Mark Selby won a crucial final game with Matthew Selt 2-1 to earn his place in the second phase of the WST Pro Series in Milton Keynes.
The pair came into the last match knowing that the winner would be assured of progression. Selt knew defeat would definitely end his hopes of a top two place.
They were locked level at 1-1, after a century run of 142 from Selby followed by a contribution of 75 by Selt. The deciding frame lasted 30 minutes, but eventually three-time World Champion Selby emphatically clinched it with a break of 83, ensuring he topped the group.
Selby won six from seven matches throughout the day, scoring victories against Daniel Womersley, Lukas Kleckers, Eden Sharav, Stuart Carrington and Joe O’Connor, as well as his defeat of Selt. His only loss came 2-0 at the hands of Iranian Soheil Vahedi, who was pipped to second place.
Vahedi faced Carrington in the final match where, following Selby’s win, the victor was set to seal second spot. It was Carrington who held his nerve to secure a 2-0 win and progress to the second phase. Today’s success continues a fine run of form for world number 51 Carrington, who reached the semi-finals at the recent Gibraltar Open.
Selby said: “Best of three is cut-throat, anybody can go through. To finish top of the group is pleasing. More pleasing that I felt like I played well today. I scored ok when I got my chances, I had a couple of 140 breaks. That was the main thing for me, to find a bit of form.
“It’s a crazy format, because I went into that last game having won five out of six and I still might not have ended up in the top two. It’s tough, but it is what it is. It’s the same for everyone and it is nice to get through to the next group.”
It was indeed a tight group with every player winning at least two matches. Lukas Kleckers managed to beat Mark Selby, but lost several other close matches. Soheil Vahedi played well and I would have loved to see him progress to phase 2. Soheil did something very brave yeterday, although it went largely under the radar: he played Eden Sharav.
In the past, both Hossein Vafaei and him have withdrawn when due to play Eden, who was raised in Scotland, but has Isreali roots and opted to play for Israēl. Iranian sportspersons are not allowed to compete against Israëli athletes, and face serious punishment in their country if they do. I hope there will be no consequences for Soheil and his family. He is a lovely man who hasn’t had it easy. What he did is remarkable enough to have made it to the Israëli press: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/snooker-players-from-israel-and-iran-compete-at-wst-pro-series-662018
World number 13 Mark Williams won six out of seven matches to top Group P and secure progression to the second phase of the WST Pro Series in Milton Keynes.
The Welshman produced quickfire snooker throughout the day, averaging as little as 15.1 seconds per shot in one of his wins and no more than 17.6 seconds in any of his encounters. Williams fired in century breaks of 108 and 102 on his way to progression.
The three-time Crucible king will now return for the second phase, where he will hope to continue to build his form ahead of next month’s Betfred World Championship. Despite failing to qualify for the upcoming Cazoo Tour Championship, Williams showed glimpses of his best form in reaching the semi-finals of the recent BetVictor Welsh Open.
Williams scored 2-0 wins over Oliver Brown, Florian Nuessle, Gao Yang, Robbie Williams, Nigel Bond and Alex Clenshaw. His only dropped frames came in a 2-0 defeat to Robert Milkins. It’s Milkins who joins Williams in the second phase, having won six of his seven matches.
“I thought I played alright all of the way through. I was lucky in a couple of frames. I was lucky to beat Florian, I got a snooker and won the first frame on the black and then won the next on the pink. It wasn’t as easy as it looked, but I’m just happy to be in the next group,” said 45-year-old Williams. “My aim was just to get to the Crucible without going to the qualifiers. I think I’ve done that now so I’m just looking forward to it and will enjoy it.”
Mark Williams was impressed by Gao Yang, and praised Yan Bingtao, citing him as an example for all young players
Florian Nüβle played some good stuff but struggled to “finish” frames.
Nigel Bond finishing third is quite remarkable. He scored well. That’s not always been the case in recent times although his will to win and tactical nous were never in doubt.
PILOT EVENTS TO KICK OFF PLAN FOR SUMMER RETURN OF LARGER AUDIENCES AT SPORT, THEATRES AND GIGS
Major events including the Betfred World Snooker Championship and the FA Cup final at Wembley are being lined up as pilots for events hosting audiences to help pave the way for big crowds to return this summer.
The Government will work with event organisers and local authorities to get fans safely in to around a dozen events this Spring as part of its science-led Events Research Programme (ERP).
The ERP will be used to provide key scientific data into how small and large-scale events could be permitted to safely reopen in line with the Prime Minister’s Roadmap out of lockdown as part of Step 4, commencing no earlier than June 21.
This review will be crucial to how venues – from major sport stadiums to comedy clubs, theatres to live music spaces, wedding venues to conference centres – could operate this summer.
It will be key to allowing the British public to get back safely in large numbers to doing some of the things they love.
Settings will include small indoor venues that have a capacity of circa 200 people, where a gig or comedy night would take place, to large outdoor venues such as Wembley stadium.
Decisions on the number of spectators allowed into the pilot events are yet to be taken and will be subject to discussions with event organisers and local authorities.
As well as London and Sheffield, Liverpool will be part of the pilot programme with test events being lined up to happen at a nightclub, comedy club and business events venue.
Venues participating in the programme will test specific settings to collect evidence and best practice. At the Betfred World Championship, Sheffield’s world famous Crucible will test a theatre setting, for example.
The evidence will then be shared across the event economy so that venues can prepare to accommodate fuller audiences.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “These test events will be crucial in finding ways to get fans and audiences back in safely without social distancing.
“We will be guided by the science and medical experts, but will work flat out to make that happen. We want to get the people back to enjoying what they love and ensure some of our most important growth industries get back on their feet.
“These are important steps towards the safe and special summer we all crave and that I’m fully focused on delivering.”
Claire McColgan MBE, Director of Culture and Tourism in Liverpool said: “Liverpool is an event city. They are a critical part of our economy, culture and community and so we are delighted to be working with partners across Government, our colleagues at University of Liverpool and a number of local venues and promoters to plan this series of pilot events.
“Our experience as the pilot city for mass testing means we have the knowledge and infrastructure in place to deliver complicated projects safely, and we really hope we can help provide the evidence needed to ensure the wider sector is able to open across the country in the coming months.”
Measures For Fans
To build up the evidence base, a number of pilots will include spectators and fans not socially distanced under carefully controlled medical supervision.
The pilots will also test a range of non-pharmaceutical mitigating interventions during non-socially distanced events such as layout of the venue, face coverings and ventilation.
The study of each event will be overseen by a team of researchers who will be closely monitoring audience movements and interactions.
Attendees will be required to have a negative test ahead of the event and they will also be tested afterwards to ensure any transmission of the virus is properly monitored.
They will have to adhere to an agreed code of behaviour at the point of ticket purchase. This will include following existing Government guidance on the use of face coverings and adhering to event specific rules.
Attendees will not be permitted if they have symptoms of Covid-19. They will also have to provide contact details of everyone in their group for NHS Test and Trace.
The events research programme will include looking at risk factors in indoor and outdoor settings; small and large venues; seated and standing events and different forms of audience participation.
Transport to and from events; duration of events and catering and alcohol will also be factors that are looked at.
The Events Research Programme will have two co-advisers reporting to the Culture Secretary and Prime Minister – Theatre director Sir Nicholas Hytner and businessman David Ross.
Ross was the chair of the government’s Sport, Tech and Innovation group, that provided guidance on sports reopening last year.
Their role will be to focus on the measures that need to be taken to ensure the safe return of fuller audiences to revive large sporting and cultural events to closed smaller settings such as gigs and club nights.
The ERP will produce a report to Ministers by the end of May to help inform government decisions on step four of the roadmap. It will also feed into the Government’s COVID certification review, announced in the roadmap.
We Will Rise To The Challenge
WST Chairman Barry Hearn OBE said: “We are thrilled to once again be selected as a crucial participant in the UK Government’s progress towards leading us out of the coronavirus pandemic and back on the road to normal life.
“This research programme will provide evidence required to show that people can get back to doing some of the leisure activities they love, such as visiting theatres, indoor concerts and sporting events.
“It is yet another challenge for us, but so far over the past year we have risen to every challenge and met it successfully. We have proved again and again that we can stage events where the safety of the players, officials and fans is paramount. The Betfred World Championship will be no different and we look forward to working day and night over the next few weeks, alongside our Government advisors, to ensure that all necessary measures are in place.
“This is fabulous news for the players, who have really missed the buzz of playing in front of a crowd. The atmosphere on the first morning at the Crucible will be better than ever. And for those lucky few who have a golden ticket it will an amazing experience.
“Snooker continues to lead the way in the sporting world as we fight back against difficult times.”
Reading this, I have NOT changed my opinion, expressed yesterday, about a pilot at the Crucible. This should NOT go on, not at the Crucible anyway.
I have put two sentences in blue.
“We will be guided by the science and medical experts” is a mantra we have been hearing from members of the UK government since the start fo the Covid crisis, a government that has actually handled this crisis extremely inadequately, sending mixed messages, promoting daft experiments like the “eat out to help out”, failing the care homes, failing their health system … ok, I’ll stop the list here, but you get the idea. If the “experiment” causes a disaster this will be the excuse, and it has been used before: “We followed by the science and medical experts advice”.
Attendees will not be permitted if they have symptoms of Covid-19. Unless a person is blatantly unwell how will they enforce that? They will have to trust the people, and, of course, most will probably act responsibly, but a few definitely will not. There will always be people who will think “Sod it! I paid for my ticket, I’ll go anyway”.
Now looking at the wording, my understanding is that nothing is actually decided.
Also the wording “are being lined up” suggests to that no actual decision has been made yet about which events will be pilots, although WST has said on social media that there WILL be fans at the Crucible but the number of them is still to be decided, and the underlined words in “a number of pilots will include spectators and fans not socially distanced under carefully controlled medical supervision.” suggest that not all pilots will work without social distancing.
I think it’s too early. In a few months most people will be vaccinated. Why take that risk now? Especially at indoor venues. I’m missing going out as much as everyone, but health is important to me, mine and others’ health. I have a friend, in her early 50th who had long covid in march 2020 and is still not fully recovered. One of my daughter’s close friends had the disease, without severe symptoms, but is now suffering from heart damage in the aftermath of it, and that’s for the rest of her life. She’s in her 30th. That won’t heal and there are many activities she can’t do anymore. It’s not just about those who die, it’s also how the quality of life is wrecked for a significant number of survivors.
I wrote this before but will write it again: economy can be rebuilt – it has been after every war, after every disaster – but dead people can’t be revived, and many whose health has been wrecked will suffer for the rest of their lives.
So, please, don’t rush things in the name of the “economy”. Start with the much safer outdoor things. Allow cafés and restaurants to re-open on terraces and gardens, with reasonably spaced tables. Support outdoors performances and giggs with limited “spaced” audience, in parks and streets. Allow/facilitate access to outdoors playgrounds and sports facilities…
Also monitoring alcohol consumption is mentioned above and I believe this is absolutely crucial. I’m not in favour of a total ban of alcoholic drinks – there is nothing wrong with a good glass of wine , or two, whilst enjoying a meal – but drunk people are notoriously unable to act responsibly. They only too frequently endanger themselves and others, and that’s true independently of the covid situation.
WST has announced the schedule for phase two of the event:
WST Pro Series Second Phase Schedule
Following Thursday’s draw for the second phase of the WST Pro Series in Milton Keynes, we can now announce the order in which the four groups will be played.
Group 1 – Wednesday March 17th Winner of Group I Martin O’Donnell Winner of Group P Ali Carter Louis Heathcote Runner-up of Group I James Cahill Sunny Akani
Group 2 – Thursday March 18th Zhao Xintong Shaun Murphy Kyren Wilson Ben Woollaston Xiao Guodong Runner-up of Group P Runner-up of Group E Lu Ning
Group 3 – Friday March 19th Barry Hawkins Joe Perry Luo Honghao Jack Lisowski Fergal O’Brien Sam Craigie Mark Davis Luca Brecel
Group 4 – Saturday March 20th Stuart Bingham Winner of Group O Oliver Lines Winner of Group E Zhou Yuelong Runner-up of Group O Dominic Dale Ricky Walden
The detailed match schedule will be announced shortly, with play to start at 10am each day. Once again it will be a round-robin format, with all matches best-of-three frames. The top two in each group will qualify for the final winners’ group, to be played on March 21, when the champion will be crowned.
WST intend to have at least two reserve players on site who will replace any players who withdraw for any reason. The selection of the reserve players will be based on their performance in Phase One, using the following criteria:
1) Most points won in the group stage 2) Most frames won in the group stage 3) Highest break in the group stages
Replacements who make it into the event will be eligible for prize money and ranking points.
This means that, should Ronnie come through his Group on Monday next week, he would be due to play again on the Wednesday.
Barry Hawkins and Ricky Walden emerged from Group D yesterday. Barry always seems to come to live at this time of the season and save his for the Crucible. Personally, I’m happy to see Ricky Walden playing well again. He’s still far from his best, but at least he’s able to compete. He’s very good to watch when on form. He’s also a lovely guy … but you better leave him alone when he’s just lost. To say that he hates losing is an understatement!
Barry Hawkins continued his recent return to form by finishing top of Group D at the WST Pro Series.
Hawkins edged top spot by beating runner-up Ricky Walden 2-1 in the final round of matches and both players go through to the second phase in Milton Keynes.
Both players won their first five matches in the group, which meant that qualification was sewn up with two rounds of matches still to be played. Hawkins then lost to Jimmy Robertson, before beating Walden with breaks of 81 and 90 to top the group.
In recent weeks, world number 14 Hawkins has reached the semi-finals of both the BetVictor German Masters and the Cazoo Players Championship. Those results have put him on track to qualify for the Cazoo Tour Championship later this month and today’s performance further strengthens his position in eighth place on the one-year ranking list – though he can still be overtaken by Zhou Yuelong.
“I have been practising hard, and winning matches builds confidence,” said three-time ranking event winner Hawkins. “And lockdown helped because it stopped me going to the pub!
“The Tour Championship would be a brilliant tournament to be involved in, especially as I have never been close to getting into it before. It’s a chance to compete against the top players.
“I have managed to guarantee my place at the Crucible as well so I can look forward to that. I hope there will be crowds there because it’s a much better place to play with fans.”
In the last match of the day to finish, Paul Davison missed the pink on 134 when set for what would have been the first 147 of his career. Remarkably it was the second day in a row that a 49-year-old had missed the pink when two balls away from becoming the oldest player ever to make an official maximum, as Fergal O’Brien did exactly the same on Thursday. Davison won the match against Gerard Greene 2-1, but that was little consolation as he still finished bottom of the group.
It would have been nice for “Snowy” to finish a rather miserable day on a high but it wasn’t to be.
FA Cup final and World Snooker Championship among events to be used to test return of spectators
Pa Reporter
The FA Cup final and the World Snooker Championship will be among a group of sporting and cultural events used as pilots to test the large-scale return of spectators to venues.
The Government announced plans for a pilot programme to get under way in April when it set out its road map in February for the easing of coronavirus restrictions, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has now provided more detail, saying there will be ‘around a dozen’ events serving as tests in total.
The FA Cup final on May 15 is the most high-profile of the events announced by DCMS.
The FA Cup final at Wembley will be among a group of events to test the return of spectators
Decisions on capacity for any of the events have not yet been taken, but it is reasonable to expect that for the FA Cup final the intention would be to go considerably beyond the 10,000 limit for larger outdoor seated venues set to come into force at step three of the road map on May 17.
The pilots form part of the Events Research Programme (ERP) and will inform Government decisions on step four of the road map, which will begin no earlier than June 21 when it is hoped spectators will be able to get back safely and in large numbers. The idea is to test a range of sporting and cultural venues, from Wembley on one hand to a 200-capacity comedy club on the other.
With such a range of venues to test within the ERP and the limited number of events proposed by DCMS, it leaves open the question of whether the EFL or the Premier League will be involved in the pilots.
The World Snooker Championship will also be used as a test pilot event for the return of fans
The EFL is understood to remain keen to participate, with the Carabao Cup final between Manchester City and Tottenham – also to be played at Wembley on April 25 – considered its ideal event to test.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: ‘These test events will be crucial in finding ways to get fans and audiences back in safely without social distancing.
‘We will be guided by the science and medical experts, but will work flat out to make that happen. We want to get the people back to enjoying what they love and ensure some of our most important growth industries get back on their feet.
‘These are important steps towards the safe and special summer we all crave and that I’m fully focused on delivering.’
The events will test a range of ‘non-pharmaceutical’ methods to allow the safe return of fans without social distancing – including venue layout, face coverings and ventilation.
Researchers will monitor spectators’ movements and interactions while the event is ongoing, DCMS said.
Football fans could make their return to stadiums in major cup finals at the end of the season
Rapid testing will also be key to the events. Testing before and after the event will be mandatory, but it is not confirmed yet how close to the event a negative test would need to be provided to allow entry.
David Ross, the founder of Carphone Warehouse and the chair of the Sports Technology and Innovation Group (STIG) which oversaw pilot events last year, will be one of the co-advisers on the ERP.
A report from the ERP will go to Government for consideration before the end of May, DCMS said.
Although this is mainly about football I hve highlighted a few key elements.
So this is about allowing rather large crowds without social distancing.Testing will be required, wich is good provided that the test is no older that 48 hours, otherwise it’s meaningless. Also nothing is said about people coming to the venue, every day, for a long period. This is often the case at he Crucible, where tou see the same people there for a full week or even the 17 days. At the very minimum, they should be re-tested if they attend for more than a week.
Now venue layout and ventilation are cited as key elements. How on earth is the Crucuble being considered? It’s a cramped venue, with seats very close to each other, It’s an indoor venue, relying on aircon for its ventilation and everyone who has been there will know that it’s anything but great.
I’m afraid that the part in blue is the main factor in this decision and people’s health and lives come way behind in the decision makers agenda.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has today announced the 16 amateur qualifiers who will be offered the chance to compete at next month’s Betfred World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
To be held at the English Institute of Sport from 5-14 April 2021, the qualifying rounds for this year’s World Championship will be contested by a field of 128 players, including up to 112 main tour players not ranked inside of the world’s top 16 following the Cazoo Tour Championship.
They will be joined by 16 elite amateur players selected by the WPBSA, based on their performances at recognised international competitions held this season. Where tournaments have not been held due to coronavirus restrictions, results from the previous year’s tournaments have been considered.
As in 2020, player availability and international travel restrictions have played a significant part in the qualification criteria, in addition to providing opportunities for aspiring junior players to gain experience at the very highest level.
Full WPBSA Qualifiers list (in alphabetical order):
Connor Benzey (Eng)
Dylan Emery (Wal)
Reanne Evans (Eng)
Ivan Kakovskii (Rus)
Rebecca Kenna (Eng)
Antoni Kowalski (Pol)
Mark Lloyd (Eng)
Robbie McGuigan (Nir)
Ben Mertens (Bel)
Ross Muir (Sco)
Florian Nuessle (Aut)
Brian Ochoiski (Fra)
Fergal Quinn (Nir)
Hayden Staniland (Eng)
Wu Yize (Chn)
Dean Young (Sco)
All players selected will appear subject to acceptance of their place and any travel restrictions in place. Any replacement players will be selected from a reserve list to include performances at World Snooker Federation and recognised regional events. Robbie McGuigan has already been included from this list in place of Omar Alajiani of Saudi Arabia.
Any current professional players who do not enter the tournament will be replaced from the 2020 Q School Order of Merit.
All ten days will be covered on the Eurosport App, with commentary throughout Europe, plus our partners in the People’s Republic of China – Youku, Zhibo.tv, Migu, Kuaishou and Huya – and Matchroom.Live throughout the rest of the world.
The draw and format will be announced after the Cazoo Tour Championship which finishes on March 28th.
I suppose that, given that Steve Misfud hasn’t played at all in nearly two years, he will not enter this one either, which means the Michael White should be in the draw.
I’m happy to see Ross Muir in that list and I hope that his health issues are a thing in the past. It’s always very sad to see a player forced out of the game by health issues, but even more so when they are as young as Ross is.
A bit surprised to see Wu Yize in the list. Not that he doesn;t deserve it, but will he be able to travel? Or, maybe, he is in the UK already? Lewis?
Mark Selby won a crucial final game with Matthew Selt 2-1 to earn his place in the second phase of the WST Pro Series in Milton Keynes.
World number 13 Mark Williams won six out of seven matches to top Group P and secure progression to the second phase of the WST Pro Series in Milton Keynes.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 