WST has published several pieces of news in recent days …
Updated calendar and Turkish Masters infos:
Updated Tournament Calendar
The updated calendar for the remainder of the 2021/22 season is now available.
Click here for the updated 2021-22 calendar
The qualifying dates for the Nirvana Turkish Masters have been confirmed – the qualifying round will run from February 2 to 6 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. Players will need to win one match to make it through to the final stages in Antalya in March. Matches involving the top four seeds plus the two local wild cards will be held over and played at the final venue.
All matches up to and including the quarter-finals will be best of nine frames, with the semi-finals best of 11 frames and the final best of 17 frames.
The qualifying round for the BetVictor Welsh Open will run from February 15 to 20 at Aldersley Village in Wolverhampton.
The part I have put in blue gives me hope that Ronnie might play in this one. It’s a best-of-nine based format, which I like.
Updated BetVictor Shoot Out Draw
Four players have withdrawn from the BetVictor Shoot Out, which runs from January 20 to 23 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
Ng On Yee has withdrawn and been replaced by Haydon Pinhey
Sam Craigie has withdrawn been replaced by Simon Blackwell
Hammad Miah has withdrawn and been replaced by Mark Lloyd
Kurt Maflin has withdrawn and been replaced by Billy CastleClick here for the updated draw
Ever-present on the calendar since 2011, the tournament has a unique format, with every match lasting a maximum of ten minutes. Tickets for the world ranking event are on sale now and start at just £15 – for details click here.
Top stars including Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson, Zhao Xintong, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen, Luca Brecel and defending champion Ryan Day are all in the 128-player field.
I couldn’t care less but still hope that On Yee withdrawal is only for this and not an indication of further travel restrictions preventing her to compete this season.
WPBSA Statement regarding Peter Lines
WPBSA Statement: 14th January 2022
The WPBSA and Peter Lines Disciplinary Hearing Finding.
After a complaint made to the WPBSA by WST and another Member, Peter Lines was charged with breaches of the WPBSA Members Rules following his match with Xiao Guodong at the 2021 Northern Ireland Open Qualifiers.
The allegation was that Mr Lines took issue with Mr Xiao over incidents in this match. After the match Mr Lines confronted Mr Xiao in the Players Lounge at the venue and accused him of cheating and swore at him. As Mr Lines was removed from the lounge by security, he asked Mr Xiao to go outside with him. Mr Xiao said he was in fear that he was going to be attacked by Mr Lines.
Soon after the incident Mr Lines apologised to Mr Xiao for his conduct after the match.
The case was heard on 16th December 2021 by the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee, which consists of three members who are independent from the WPBSA. The virtual hearing was attended by Mr Lines who accepted the facts in part.
On 13th January 2022 the Disciplinary Committee published its finding and decision on sanction. The Committee found that the breaches of WPBSA Members Rules 1.1 and 1.3 were proven in full. In making their decision on sanction the Committee took into account the early apology made by Mr Lines to Mr Xiao and Mr Lines’ unblemished career in snooker. Following the disciplinary hearing, the Committee decided that the appropriate sanction was a fine of £2,500.
Mr Lines was further ordered to pay costs of £5,464.80.
Mr Lines has until 28th January 2022 to appeal the decision of the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee.
————————————————————————————————————————————–
Appendix 1
WPBSA Members Rules extracts:
1.1 Members shall, at all times (i.e. whether at a Tournament or not), behave in a proper and correct manner consistent with their status as professional sportsmen.
1.3 A Member shall not make or cause to be made any statement or commit or cause to be committed any act which in the reasonable view of the WPBSA is likely to bring into disrepute the games of snooker and/or billiards.
The fact that Peter Lines is a member of the board makes this whole situation even more awkward.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 