neil Robertson in the standings.

Joe Perry’s hopes of qualifying for next week’s Coral Tour Championship were ended with a 4-3 defeat to Jimmy Robertson.

The Gentleman needed to win this week to have a chance of getting into the top eight on the one-year list and earning his place in the elite Llandudno event. Perry remains in 16thposition in the world rankings as things stand and is still in contention for automatic World Championship qualification.

Liang Wenbo beat compatriot Zhao Xintong 4-1. That earns him a last 16 tie against Ashley Hugill, who beat Shoot Out champion Michael Holt 4-1.

The report main focus is on Judd Trump, but the main talking point amongst the fans yesterday was about the fact that the tournament is now played behind closed doors, Gibraltar lockdown, its consequences and what it all means for the future.

Not only is the tournament played behind closed doors, but, with reduced staff, other than the television tables, the players were self-refereeing. There were all sorts of incidents yesterday, including Igor Figueiredo coming to the table with Elliott Slessor cue… Igor BTW played well  and ran Judd close. Judd, as it stands, will not face a single top player until maybe the final.

The lockdown also means that Judd Trump might struggle to find a flight to return to the UK in time to play in Llandudno on Tuesday. If the Tour Championship is played at all that is. Barry Hearn still insists things will go ahead as planned but that becomes increasingly unlikely by the day. As it stands, the Tour Championship is likely to happen, but behind closed doors, whilst the World Championship is in danger to be called off because, even behind closed doors, the qualifiers would involve a huge number of persons, with 128 players ans all the refs ans supporting staff.

Also, as it stands, and contrary to what the above WST report says, with the points from the 2018 China Open coming off, Perry has no chance to avoid the World qualifiers – providing they happen – and Yan Bingtao is almost certain to avoid the qualifiers, should the World Champonship go ahead. The only one who could overcome Yan now is Thepchaya Un-nooh, but he needs to win the title today to get into the Tour Championship in the first place.

One last thing: in the middle of this difficult situation, Eurosport made exceptional efforts in their commentary to improve their audience experience. The Neil Foulds-David Hendon tandem in the commentary box is quality!

 

 

2020 Gibraltar Open – Pro stages Day 1

Monique Professional snooker tournament

Here is WST report on what happened yesterday in Gibraltar:

Ben Woollaston produced a fine display to whitewash defending champion Stuart Bingham 4-0 and reach the last 16 the BetVictor Gibraltar Open.

Bingham, who won his maiden Masters title earlier this year at Alexandra Palace, was victorious 12 months ago in Gibraltar when he beat Ryan Day 4-1 in the final.

On this occasion world number 36 Woollaston, who had already defeated Rod Lawler 4-3 earlier in the day, proved to be too strong for the 2015 World Champion. The Leicester cueman fired in breaks of 79 and 74 on his way to this evening’s win, which saw him book a last 16 clash with Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un Nooh.

Former Shoot Out winner Un-Nooh took just 43 minutes to see off Harvey Chandler 4-0 this evening. He rounded off victory with breaks of 98 and 99 in the last two frames.

Welsh three-time World Champion Mark Williams booked his progression to Sunday’s concluding rounds with a 4-1 defeat of Martin Gould. Meanwhile, Mark Selby succumbed to a 4-1 loss against China’s Lyu Haotian.

Kyren Wilson produced one of the performances of the day to beat Luca Brecel 4-0. The Warrior rounded off victory with consecutive breaks of 76, 90 and 107. He faces Fergal O’Brien up next after the Irishman secured a 4-2 win over Chen Zifan.

The remainder of the early rounds will be played on Saturday, with the last 16 onwards taking place on Sunday. A top prize of £50,000 is up for grabs.

So Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson and Thepchaiya Un-nooh remain on course to possibly get past John Higgins and play in Llandudno … IF it happens.

Barry Hearn insists that events will go ahead as planned in the UK unless the government says otherwise.

As it stands, our intention is that our upcoming events will go ahead as planned. This includes next week’s Tour Championship in Llandudno, and the World Championship in Sheffield. However we must consider all scenarios and we will follow government advice. The health and safety of our fans, players and staff is of course our priority.

Now the very “light” stance of the UK government has been seriously criticized by most health authorities who claim that they are basically putting thousand of persons’ life at risk in order to prevent an econimical crash that will probably come anyway.

Meanwhile, in Gibraltar, the remaining part of the event is now played behind closed doors. Not even the players entourage is allowed in, and even more drastically, all tables except those on television are played without a referee, with players self-refereeing. Restaurants and bars are closed and airlines have been cancelling flights to and from Spain, meaning the some players might be stuck in Gibraltar for longer than expected.

This is WST statement about the situation:

Following advice from HM Government of Gibraltar, the BetVictor Gibraltar Open will be played behind closed doors this weekend, as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.

The tournament started on Friday and runs on Saturday and Sunday. Matches will continue as planned but without fans in the arena.

The above report doesn’t mention that Mark Selby failed to make it to the last 16, losing by 4-1 in the last 32 to Lyu Haotian. Luca Brecel and Scott Donaldson are also out.

Anthony Hamilton withdrew, despite being in Gibraltar, because of this:

HamiltonBrokenCue

He had this cue for 34 years and it’s a very hard blow ahead of the World Championship … if it happens. For the first time today, David Hendon admitted on twitter that he was  still hoping that the World Championship will got ahead but wasn’t optimistic about it,

Regarding Anthony Hamilton’s cue, fellow players, on social media, expressed their surprise at the extend of the damage, some even suggesting this couldn’t happen unless it was intentional. I can’t imagine who would want to damage Anthony Hamilton’s cue or why, but it is indeed bizarre.

 

 

Ronnie exhibition in Huddersfield

Monique Snooker exhibition

Ronnie was in Huddersfield yesterday for the second exhibition this week. As usual, feedback on social media has been excellent.

This is what Jason sent me yesterday after the exhibition:

131 and 103. We introduced safety measures so no meet and greet to protect people. Nice new club, ronnie was very impressed with young lad called Stanley. We are on shut down now but hopefully by the next exhibition on 16th April things will be better. Ronnie is very concerned about coronavirus and asks people to take it seriously and keep well

Yong Stanley lead Ronnie by 60 before Ronnie cleared with 61. Here is Stanley with Ronnie, and a view of the club …

 

Jason also shared this video

 

And this was shared by the club owner

Ronnie exhibition in Hull

Monique Snooker exhibition

TradewellHull12March2020

Ronnie was in Hull yesterday and, going by the reactions on twitter, it was another very enjoyable night. Ronnie had a 111 and a 131, but he lost a frame as well.

He was very impressed with the club and the facilities and expressed the wish to come back there in the future. There were no handshkes, nor kisses but plenty of fist pumps … and sanitizer.

Here are some images shared on social media by Jason and fans …

And two small videos, shared by Jason and found by Silvry!

 

Thank you Silvry!

Snooker news – March, 12, 2020

Monique Professional snooker tournament, Snooker ,

So, the 2020 Gibraltar Open starts tomorrow … with a rather depleted field. There were no late nights during the qualifying rounds. Indeed 45 of the 87  round 1 and round 2 matches were not played, because one of the players withdrew, or just didn’t show up. And there were three more in the third round.

Eventually though 10 amateurs emerged and will play in the pro stage: Dylan Craig, Alan Taylor, Andrew Pagett, Ameur Riad, Kristjan Helgason, Adam Ashley, Rory McLeod, Peter Devlin, Ashley Hugill and Sybren Sokolowski. It’s a pretty diverse line-up and most names are familiar.

I must confess that I had never heard about Ameur Riad before. He’s 37, from Morroco, a pool and snooker player, and was African Champion in 2016.

Most of you will likely wonder who Sybren Sokolowski might be. He’s Belgian, 18 years old, and a very capable player.

The pro stages start tomorrow, and there too, there are plenty of withdrawals: Fraser Patrick, David Gilbert, Jimmy White, Noppon Saengkham, Stephen Maguire, Neil Robertson, Mike Dunn, John Higgins, Mark Allen, Ali Carter and Graeme Dott … for now.

John Higgins withdrawal means that, despite withdrawing himself, Mark Allen is now certain to qualify for the 2020 Tour Championship, whilst John Higgins isn’t safe yet. There are four players currently not in the one year list top 8, who could still get there, but they all need to win the tournament to do so. They are Thepchaiya Un-nooh, Kyren Wilson, Joe Perry and Mark Williams.

It has been confirmed by Matt Huart on twitter that players will not be fined over withdrawals linked to the corona virus crisis.

Not everyone though withdrew because of the virus… Mike Dunn decided to stay with his family as his baby grandson, who was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, isn’t well. This is a life threatening condition and I really hope that the little one will get well soon. This is far more important than any match of snooker.

The venue in Gibraltar looks great. Shame that only a maximum of 100 viewers will be allowed. It will feel empty.

That said it could be worse, it could be no spectators at all, and what will happen in Llandudno next week, or in Sheffield, be it in the qualifiers or at the Crucible is still unclear.

WST has published the draw and format for the 2020 Challenge Tour Play-offs

The draw for the 2020 Challenge Tour Play-off is now available. The event will take place on Sunday March 29th at Pot Black in Clacton on Sea, with eight players battling it out for a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour.

Click here for the draw

Click here for the format

Finally, the qualifying event for the Seniors 2020 6-reds World Championship is also taking place over the week-end in Sheffield.  You can follow this event here. 

The main event is scheduled in Corelaine, Northern Ireland, early June. Hopefully it won’t be postponed.

The Seniors 2020 Irish Masters though, that was postponed already from early January to 27 and 28 March 2020, had to be postponed again and is now scheduled to be played on July 31 and August 1, 2020. The 2020 Pan American Championship in Toronto was postponed as well. 

The 2020 European Snooker Championships in Portugal are going ahead and currently being played. Aaron Hill won the under-18 competition. The under-21 competition is underway. You can follow the various competitions here.