Ronnie beat Ken Doherty by 6-1 in their first round match at the 2023 International Championship.
Here are the scores:
Ronnie played well but Ken was unable to put him under any real pressure. Ken should probably have won another frame – he was unlucky to accidentally pocket the pink in frame 6 when he was on a promising break – but other than that Ronnie was by far the better player in that match. He played a very open game. He may have to be a bit more conservative tomorrow against Mark Joyce who is usually very reliable in the balls. That said, Mark can also become a bit negative if he’s allowed to dictate the style of the match and, for sure, that’s not something Ronnie will want as it doesn’t suit him at all.
Here are some images shared by WST
And the last frame shared by ES on their YouTube channel
The battle for the world number one spot heated up on day one of the International Championship in Tianjin, with wins for all four contenders; Ronnie O’Sullivan, Luca Brecel, Judd Trump and Mark Allen.
Current incumbent and seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan scored a 6-1 win over 1997 Crucible king Ken Doherty to ensure his progression to the last 64.
The Rocket has already landed silverware on Chinese soil this season, after beating Brecel 11-9 in a thrilling Shanghai Masters final. However, with that event being an invitational and exits in the last 16 and the quarter-finals at the English Open and Wuhan Open respectively, his place at the summit of the rankings is under threat.
O’Sullivan was in red-hot form this evening and crafted breaks of 112, 81, 66, 78 and 68 on his way to victory. Next up for the 39-time ranking event winner is a second round meeting with Mark Joyce.
Trump has forced his way into contention for the top spot after sensationally registering three consecutive ranking event wins at the English Open, Wuhan Open and the Northern Ireland Open. The Ace in the Pack extended his winning streak to 21 matches with a 6-0 whitewash defeat of Chinese 12-year-old prospect Wang Xinzhong.
His recent tournament win in Belfast saw him join Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui as the only players to win three consecutive ranking events. Trump would become only the second (after Hendry) to win four in a row by taking the title this week. He already has a strong history in this event and is defending champion having won the last staging back in 2019.
Runs of 116, 109, 67 and 89 helped Trump to this evening’s win. He knows he must make at least the quarter-finals to stand a chance of becoming world number one and will face Michael White in the last 64. Afterwards, Trump admitted he is near to his best form.
“The whole season has been on a knife-edge. There have been opportunities for Luca Brecel and Mark Allen already. Ronnie has missed a couple of events but this is massive tournament. The International Championship is the event that has taken the crown as the biggest one in China,” said 26-time ranking event winner Trump.
“I think I am playing to a very similar level to when I won six events in the 2019/20 season. It is always hard to say you are playing better or worse, but to do something I’ve never done before and only four people have done by winning three consecutive events is special.”
Last season’s Player of the Year Allen kept his hopes alive by coming from 3-1 down to beat Oliver Lines 6-3.
The Pistol is currently ranked fourth in the world after winning titles at last season’s Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship and World Grand Prix. However, he needs to win the event this week to overhaul O’Sullivan. The Antrim cueman top scored with 137 this morning and now plays Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who beat Matthew Selt 6-5.
Allen said: “Judd has got himself well into the conversation having won the last three ranking tournaments. He wasn’t on anyone’s lips at the start of the season. It shows what can happen in the game. It is a good story for you guys, but we just have to concentrate on going out there and winning matches. If I win matches and tournaments, then the ranking will take care of itself.”
World Champion Brecel earned his slot in the next round courtesy of a 6-2 win over Daniel Womersley.
The Belgian currently occupies second place in the rankings and must reach at least the last 16 to go top. He made breaks of 79, 58 and 76 during this afternoon’s encounter and now plays Mark Davis.
This season’s European Masters winner Barry Hawkins put on a sensational display to whitewash Tian Pengfei 6-0. The Hawk soared with contributions of 123, 114, 50, 139 and 67 in what was a break building masterclass.
China’s 14-time ranking event winner Ding Junhui surged to a 6-1 win over Ian Burns, while Stuart Bingham edged past Matthew Stevens 6-5.
No quote from Ronnie but this little snippet was shared on social media. Ronnie is interviewed by Tai Chengzhe and is in awe of a fan who traveled from far away to see him…
All the held-over matches were played today …
The only top seed who failed to win his match was Ben Woollaston who lost by 6-4 to 15 years old Wang Xinbo.
The “preliminary” match between the two wildcards Wang Xinzhong and Gong Chenzhi, was won by Wang, who is only 12 years old. That match was a rather slow affair. It was pulled off at 5-5. The players then played the deciding frame as soon as a table became available in the next session. Wang’s reward for his efforts was an encounter with Judd Trump… and the poor kid scored only 38 points all match. Not sure about the benefits of this for anyone … Judd, Wang or the paying fans.
There was no “players walk” yesterday, Saturday, November 4, but the players were treated to a cruise on the river at night. Several of them shared pictures on social media. The views are quite stunning…
The 2023 International Championship starts tomorrow … I couldn’t find any image of an opening ceremony with players walking outside, greeted by fans, but I found some images shared by WST on weibo, showing some of the players at an “opening dinner” …
Regarding weibo, and to be fair to WST, they have an account on the platform, and that account does report regularly about how the Chinese young players do in the various events. I’m not sure who is the person behind this account but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is my friend Tai Chengzhe, who, before covid, was WST press Officer for China and is now back at the WST events. All the same, they seem to assume that the UK/European readers have little or no interest in those players. This isn’t true. Those of us who have the future of snooker at heart will want to follow the development of all young players, no matter their nationality.
The WPBSA and WST have confirmed the elite amateur players who will compete at the 2023 MrQ UK Championship having earned their places through recognised WPBSA pathways.
As in 2022, the first Triple Crown Series event of the season will feature a tiered format, which will see the top 16 seeded through to the final stages, to be held at the York Barbican from 25 November – 3 December 2023.
The remaining players will compete in the qualifying rounds in Leicester from 18-23 November, with 16 players set to progress to the last 32.
WPBSA Qualifiers
This season’s field will include up to 16* players to have earned their places through new pathway opportunities for elite performers through activities staged and coordinated by the WPBSA Group.
*This number is subject to the total number of professional entries received. Should all 129 current professionals enter, there will be 15 places awarded to the WPBSA.
Confirmed Players:
WPBSA Q Tour UK/Europe
Winners from the world’s premier secondary tour to the World Snooker Tour so far this season:
Liam Davies – WPBSA Q Tour – Event 1 winner
Michael Holt – WPBSA Q Tour – Event 2 winner
Umut Dikme – WPBSA Q Tour – Event 3 winner
WSF Championships 2023
Eligible semi-finalists from the world’s largest international amateur tournaments, champions/runner-ups having already earned two-year tour cards:
Should fewer than 129 professional players enter the event, Craig Steadman will be the first reserve player as the next highest ranked player on the Q Tour UK/Europe Rankings after Event 3.
Tournament information including the draw and format for the fourth event of 2023/24 WPBSA Q Tour UK/Europe is now available to view via WPBSA SnookerScores.
The event will take place at the Landywood Snooker Club, with a record 139 entries received. This means that 16 matches must be played on Thursday 9 November, with the remaining rounds to be played from 10-12 November.
Q Tour UK/Europe will be made up of seven tournaments and is part of the relaunched WPBSA Q Tour Global, which will for the first time incorporate regional events held around the world, each offering access to an extended Q Tour Global Playoff at the end of the season.
The 2023 IBSF World Championships start tomorrow in Doha
The events to be played during the World Championships 2023 are as per the following calendar:
Referees and players’ meetings for the Men’s Championships will be at the venue on Saturday, the 4th of November at 1800 hours followed by the Welcome ceremony at 1900 hours.
The Men’s Snooker Championship will start on the 5th of November, with the final to be played on the 10th of November.
The Men’s Team Snooker Championship will start on the 8th of November, with the final to be played on the 12th of November.
The Men’s 6-Red Snooker Championship will start on the 11th of November, with the final to be played on the 15th of November.
Referees and players’ meetings for the Masters, Women Snooker, and English Billiards will be at the venue on Wednesday, the 15th of November at 1800 hours.
The Masters, Women Snooker and English Billiards (Long-Up) will start on the 16th of November, with the final to be played on the 20th of November.
The Masters Team, Women 6-Red Snooker and English Billiards (150-Up) will start on the 21st of November, with the final to be played on the 24th of November.
…
Darryl Hill, who is in the draw, shared some pictures of the venue and it looks nice. Interestingly, they use Rasson tables.
You can expect a lot of matches to be streamed thanks to the legend that is Dariuz Goral
Three young Chinese players have won their qualifying match yesterday: Yuan Sujun, He Guoquiang and Xing Zhiao. He and Xing are rookies. Xing beat Fergal O’Brien in a close match that went to a decider and that’s never an easy task. Guess what? There is NOTHING about them in the WST report … NOTHING!
Cahill Comes Through Moody Test
Despite letting slip a 3-0 lead, James Cahill edged out Stan Moody 4-3 to reach the final stages of the BetVictor Scottish Open.
…
Cahill fired runs of 72 and 69 in winning the first three frames, before 17-year-old Moody battled back to 3-3 with a top break of 54. But Cahill’s 54 helped him win the decider and book a place in Edinburgh.
Former World Champion Graeme Dott suffered a 4-1 reverse against Thor Chuan Leong, while Julien Leclercq top scored with 76 in a 4-0 defeat of Baipat Siripaporn.
Martin Gould top scored with 85 in a 4-2 win over Reanne Evans, while Switzerland’s Alexander Ursenbacher ended a run of six consecutive defeats by beating Wu Yize 4-0.
I won’t lie… I’m increasingly dispirited about the sport I used to love. It’s not about what I see at the table, it’s the way it’s run: the endless procession of qualifiers in uninspiring venues without a crowd, the badly structured calendar, the atrocious scoring system, the “selective” reporting, the UK centric ways about nearly everything, the clear malaise amongst top players who feel that their right to express themselves honestly is taken away…
The world’s top events return to Yushan! Chinese Billiards World Championship and Snooker World Open reinstalled and upgraded
Also participating in the press conference were reporters and anchors from more than 100 news media across the country, and 7-time Snooker World Championship champion Ronnie O’Sullivan made an appearance at the same time.
The Chinese Billiards World Championship was born in 2015 and represents the highest level of Chinese billiards. In 2023, the World Chinese Billiards Championship will usher in an unprecedented upgrade, with a total prize money of 10.43 million yuan, including 3 million yuan for the men’s champion and 1 million yuan for the women’s champion. At the same time, the event continues to implement the widely praised generalized bonus system, with a guaranteed bonus of RMB 10,000 for the top 128 men’s main draw and the top 32 women’s main draw. Gan Jialing, general manager of Beijing Xingwei Sports Goods Co., Ltd., said: “The upgrade of the competition has set a precedent for Chinese billiards. The number of winners and prize money have reached a new high in global Chinese billiards events. It will definitely encourage more domestic and foreign athletes to participate and have a positive impact on the globalization of Chinese billiards. Promotion plays a positive role.”
Gan Jialing, General Manager of Beijing Xingwei Sports Goods Co., Ltd.
In 2016, the Snooker World Open with a long history came to Yushan for the first time. It has been held for 4 consecutive years and has become a battleground for global snooker stars . The total prize money of the 2024 Snooker World Open will be increased to 815,000 pounds, and the championship prize will be increased to 170,000 pounds . O’Sullivan said: “I will go all out to give a wonderful performance to all the fans who like snooker and me. At the same time, I am also looking forward to walking more in Yushan and experiencing the local customs and strong billiards here. atmosphere.”
World snooker professional player Ronnie O’Sullivan
The upgraded return of the Chinese Billiards World Championship and Snooker World Open marks that the development of billiards in China and the world is about to usher in new opportunities and enter a more glorious chapter. Wang Tao, chairman of the Chinese Billiards Association, said: “We look forward to using these two events as an engine to usher in broader development and a brighter future for billiards in Yushan, China and the world!” Steve, chairman of the World Snooker Tour Dawson also said: “The 2024 World Open will be an important moment for snooker, and we will bring the best players in the world to Yushan.”
In recent years, the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government have attached great importance to sports work and promoted the construction of Jiangxi into a strong sports province. Large-scale events have come to Jiangxi one after another, leading and promoting the vigorous development of national fitness, continuous improvement of competitive sports, accelerated development of the sports industry, more prosperous sports culture, and continuous deepening of “sports +” integration. Li Xiaoping, Party Secretary and Director of the Jiangxi Provincial Sports Bureau, believes: “The Chinese Billiards World Championship and the Snooker World Open will be a complete success as brand events and write a new chapter for Jiangxi’s sports industry.”
Shangrao is a national II-type large city and one of the top ten prefecture-level cities in central China. It has a simple humanistic charm, beautiful landscapes, and a strong sports culture. Qiu Xiangjun, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Shangrao City, said: “Sports events have become Shangrao’s city card, a sports event for all people, and an important carrier and key platform to drive consumption and development. We will take advantage of the events, the media, and the momentum The partners will speed up the development of Yushan into a world-class billiards event venue.”
Starting from a piece of bluestone, Yushan strives to build the “Chinese Billiards Capital and the World’s Famous Billiards City” and has successfully hosted multiple Chinese Billiards World Championships and Snooker World Open. At the same time, the Yushan Sports Center, the International Billiards Academy, the World Billiards Museum and the International Convention and Exhibition Center were completed successively. The Xingpai Billiards Industrial Park was completed and put into operation. The billiards-based industrial ecology has begun to take shape in Yushan. Zheng Guoliang, Secretary of the Yushan County Party Committee, said: “Yushan will create cultural exchange activities at more levels and in a wider range of areas, and accelerate the development of a county-specific cultural development with Chinese style, Jiangxi style, Shangrao characteristics, and Yushan recognition.”
The process of building Yushan into a world-famous billiards city has condensed the efforts of all parties. Yushan and Xingpai, the world’s leading billiards company, have been working together for ten years, completely changing the face of this small town in eastern Gansu. Gan Lianfang, former member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, chief adviser to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and chairman of Beijing Xingpai Group, said: “Xingpai will do its best to present international top-level event standards while constantly exploring and innovating to provide world billiards services. Contribute your efforts to the development, revitalization of Chinese billiards and the glory of Yushan billiards.”
At the end of the press conference, all leaders and guests pressed the starting device together, and the two major events officially started!
Yushan shines again because of billiards, and billiards becomes even more brilliant because of Yushan. In December 2023 and March 2024, let us meet in Yushan, and meet in Yushan, Shangrao, Jiangxi, China
The 6th Chinese Billiards World Championship and the 2024 Snooker World Open celebrate the billiards feast together! Published in Sichuan
Some amazing technology was presented at the event. In the following video you see and hear Ronnie. He’s speaking English of course. The first part of the video although demonstrate direct audio “translate” in Chinese, whilst Ronnie’s voice is actually used … I’m not sure how it’s done but it’s truly amazing!
His trip has been facilitated by Vic Snooker Academy. Thanks Victoria.
Ronnie has also taken some relaxing time on the golf course with Mr Gan …
The 2023 Champion of Champions Draw is out…
Judd Trump is probably in the easiest of the four groups… hum… and, of all the top seeds, Ronnie might well get the hardest first round opponent.
Halloween at the 900 … week 7
This was week 7 poster …
Quite a few “names” in that field … including the legendary coach, Barry Stark, 81 years old!
Yes they all look green? No wonder! They have just met the pundits and commentators…
But onto the action…
On Monday… Ryan Mears was the winner
On Tuesday… Haydon Pinhey was the winner
And on Wednesday … Nick Barrow booked his place into the Grand Final
He beat Andrew Norman in the third day’s final
The curse of Halloween duly struck as for the first time ever at the 900, the scoring system failed. Michaela was the ref on duty and she kept a cool head. Rather than trying to keep up with the scores, she called the scores difference, which is actually what matters in this format!
Here are the pictures shared by Jason Francis on social media
Perth’s Scott Donaldson battled from 3-1 down to beat Ashley Hugill 4-3 and earn a place in the final stages of the BetVictor Scottish Open.
World number 51 Donaldson looked as if he might miss out on his home event in Edinburgh when he fell 3-1 behind. But the former Championship League winner came from 48-4 down to take a scrappy 58-minute fifth frame on the colours, and that proved the turning point as he added the sixth then won the decider with a break of 65.
The final stages run from December 11-17 at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in the Scottish capital.
Performance of the day at the qualifying round in Leicester came from Belgium’s up-and-coming Ben Mertens as he beat Ahmed Aly Elsayed 4-0 in 50 minutes with runs of 70, 100, 72 and 139.
Ricky Walden came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to beat Hammad Miah 4-3, while BetVictor English Open runner-up Zhang Anda saw off Andy Hicks 4-2.
Joe O’Connor top scored with 82 in a 4-0 win over Andy Lee, while a run of 116 helped Tom Ford win a Leicester derby against Louis Heathcote 4-1.
As always some results are “missing” but you will find them all on snooker.org.
At least this time not all matches involving non British/Irish players have been “ignored”.
Ben Mertens’ win over the former Pan American champion was indeed some performance. It was basically “one chance” snooker. Of course, Ahmed Aly Elsayed isn’t a top player but, honestly, most players would have struggled with Ben’s scoring power yesterday.
Of the three matches played during the first session of the day, only Zhang Anda’s win over Andy Hicks is reported on. Maybe Ryan Day’s victory over rookie Jiang Jun was expected but the encounter between Lyu Haotian (nr 34) and Joe Perry (nr 26) was the highest profile match of that session and likely to be a close one. Lyu won it by 4-2 from 2-1 down, finishing with breaks of 65, 54 and 64.
Another Scot was in action yesterday, Ross Muir, who was beaten by Dominic Dale (4-1). Ross has been suffering from ocular migraine again in recent times and it’s a very painful and crippling condition. I know by personal experience that migraines are very difficult to treat and painkillers are not really efficient to “tame” them. It’s not just the pain; you can’t see properly and nausea usually comes with it too. Ross is very courageous to try to play under the circumstances. It must be awful.
Jenson Kendrick didn’t win a match in his first year on tour, but got another win yesterday. He beat Anton Kazakov by 4-2 with breaks of 67 and 100. Staying on tour may prove very difficult for Jenson, but, at least, hopefully, with a few wins this season, his first experience as a professional will not be all doom and gloom.
On another old theme…
Lewis yesterday mentioned that the reason for Dechawat Poomjaeng to resign from the main tour was his inability to secure proper sponsoring. Living in the UK is very expensive for non British/Irish players. Unlike the British/Irish players they can’t easily get another job to complement their snooker earnings because the type of visa they get only allows them to work in snooker, and, of course, most can’t live with their parents or family because the said parents/family are in their home country.
I have said this before, I will say it again: there should be no qualifiers. All rounds for all tournaments should be played at the venue, or, if the venue can’t accommodate enough tables, at a suitable place close to it. If Chinese events were “grouped” in pairs, it should be possible to play two events over three weeks, or three weeks and a week-end. China has many young talented players, they deserve to play in front of their local fans, and the fans, I’m sure, would welcome the opportunity to see their own play live. Three weeks surely isn’t too much to ask? And if the next event are in Europe – UK , Ireland or mainland Europe – it could start on the next Thursday or Friday, depending on the format, and be played, from round 1 at or close to the “main venue”. It would allow players to rest and adjust to the time zone again. A Belgian Open could be grouped with the German Masters over 3 weeks as the countries are geographically close. The Tempodrom can’t host more than 32 players, but the qualifiers could be played right before it in Germany, maybe in Fürth, or in the north, maybe Hamburg. The European masters really should travel around to “new” countries. Snooker is very popular in Spain. Finland surely deserves an event. And what about Norway? If that happened, the snooker.org head honcho should be given the honour to present the trophy! He deserves it for life-long service to the sport.
The current calendar structure is such that the first half of the season very much feels like an endless procession of qualifiers, many played with no fans at the venue and no atmosphere. Then, all of a sudden, it’s packed and hectic with traveling across continents and time zones. It’s not good for the players, it’s tiring, mentally taxing, costly and stressful, and, ultimately it’s not good for the quality of the snooker on display either.
This is WST report about what happened yesterday at the 2023 Scottish Open Qualifiers.
Whirlwind Set For Edinburgh
Jimmy White scored his first match win of the season with a thrilling 4-3 defeat of Welshman Duane Jones at BetVictor Scottish Open qualifying.
The ten-time ranking event winner enjoyed a strong 22/23 season, which saw him earn a fresh two-year tour card thanks to his performances on the one-year list. However, as of yet, he hasn’t quite carried that into the current campaign.
Having trailed 3-1 this afternoon, White took the fifth frame and then made a crucial 61 in the sixth to set up a decider. He controlled the final frame and earned his place in the final stages in Edinburgh, which kick off on December 11th.
Last week’s BetVictor Northern Ireland Open runner-up Chris Wakelin showed no signs of a let up in form, scoring a 4-2 win over Mark Joyce. Wakelin composed breaks of 72, 66, 67 and 71 to ensure his progression.
Jordan Brown top scored with a run of 130 in his 4-2 win over Adam Duffy and David Gilbert came through a final frame decider to beat Jak Jones 4-3.
Aaron Hill earned his place with a 4-1 win over close friend and mentor Ken Doherty, while 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham whitewashed Michael White 4-0.
It’s hard not to love Jimmy White who, at 61, is still loving the game, still trying hard and still playing some decent stuff most of the days. I understand why he’s making the headline of this report.
What I don’t accept though is WST – WORLDSnooker Tour – once again totally excluding the non British/Irish players from their report. Do they know that there are snooker fans outside their island(s)? Do they care? I wonder. I doubt it very much.
SEVEN non British players were in action yesterday, FOUR of them WON their match: Lukas Kleckers from Germany, Xu Si from China, Thepchaiya Un-nooh and Manasawin Phetmalaikul from Thailand. NOT ONE of them is mentioned in the above report. NOT ONE! Manasawin Phetmalaikul, a rookie ranked number 123, beat Ben Woollaston, the number 45 and a former ranking event finalist, and … nothing. NOTHING. If it were Stan Moody it would probably be the headline. Not that Stan wouldn’t deserve the exposure, he would but it should not be because he is English but because he played well and won… and therefore the four above deserve it just as much.
… and meanwhile Willo is in China playing Chinese pool. Good on him!
Ronnie O'Sullivan 