This is WST report on day 5 at the 2021 Summer CLS:
Ford Progresses To Stage Two
Tom Ford won a nervy final group match against Simon Lichtenberg to top Group 3 of BetVictor Championship League Snooker, while Bai Langning advanced from Group 10 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
Ford was far from pleased with his performance, but found a way to get through the group despite dropping points against Simon Blackwell and Reanne Evans, who was returning to the tour but finished bottom of the group despite drawing with Ford and Lichtenberg.
Germany’s Lichtenberg had beaten Blackwell after his draw with Evans, meaning a draw with Ford would be enough to advance, while the Leicester man had to win to top the group.
The first two frames were shared before Lichtenberg missed the penultimate red in the third and Ford cleared up to keep himself alive. Perhaps some of his best snooker of a difficult day came in the very last frame; a clearance of 34 including a fine long pot helped him to a first win of the day.
“I have no words, I don’t know how I have got through to be honest,” said Ford. “I have played awful all day, I have really struggled. I had the odd frame where I got in and made a good break but to be honest it’s been dreadful and I don’t deserve to get through; Simon has been a slightly better player in the group.
“I don’t know how I have got through but I have, so I have to look at that as a positive. I haven’t been practicing that much, so there’s your answer. I can’t say I am pleased to get through because the performance, at times, was embarrassing today. It is one of those things but I am through and I have to look forward to the next group.”
On Table 2, Bai Langning was undefeated in topping Group 10 and becoming the first amateur player to top a group in this year’s tournament. He had beaten Ben Fortey 3-0 in the afternoon session and the same result against David Grace at the start of the evening session meant that he was safely through to Stage Two. The Chinese youngster then salvaged a draw with a re-spotted black in his final match against Farakh Ajaib to move to seven points and maintain his unbeaten record.
Wins over Fortey and Ajaib meant Grace took £2,000 for second, and Ajaib’s draw with Bai saw him take £1,000 and third in the group having also drawn with Fortey.
BetVictor Championship League Snooker continues on Friday with Anthony McGill, Mark Davis and former Championship League winner Luca Brecel. among those in action.
Coverage of Table 1 begins at 12 noon (UK time) and is live on FreeSports (UK), DAZN, Zhibo.tv (China) and Viaplay, with Table 2 live globally at Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at https://championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk/watch/
Follow BetVictor Championship League Snooker on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest news and scores from Stadium MK.
GROUP 3 TABLE
Pld W D L +/- PTS Money Won Tom Ford 3 1 2 0 2 5 £3,000 Simon Lichtenberg 3 1 1 1 1 4 £2,000 Simon Blackwell 3 1 1 1 -1 4 £1,000 Reanne Evans 3 0 2 1 -2 2 £0
GROUP 10 TABLE
Pld W D L +/- PTS Money Won Bai Langning 3 2 1 0 6 7 £3,000 David Grace 3 2 0 1 2 6 £2,000 Farakh Ajaib 3 0 2 1 -3 2 £1,000 Ben Fortey 3 0 1 2 -5 1 £0
Not much to add to what Tom Ford said really. Simon Lichtenberg should have won group 3, but all credits to Tom for not allowing frustration get the better of him in the end and eventually finding something in the very last frame of an otherwise painful day. Simon will be disappointed, as will be Reanne Evans. Having managed to draw against the two players seeded above her, I hoped/expected that Reanne would do the same or better against Simon Blackwell, the lowest seed in the group, but she didn’t and eventually finished last with nothing to show for her efforts.
Bai Langning, only 19, had arrived at the 2021 World Championship, having not played a match on the main tour all season and still made it to Judgement Day. He beat Allan Taylor, Alan McManus and Ben Woollaston en route. Yesterday, he confirmed his quality as he was by far the best play in action. I loved what I saw from him out there.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
It’s quite an achievement for an amateur to top one of these groups, but actually it was a group weakened by a withdrawal (Lu Ning, coincidentally also from Jilin), and the vagaries of the ranking system (Ajaib is ranked 89, as he is at the start of his second year).
Bai is a very good technical player – in fact he is the model in Roger Leighton’s training videos. It is something he can rely on under pressure, so the short-format suits him. Most of the group winners have been asked “what are your plans for the season?”, which would be an excellent question for Bai, considering his current status. Unfortunately, we still appear to have this problem interviewing the Chinese players…
On the featured table Tom Ford benefited from his opponents’ lack of expereince and composure. I agree that one of the best things about this ‘warm-up’ tournament is that it provides lower-ranked players a learning experience.