Yes, I know… everyone is preparing for Christmas and I come up with stuff about qualifiers for a 6-reds tournament in Bangkok. That’s what happens when you’re alone at home on a day like this…

Don’t pity me. I’m very happy. My five rescue cats are adorable. My island is peaceful and the sceneries are unique and wonderful. Every day I look at the caldera and every day I’m in awe. Every day I’m grateful for being generally healthy and in good shape, for the pure and beautiful light, for the fresh products at the market, for the still mild and sunny weather and the kindness of my neighbours.

Thanks to nowadays technology, I’m in contact with my loved ones in Brussels daily and in a few weeks they will be here to stay with me for a while. Life is good. I’m a very lucky girl …

So… forget the baubles for a few minutes … and back to the balls

This was posted by WST a couple of days ago

Six Red World Championship Qualifiers Draw

For the first time, the Six Red World Championship has a qualifying process, with the four winning players to go through to the final stages in Thailand.

The qualifying event will run from 7 to 9 January in Barnsley.

Click here for the draw

Click here for the format

The final stages in Bangkok will run from 6 to 11 March, 2023. While this is a non-ranking tournament, the qualifying event gives all players the opportunity to compete, earn prize money and potentially a place in the televised stages in Thailand.

Leading players in the qualifying rounds will include Stephen Hendry, David Gilbert, Ryan Day, Ali Carter, Joe Perry, Ricky Walden, Gary Wilson and Marco Fu.

So, Stephen Maguire, after well over three years will finally be able to try to defend his title! He won it it in September 2019!

Now … those four qualifiers are set to join a set of 16 (?) players who “automatically” qualified. Who are they? I have no clue. I looked up WST site, I looked up Wikipedia, I searched the Internet … in vain. Surely they can’t just be the top 16??? Anyone with a clue, or link, please comment!

Anyway… that’s not the only mysterious/baffling thing about this announcement and event.

So, Stephen Hendry is one of the leading players? He is even the first one named in that list? Stephen Hendry had a glittering career but this season he has so far only played three matches, lost them all and won just ONE frame. How on earth is he a leading player? And will he even actually play?

Those qualifiers also overlap with the 2023 Masters. That’s the second time in a season that had more holes in the calendar than the proverbial Gruyère that events overlap. You will tell me that I should be happy that the 6-reds World Championship will actually be on – and I am – and that there aren’t that many holes in the calendar from now on but still …

Then to manage a field of 120 players WST had to dig really deep into the Q-School order of merit! There is one player in this list who I know for sure hasn’t won a single frame in the three 20221/22 Q-schools combined and their only 4 points came from an opponent no-show and this person is playing another amateur. Aside of that there are also some really though first round clashes between pros.

There is no mention if/where those matches will be streamed, so I suppose they won’t be. It’s a shame. I quite like the 6-reds because quite often even with just one red remaining the frame isn’t over.