ooker season starts tomorrow. I know this isn’t true as we already had a ranking event in July, and several qualifying events that are just as important for the players as the “main” stages played at the arena. I know but I still feel that way and I’m that I’m not the only one. I expect a few surprises as the top boys come into this pretty cold after a long break… but we shall see.
Several top players have not played a professional match yet this season. It’s notably the case for our reigning World Champion Luca Brecel. Luca has been traveling around a lot, he’s gone to Hong Kong (check this link for pictures), he’s gone to Seattle doing exhibition stuff at the OxBilliards as was mentioned a few times during the 2023 Women Snooker US Open, he’s gone from there to Germany where his cue got lost … and there was more too but I’m not sure what and where.
Anyway, Luca starts his season as World Champion tomorrow against Jackson Page. Of course his return to action triggers some media interest.
Luca’s Interviews
Stephen Hendry has made the trip to Belgium, to play a frame and have a chat with Luca on the very table where Luca started playing as a kid.
It’s a very nice interview, giving a good insight into Luca’s personality … and Hendry won the frame!
Luca has also been interviewed by Polly James and this was shared by WST:
n an in-depth interview with Luca Brecel, the Crucible king discusses a wide range of subjects, looking back on his Sheffield triumph as well as giving insights into his lifestyle, his love of music, nature, his relationships with other players and much more. He also takes Polly James for a spin in his new Ferrari 488. Watch the interview in three parts here:
I haven’t listened to it yet. I may do it in the coming days in ten minutes chunks. Those who know me know that I’m partially deaf and listening to any podcast or interview, without being able to read lips is extremely difficult for me especially if the interview is quite long. One thing that transpired though is the the cue hasn’t reappeared and it’s a serious concern for Luca.
Graeme Dott and Liu Hongyu have withdrawn from the event, as shared by WST
Liu And Dott Withdraw
Liu Hongyu has pulled out of the BetVictor European Masters in Germany due to visa issues, while Graeme Dott has also withdrawn for personal reasons.
China’s Liu won his qualifying match in the UK for the world ranking event to reach the last 64, but has now withdrawn as he is not able to travel to Germany.
The winner of Tuesday’s first round match between Neil Robertson and Wu Yize will receive a bye to the last 32.
Dott was due to face Shaun Murphy in a first round match on Tuesday, and he has been replaced in the draw by the highest available player from the Q School Ranking List, Steven Hallworth.
Meanwhile things have been happening on the amateur scene…
The 900 Season 2 Qualifiers … how things stand
The 900 Season 2 qualifiers continued and they are streamed on YouTube SportyStuffTV channel .
The fact that those qualifiers are streamed and that there is live commentary as well in the latter stages has attracted a lot of interest from amateurs and it’s been a few very busy week-ends. Like him or not, Jason Francis is creative, dynamic and gets things done. I like him BTW.
So here are the outcomes of the recent instalments :
Mark Show qualified for week 3
Hamim Hussain qualified for week 4
Having played in all 4 previous qualifiers, Neal Jones topped the order of merit. He will play in week 1
Simon Bubb qualified for week 5
Neil Craycraft qualified for week 6
Women snooker … returning players
There is no doubt that the presence of women on the main tour has revived the interest for women in snooker and inspired players from the past to take their cue out again. In Seattle we saw a former Women Snooker Championship finalist, Maryann McConnor in action again.
Today World Women Snooker on Twitter announced that Hannah Ward, Hannah Jones by her maiden name, will return to competition at the UK Women Snooker Championship next month.
Hannah competed regularly on the circuit from 2006-2015, notably claiming the World Under-21 title on no fewer than six occasions. This was Hannah in those days (probably around 2009/10)
She’s a women now, a mother of two young children and successful in her job … I doubt that she has ambitions to get on the main tour at this stage but it’s nice to have her back!
Good luck Hannah! And good luck Mark Jones, the father who plays a bit himself, is horribly stressed when Hannah plays but can’t keep his eyes away from her matches 😉
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Ronnie just pulled out of the European Masters. While not overly surprised, I thought if he did not do it until now, maybe not in the last minute. 😦 He’ll be out of the top 16 if he continues like this.
He won’t be out of the top 16 until the end of the season… and, no, not really surprised either.
No surprise at all. Years, YEARS since Ronnie has played a ranking match in continental Europe.
Indeed 2017 German Masters was the last time. He has played in mainland Europe since, but only exhibitions. Most recently last year in Bulgaria.
It’s possibly a WST rule -> Yes. Second condition in CBSA official Weixin post(21.8.2023).
(It used the noun WPBSA in the post but not translated correctly :/)
Yes I asked Matt Huart, and he checked the entry pack. Apparently it’s been a clause for years, but I can remember the veteran Guo Hua playing in the Shanghai Masters in 2018. My view would be that Hong Chenzhi and Gao Yang were not ‘wildcards’, but rather ‘qualifiers’ by reaching the final in Dongguan. The idea of wanting to provide opportunities for new players is problematic. I would say that it’s more important to support young ex-professionals who have already been invested in, and may lose their way after falling off. What has happened instead is that a replacement has been ‘selected’, which is highly suspicious considering the amount of prize-money involved. I don’t think this decision helps anyone.
Hendry didn’t win the frame. Luca did win it on the pink, but ofc they played on for fun and Hendry made a very nice trickshot, ergo was the last one at the table, what may be the reason you thought he had won kt, Monique.
Probably. I was paying attention to what they said rather than to the score. As I explained in the post, I’m partially deaf so I really need to concentrate to get what is said.
Liu Hongyu’s VISA problems shouldn’t be age-related, he’s already 19. It’s most likely just an administrative delay. 18 months ago Gao Yang had an entry problem after qualifying for the German Masters – he later got relegated from the tour by £500. The same thing could conceivably happen to Liu Hongyu.
Speaking of Gao Yang, it was announced that the 4 wildcard players will be Gong Chenzhi, Deng Haohui, Bai Yulu and Dong Zihao. Despite making it to the final, and announced as a qualifier in the reports, Gao Yang seems to have been thrown overboard. It’s possibly a WST rule that ex-professionals can’t play as wildcards, but if so it’s preposterous: Gao is 18 years old, and there’s a danger of his career falling away if he doesn’t get the chance to play in strong events. Deng Haohui is highly rated, but usually disappoints. Dong Zihao played in the Dongguan U21 tournament, but lost both his matches in the double-elimination group, one of the worst records of the 43 participants. You can’t put players like that up against a world top-16 giant.