Ryan Day won the 2021 Shoot Out yesterday night, beating Mark Selby in the final

Congratulations Ryan Day!

All detailed ressults are on snooker.org

Here is the report by WST:

Shoot Out Triumph Makes Ryan’s Day

Ryan Day won the BetVictor Shoot Out for the first time with a superb break of 67 to beat Mark Selby in the final.

Having slumped to 50th in the world rankings, former world number six Day admitted that he had feared falling out of the top 64 and losing his professional status. But he has rescued his career by winning his third ranking title and landing the £50,000 top prize.

A talented and fluent break-builder, Day’s game is ideally suited to this event’s shot clock, though he had never before been to the final. This time the 40-year-old Welshman won seven ten-minute matches, culminating in a fine win over Selby, who missed out on a 20th ranking title.

Leicester’s Selby saw a streak of ten consecutive wins in ranking event finals come to an end, a sequence which stretched back five years. The world number four also missed the chance to become the first player ranked inside the top 16 to win the Shoot Out.

Selby had two early chances in the final but could only build a 24 point lead. After a safety exchange, Day slotted a tricky red into a centre pocket, and then used the last five minutes of the contest to build a match-winning break.

His previous ranking titles came at the 2017 Riga Masters and 2018 Gibraltar Open. After losing in the final in Gibraltar in 2019, he suffered a loss of form and confidence so severe that he hadn’t gone beyond the last 32 of a ranking event in almost two years.

So this triumph comes as a welcome relief for the Pontycymmer cueman. And the spin-offs are considerable as he leaps into the top 16 of the one-year ranking list and is sure of a place in the Cazoo Players Championship later this month, and he may also earn a spot in the Champion of Champions later this year.

He is up to third place in the BetVictor European Series, while Selby’s £20,000 runner-up prize keeps him in second and moves him closer to leader Judd Trump. The leader of that ranking list after the next two events will bank a £150,000 bonus.

Day said: “I am just delighted to win. I got lucky in the last 16 because Zhou Yuelong should have beaten me, he was 25 points ahead with only a couple of minutes left and if he had played safe I would have been on my way home now, but he missed the blue and left me a chance.

“Those are the kind of things you need to go your way in this event. Mark was unlucky in the final to run out of position, and when I got my chance I held myself together. It’s not snooker as we know it – but it’s still a great win for me and I will take a lot from it.

“Hopefully this will be the start of better things for me. It takes the pressure off in terms of my ranking. It was in my mind that if I had a stinker of a finish to this season then I could have dropped out of the top 64. You never know what this game might bring.

“The money is handy because I bought a hot tub for my family last week and it was more expensive than I thought!”

Selby said: “I had a couple of early chances and if I had landed on a red when I went into the pack off the black I might have won. But then Ryan made a great break under pressure. Ten seconds a shot is too quick for me but that makes it more fun for the television audience because they can see players panic.

“I played in this event last year with a crowd and it was fantastic. I knew there was no crowd this time but I wanted to play in it because it’s part of the BetVictor European Series and I needed to close the gap on Judd.”

Most of the players involved seemed to regret the absence of crowd, but, personally, I thought that it was a far better event without it. I watched most of it, as in previous years I usually gave up after a couple of matches. Eurosport did a great job of it.

I’m really happy for Ryan who is a fantastic player to watch when on form, and a very lovely person as well. He continues the trend… no top 16 player has won the event so far!

Here are a few shortvideos shared by WST and Europsport on twitter:

Ryan narrowly beat Zhou in the QFs

Mark Williams admitted to feel knackered after his efforts… 

Ryan Day wins the event in style

The Hit Parade of flukes…

And Liang Wenbo was particularly aggrieved after he touched the pink with the extended rest after potting a ball… it probably cost him the match

The last 128 round of the Shoot Out concluded yesterday and here is the (only) report by WST:

Higgins Makes Winning Return

John Higgins has spent the past ten days isolating in his bedroom in Wishaw, but made a successful return to the baize by beating Scott Donaldson in the first round of the BetVictor Shoot Out.

Higgins tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the BildBet German Masters and headed home to Scotland, but his isolation period finished just in time for him to return to Milton Keynes and compete in the Shoot Out for the first time since 2016.

His battle with Donaldson was a cagey affair and Higgins trailed by four points with just 80 seconds on the clock, but then knocked in a long red and made a break of 14 to book his second round place. The four-time World Champion will face 2019 Shoot Out king Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the opening match on Saturday afternoon at 1pm.

“I’ve been in my room for the last ten days, with my wife and kids bringing me meals and cups of tea,” said Higgins. “I was looking forward to having a game of snooker even if it was just one frame. And it gave my mum something to watch on TV!”

Reanne Evans missed out on a second round spot

The most dramatic match of Friday evening was Liam Highfield’s last-gasp win over Rod Lawler. Highfield trailed 52-16 with just 78 seconds remaining, but potted the last three reds with colours then took yellow, green, brown, blue and pink for a fantastic 41 clearance to clinch a place in round two.

There are 14 amateurs among the 64 players remaining, including Ben Mertens, Sean Harvey, Kuldesh Johal, Hayden Pinhey and John Astley who all scored impressive wins in Friday’s second session.

Astley ended the hopes of 12-time World Women’s Champion Reanne Evans. Two breaks of 22 helped Astley to a 63-5 scoreline.

John Astley is hoping to get back on tour as soon as he can, but first he’s ready to grasp his opportunity in the Shoot Out

There was plenty more of drama… as these short videos shared by Eurosport UK on twitter will show you.

After Lei Peifan rushed shots, Ronnie assesses that there isn’t enough time for anybody to play their natural game.

Jimmy White won the first match of the day and Andy Goldstein teases him about a missesd blue.

Noppen Saengkham cool victorious clearence

Barry Pinches had to emulate Usain Bold but he got the win

Peter Devlin outs Jack Lisowski, then goes for an impromptu rap. Quite good I have to say.

Sheil Vahedi nearly pipped Nigel Bond… nearly.

Liam Highfield super quick winning break. He beat Rod and the clock.

Ben Mertens, 16 years okd, from Belgium “savvy” game earns him the win…

Mark Allen made his debut in the commentary box and was truly excellent.

Also, the draw was made for the last 64 round. That round is played to a completion today.

Friday 5 Feb 2021 09:50PM

The draw for the last 64 of the BetVictor Shoot Out has been made – click here to watch the random draw.

The second round runs throughout Saturday with sessions from 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm. For the match schedule click here.

Some interesting clashes there:

• Theppy v John Higgins
• Rob Milkins v Ben Mertens – both quick-fire players
• Hossein Vafaei v Mark Williams
• Eden Sharav v Liang Wenbo – a very conservative, some time overthinking player v pure instinct
• Michael White v Rory McLeod – Lightning v Slow burn
• Matthew Stevens v Michael Holt
• Zhou Yuelong v Barry Hawkins

Let’s the madness commence…

There has been madness indeed, but not the usual one.

There have been no less than 21 withdrawal so far. That must be a record and we might have more today if some players test positive for covid-19 or have been in conctact with someone who does. You can seen the full list of withdrawals, the replacements for them, and the results so far on snooker.org.

Despite the absence of a crowd, the day was not short of drama… including, players being caught because they didnt know or remember the variant rules

On thing that is not on that “summary” is the fact that failing to hit a cushion, or a “time” fault results in a 5 points penalty.

Let’s start with WST reports.

Afternoon session:

Allen Makes Record Shoot Out Break

Mark Allen beat Jimmy Robertson in the first round of the BetVictor Shoot Out with a 142 total clearance, the highest break made in the ten-year history of the event.

The Pistol’s tremendous break eclipsed the previous record of 139 set by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in 2019. Allen goes through to the last 64 of the world ranking event in Milton Keynes.

There was no shortage of drama in the first session of the tournament which has a unique set of rules; all matches lasting a maximum of ten minutes.

Sam Craigie led amateur Phil O’Kane 38-33 with just a few seconds on the clock. Thinking victory was secure, Craigie carelessly tapped the cue ball at a red, but neither ball hit a cushion, which meant his opponent was awarded five penalty points, leaving them tied at 38-38. That meant a sudden death blue ball shoot, and a relieved Craigie came out on top.

Matthew Stevens provided another thrilling finish with a last gasp win over amateur Fergal Quinn. With less than 30 seconds remaining, Quinn led 53-37 when he missed a long pot on the final blue. Stevens was left with a tricky blue to a baulk corner and slotted it home before adding pink and black to book his second round place.

Defending champion Michael Holt got off to a strong start by beating Jamie Jones with a break of 87. That was Holt’s 14th win in his last 15 matches in this event.

Rebecca Kenna, one of two female players in the draw, was beaten by Germany’s Simon Lichtenberg. Kenna was unlucky at a crucial moment in the match as the ‘beeps’ which count down on the shot clock could not be heard in the arena and she committed a time foul.

A WST statement explained: “The players both agreed that they did not hear the ‘beeps’ in this incident, so it would appear that there was a temporary fault in the sound effects in the arena. The lights in the arena were working so the players still had a warning when the time was ticking out. The referee is able to hear the ‘beeps’ in his ear piece. He made the correct decision that there was a time foul. It is an unfortunate incident for the players but the rules were followed.”

here is Rebecca Kenna after her match:

Rebecca was a good spots in her interview, but she was really aggrieved, and it showed on her social media. Given that there was clearly a malfunction, and that this was her first ever appearance in a ranking event on television, she could have been offered another chance? Maybe being top resserve in case someone tests positive today?

Despite the win, and the high break record, Mark Allen is not a fan of the format:

…

Asked if it’s an event that could kickstart a season, Allen said: “It would be a completely false kickstart as this is not snooker.

I’VE NOT BEEN A FAN OF THE EVENT SINCE THEY CHANGED IT TO A RANKING EVENT. I THINK THERE ARE A LOT MORE IMPORTANT TOURNAMENTS IN THE YEAR AND THEY HAVE TAKEN AWAY A BIT OF FUN OF THE EVENT, AND WITH NO CROWDS THIS YEAR IT IS EVEN LESS FUN.

“But I won’t enter an event without trying to win so I am here to win.”

…

Here are some short videos that were shared on twitter by WST and Eurosport:

David Grace’s outrageous fluke

Matthew Stevens’ last minute steal

Sam Craigie and Phil O’Kane blue ball shoot out

Evening session:

Selby, Murphy And Williams Through

Big guns Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams all survived the first round of the BetVictor Shoot Out on Friday evening.

They are through to the last 64 of the one-frame knockout world ranking event in Milton Keynes. The event concludes on Sunday when the winner will bank £50,000.

A deep run in this event would be handy for Murphy as he currently lies 19th on the one-year ranking list, with only the top 16 after the next event – the  BetVictor Welsh Open – to qualify for the Cazoo Players Championship. He saw off Luca Brecel thanks to breaks of 32 and 29.

Selby has never been beyond the last 16 of this event

Selby got the better of a cagey frame against Billy Castle by a 41-31 scoreline. Williams might have lost if his opponent Paul Davies had not missed a tricky red to a top corner late in the frame, but in the end it was the three-time World Champion who won 58-37 to get his name into the hat for round two.

Ian Martin, a 38-year-old businessman from Bury, was one of five amateurs to win on day one, as he beat Robbie McGuigan 59-16. The other amateurs to score victories were Michael White, Leo Fernandez, Declan Lavery and promising English 18-year-old Connor Benzey, who beat Stuart Carrington 43-0.

“I’m over the moon, it makes all the practice worthwhile,” said Benzey. “My safety was really good which is something I have been working on. It was my first time in front of the TV cameras and I felt great, I really enjoyed it. I’ll be going for Q School later this year and trying everything I can to get on tour.”

Fightback of the day came from Martin O’Donnell as he recovered a 34-0 deficit to beat Ben Woollaston with an excellent break of 41 – albeit helped by a fluked red on 17.

Rory McLeod saw off former World Champion Stuart Bingham, while Robert Milkins made a rapid break of 73 to beat Anthony Hamilton.

I quite enjoyed the Eurosport app add-free broadcasting, with Ronnie, Jimmy and Andy in the studio, Rachel interviewing the winners between frame. I definitely prefer this event without the so often rude crowd.

Ronnie might be critical of fellow players at times, but he’s also the first one who will defend them when they make the odd mistake and he did on several occasions yesterday. Just like Mark Allen, as a player and a snooker purist, he doesn’t like to play in this format, but admitted that he enjoys watching it.

The event starts in about 1h 1/2 and more p:layers withdrew and were replaced:

Ian Martin replaced Kyren Wilson, Simon Blackwell replaced Kurt Maflin, Mertens replaced Kacper Filipiak and Ben Fortey replced Gao Yan … for now.

Now… Lewis, do you know why so many Chinese players withdrew?

Here is WST annoucement:

Wednesday 3 Feb 2021 11:40AM

Five more players have withdrawn from this event, and they have been replaced with a straight swap in the draw with the next available players on the Q School 2020 Order of Merit, as follows:

Chen Zifan replaced by Haydon Pinhey (M41)
Si Jiahui replaced by John Astley (M8)
Zhao Xintong replaced by Hamim Hussain (M50)
Chang Bingyu replaced by Alex Clenshaw (M57)
Ashley Hugill replaced by Phil O’Kane (M53)

Click here for the draw as of February 3rd

Click here for the format

It’s going well …

The 2021 Shoot Out will start tomorrow, and I don’t know what to expect … it will be weird without a crowd for sure. Michael Holt is the defending champion. No player has defended the title since the tournament started in 2011.

None of the top 3 – Judd Trump, Ronnie and Neil Robertson – have entered.

There have been a few withdrawals, and WST has updated the draw and format

Monday 1 Feb 2021 05:50PM

Four players have withdrawn from the BetVictor Shoot Out and have been replaced with a straight swap in the draw with the next players on the Q School 2020 Order of Merit, as follows:

Graeme Dott replaced by Jamie Curtis-Barrett (M6)
Alex Borg replaced by Kuldesh Johal (M63)
Igor Figueiredo replaced by Oliver Brown (M25)
Amine Amiri replaced by Daniel Womersley (M36)

Click here for the updated draw

Click here for the format

Looking at who has withdrawn, my guess is that for most it might be related to travel restrictions.

Junior and female players have been nominated to get a spot in the event:

Eight Nominated for BetVictor Shoot Out

The field for this week’s BetVictor Snooker Shoot Out will once again include eight WPBSA nominations aimed at promoting the development of junior snooker and women’s snooker at the highest level.

Set to run from 4-7 February at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, the unique ranking event tournament will see 128 players battle it out for the £50,000 top prize and a place at next season’s Champion of Champions.

Robbie McGuigan

For a third successive year, eight amateur players have been nominated by the WPBSA to promote grassroots snooker and sport development. All players have been selected from the Home Nations to minimise travel during the ongoing pandemic.

Among those included are England’s Reanne Evans and Rebecca Kenna who both compete on the World Women’s Snooker Tour. Record 12-time champion Evans will make her third appearance in the competition as she takes on China’s Si Jiahui, while world number four Kenna will face Germany’s Simon Lichtenberg.

They will be joined by promising juniors Connor Benzey (England), Dean Young (Scotland), Dylan Emery (Wales), Robbie McGuigan (Northern Ireland) and Fergal Quinn (Northern Ireland). Both Young and McGuigan will be making their second appearances in the event – Young having reached the last 32 last year – while Benzey won his first match in a professional event at this season’s English Open.

Emery was a semi-finalist at last season’s WSF Open in Malta, while Quinn is the current Northern Ireland Under-21 champion.

Competing the line-up will be Northern Ireland’s Declan Lavery after the reigning national champion missed out on competing at this season’s Northern Ireland Open following a positive COVID-19 test in Milton Keynes.

The BetVictor Shoot Out runs from February 4 to 7 in Milton Keynes. Top stars in the field include John Higgins, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy and defending champion Michael Holt.

The popular tournament, which was first staged in 2011, has a unique set of rules, with matches lasting a maximum of ten minutes and a shot clock of 15 seconds for the first five minutes and ten seconds for the last five.

Whilst Reanne Evans is very well known by the fans, this isn’t the case for Bex Kenna. WST has gone and interviewed her:

Kenna Ready To Grasp Shoot Out Chance

As a leading player on the World Women’s Tour, a qualified coach and owner of a cue sports shop, it’s fair to say that Rebecca Kenna has a deep love of snooker.

“If I’m not playing or coaching or working in the shop, then I’m watching snooker,” she smiles. “As a child, I often went with my dad to pubs and clubs and played pool and snooker, so if has been there throughout my life. I really enjoy watching and studying the game and the technical side, trying to improve and help others to learn.”

This week’s BetVictor Shoot Out will be a landmark moment for Kenna when she plays in a professional tournament for the first time. The 32-year-old from Yorkshire will face Germany’s Simon Lichtenberg in the first round on the opening day of the world ranking event on Thursday.

She will be one of two women in the 128-player field, alongside Reanne Evans. “It’s great that we get places in these televised events because we need as much publicity as we can get,” said Kenna. “If it helps more girls to get involved in snooker then that’s exactly what we need.”

It won’t be Kenna’s television debut because she played in the 2019 Women’s Tour Championship at the Crucible, broadcast by Freesports. But it’s her first time in the global spotlight as the BetVictor Shoot Out will be beamed to an audience of hundreds of millions across the planet. Each match lasts only ten minutes, but Kenna has spent many hours in preparation.

In action alongside Reanne Evans at the 2019 World Cup

“In more normal times I only practise for one or two hours a day,” she said. “But as my shop is currently closed I have a lot more time, so it’s more like three to four hours. I’ve also been watching a lot of Shoot Out videos on YouTube, just to get a feel for it.

“It will be different this year without a crowd, but maybe that will mean a bit less pressure as I have not played in it before. I’m just really looking forward to the whole experience.”

Kenna first played on the World Women’s Tour in 2016 and made an immediate impact, reaching the semi-finals of the World Championship before losing to Ng On Yee. She has since reached three ranking finals and climbed to fourth in the women’s world rankings.

“It was only when I started competing on the women’s tour in my late 20s that I realised I was pretty good,” she admits. “Up until then I had never had any coaching or even tried any practice drills. Over the last few years I have learned a lot and improved my game. I watch so much snooker because I feel I can learn so much just by studying the top players like Judd Trump and Neil Robertson.”

The BetVictor Shoot Out runs from February 4 to 7 in Milton Keynes. Top stars in the field include John Higgins, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy and defending champion Michael Holt.

The popular tournament, which was first staged in 2011, has a unique set of rules, with matches lasting a maximum of ten minutes and a shot clock of 15 seconds for the first five minutes and ten seconds for the last five.

It’s a bit strange that neither World numbers 4 and 5 , Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson, the two highest-ranked players in the draw, are listed as a “top star” … nor is Yan Bingtao who stole all the headlines by winning the 2021 Masters only a couple of weeks ago.

It’s only one frame, with a tight shot-clock and variant rules, so anything can happen, but here is my selection of potentially entertaining matches

M7 – Jack Lisowski v Peter Devlin
M17 – Pang Junxu v Jamie Clarke
M21 – Luo Honghao v Alex Ursenbacher
M22 – Luca Brecel v Shaun Murphy
M33 – Martin Gould v Kurt Maflin
M39 – Yuan Sijun v Tom Ford
M43 – Jamie Jones v Michael Holt
M45 – Mark Allen v Jimmy Robertson
M49 – Allan Taylor v Jackson Page
M52 – Sunny Akani v Dominic Dale