The Wynn presents Macau Masters will start in earnest tomorrow, but today the fans were treated to an exhibition between Ding and Ronnie. Ronnie won 6-2.
Make sure to check the comments section. Kalacs shared a lot of pictures and videos.
and here is the Final, filmed by a spectator from 2-2 on. Thanks Kalacs!
Here are some images of the event, shared on weibo:
Tomorrow, the 2023 Wynn Presents Macau Masters will begin with an exhibition match between Ding and Ronnie.
Today, the launch of the 2024 Wynn Hong Kong Masters took place. The event is scheduled for March 2024.
Some quotes emerged on weibo
Jack Lisowski: “I have good friends living in Hong Kong, so it feels like home… Hong Kong is my favorite city. Although I also like Sydney, I prefer Hong Kong. ” He also pointed out that he knew that the Hong Kong Masters held at the Coliseum last year was full of people. “It is the most atmospheric table tennis competition. Table tennis is very popular in Hong Kong. I can’t wait to participate. My goal is to win“.
Ronnie: At yesterday’s press conference, O’Sullivan revealed that he particularly likes to visit Asia, and believes that both the promotion of events and the attitude of fans are better than those in the UK: “The events in China have done a good job in publicity, and you will feel It’s a special game; but games in the UK always feel not very special. I want to participate in the best games …“
Ronnie traveled with his friend Robin Huxley, who often accompanies him at events and has also invited another friend, Pete Cohen. Pete is a mind coach who helped Ronnie during some of the most difficult periods of his career, notably between 2002 and 2004. Pete also supported Ronnie during the 2007 Masters. Pete shared this video on his facebook page, with this comment:
Christmas With The Rocket , Ronnie O’Sullivan in China Being in the presence of Ronnie O’Sullivan, also known as “The Rocket,” is truly a privilege. His unmatched skills, precision, and strategic gameplay are a sight to behold. I witnessed firsthand the level of dedication and passion he brings to the game of snooker when I worked with him a few years ago. His humility and down-to-earth nature are truly remarkable, making this experience even more memorable.I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time with Ronnie O’Sullivan at Christmas as this is first during the festive period as my wife passed away earlier this year.
As for now… it’s Merry Christmas to all of you from me !
The 2024 German Masters qualifiers finished yesterday and, with a slightly longer format, there weren’t that many upsets. All the results are on snooker.org.
Upsets
Ding Junhui lost by 5-2 to Yuan Sijun, despite Yuan being docked the first frame after the interval because he was late. I didn’t see the match, and Yuan is a very good player but that scoreline is really surprising.
Jack Lisowski lost 5-3 to Zak Surety. Zak is a solid player and played solid snooker. Jack was his inconsistent self. Brilliant at times, missing unexpectedly at other times. After all these years, Jack still has no B-game. His collaboration with Ebdon has – so far - not bring any improvement, rather the opposite. Someone on social media said that Jack has a “potting brain”, but not a “snooker brain”. Nail on the head.
Stuart Bingham was beaten by 5-1 by Liam Pullen. Stuart was not able to build any substantial break until the last frame where he had a 58, and even that wasn’t enough. Liam punished his mistakes and scored heavily. He had four breaks over 50 in the match. He impressed me. Stuart was playing without his glasses. It’s not easy to get used to glasses when you never needed them until your mid forties. Glasses change your perception of distances. But then. playing in a blur is no good either…
Gary Wilson lost by 5-4 to Scott Donaldson. Not really a big upset. Scott is a very good player and Gary had maybe a bit of a hang-over after his Scottish triumph. That match was decided on the last black.
Ashley Carty beat Noppon Saengkham by 5-2. Now, like Gary, I think that Noppon suffered from some fatigue after his efforts in Edinburgh. He won the first frame, but wasn’t at the races at all for most of the match. From 4-1 down, Noppon pulled one back and made a break of 65 in the next, only for Ashley – who reached the Crucible in 2020 – to steal it with a 75!
Interesting matches …
Which matches are interesting is, of course, a matter of personal interests and preferences. Here are mine
Si Jiahui beat Lyu Haotian by 5-4 from 4-0 down. This was a case of ”the MSI changing the course of the match” if there ever was one. Lyu completely dominated the first four frames, he scored breaks of 83, 64, 89 and 112 to lead 4-0. Si completely turned the tables after the MSI, winning the five last frames with breaks of 123, 87, 98 and 103. It was a scoring fest, it was strange and fascinating.
Ben Mertens beat Rory Thor by 5-3. This match was as hard fought as it gets. The were on table 4 and I guess the conditions weren’t optimal. There was on one break over 50 in the match, a 51 by Ben in frame 1. Every frame was scrappy and close. It was hard work from start to finish. This is not the kind of match young players relish. Most of them can’t handle it. Ben only turned 19 last October. It’s a very, very good win for the lad.
He Guoqiang beat John Astley by 5-4. He is a bit older than Ben, he’s 23, but he is in his first season. Beating a solid, experienced player like John Astley, is a very good result. It’s all the most remarkable because He trailed by 3-4 and forced the decider by winning frame 8 on a re-spotted black. To do that you need a good head and solid nerves. BTW, that frame, frame 8, was the only one in the match that didn’t feature a 50+ break. Great entertainment and quality.
Tian Pengfei beat Reanne Evans by 5-4, from 4-2 down. Now, I wanted Reanne to win this one and she was absolutely gutted to lose. Despite the loss, I’ll say that this is probably the best she’s played in a ranking match on the main tour as a professional. Tian is a seasoned pro, a very good player. Reanne pushed him really hard. I hope this gives her some confidence. It should, and the fact that she was so upset is also a sign that she really believes that she could have won this one. That’s positive.
Exhibitions in China…
The Melco Style presents Macau Masters is underway, the group stage was played to a finish and all the results are on snooker.org. There, you will also find the links to two short videos showing the last balls of John Higgins 147, and Mark Selby’s 147. Yes, they were seriously at it. Higgins nearly made two 147 on the day, he missed the last black!
Note that the event is neither televised, nor streamed. The videos were filmed by fans in the audience.
We already know that Ronnie and Ding will play in the Wynn presents Macau Masters. This will start just after Christmas. But there are posts on Weibo hinting at a Lhasa Peak Showdown Exhibition, played on 31 December 2023 and 1st of January 2024 as part of the “Ding Olympic Games” feast. That’s all I found about it for now.
Here is the automatic translation of the article (with some correction by me were there were obvious errors1):
Most notably and vey obviously, this will NOT be a table tennis tournament 😂 ↩︎
O’Sullivan will lead five major players to visit Hong Kong in March and join hands with Marco Marco for a decisive battle at the Queen Elisabeth Stadium
The “2024 Hong Kong International Snooker Stars Challenge” will be held at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium from March 25 to 26 next year. A total of five world-class players, including “Rocket” O’Sullivan, will take part in the competition. At the same time, Hong Kong snooker star Marco Fu will once again perform in front of the home audience. The six players will also attend the tournament this Saturday (23rd), and it is expected that relevant details of the competition will be announced.
The event invited O’Sullivan, who won the UK Championship for the historic eighth time last month, “quasi-god” Zhuo Linpu, “golden left hand” Williams, British star Lisowski and Chinese supernova Si Jiahui, will come to Hong Kong to meet the host player Marco Fu and compete for the championship. In addition to Lisowski and Si Jiahui, the other three foreign players will visit Hong Kong again after the “Hong Kong Snooker Masters 2022”.
Last year’s Hong Kong World Snooker Masters attracted more than 8,000 spectators, setting a record for the largest attendance in the history of snooker. Marco Marco’s 147 break against Higgins in the final game of the semi-finals became a classic scene of the tournament. The championship was won by O’Sullivan after defeating Marco. Six players, including Marco Marco , will attend the tournament press conference in Tsim Sha Tsui this Saturday. They will then transfer to Macau to compete in the ” 2023 Macau Snooker Masters Invitational Tournament” that will last for four consecutive days on Christmas
This event is scheduled right after the World Open, so Ronnie might actually be motivated to play in the event… as he’s due to travel anyway.
Yushan in China’s Jiangxi Province will host the World Open in March 2024, with an array of snooker’s greatest names to contest the world ranking event.
The tournament will run from March 18 to 24 and will be the fourth WST event staged in China during the 2023/24 season, following September’s Shanghai Masters, October’s Wuhan Open and November’s International Championship in Tianjin.
The following matches will be held over to Yushan:
Judd Trump v Rory Thor Sanderson Lam v wild card Zhang Anda v Allan Taylor Matthew Selt v winner of a match in Yushan between two wild cards Ding Junhui v Zak Surety Jordan Brown v wild card Luca Brecel v Manasawin Phetmalaikul
All other first round matches will be played at the qualifiers in Barnsley running from January 22 to 24. Notable matches include:
Kyren Wilson v Jimmy White Mark Selby v Xing Zihao Si Jiahui v Stan Moody John Higgins v Ross Muir Mark Allen v Andres Petrov Ronnie O’Sullivan v Alfie Burden Michael White v Stephen Hendry Shaun Murphy v Mohamed Ibrahim Neil Robertson v Victor Sarkis
Yushan was the tournament’s home from 2016 to 2019. Trump is the most recent winner of the title, beating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the final in 2019. WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “We are delighted to join forces with Star Xingpai, Yushan Municipal Government and CBSA to stage the World Open in Yushan in 2024.
“Snooker’s future in China is bright and this is just the beginning. The World Open is a fantastic tournament in an outstanding location which has particular significance for snooker as it is the home of Star Xing Pai and the world’s first Billiard Sports City. I have no doubt that all of the biggest stars will keenly anticipate the chance to return to Yushan in 2024.”
Because Judd Trump is the defending champion and Luca Brecel is the World champion, as well as the new rules regarding held-over matches, Ronnie will have to qualify for this event. Those new rules were put into place to make sure that the top Chinese players would be at the venue. That’s only fair and certainly commercially sensible. Will Ronnie go and play in qualifiers? I’d say probably, because he loves to play in China and his sponsors will probably want him there. Am I certain? No, of course not.
The first of the two “Macau exhibitions”, the Melco Style presents Macau Masters (Melco), will start tomorrow. and runs from 22 to 25 December 2023. The above link will get you to the event page on snooker.org. The six players involved in this event are: John Higgins, Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Ali Carter and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Theppy is traveling to Macau with his family.
Mark Williams, yesterday, shared a picture of himself in Hong Kong
Nothing in this picture is in focus, which isn’t that easy to do!
They have all arrived safely…
The second exhibition, the Wynn presents Macau Masters, is also available on snooker.org and will run from 26 to 29 December 2023. There are 8 players involved in this one: Jack Lisowski, Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson, Si Jiahui, Marco Fu, Ding Junhui and Ronnie.
A tremendous field of the world’s top stars will head to Llandudno in February for the BetVictor Welsh Open, with Robert Milkins to begin the defence of his title against Jamie Jones.
Running from February 12 to 18 at Venue Cymru on the beautiful North Wales coast, it will be the final event in the 2023/24 BetVictor Series, potentially with a £150,000 bonus on the line. Last season, Milkins scooped the jackpot by beating Shaun Murphy 9-7 in a thrilling final, which also earned him that huge bonus.
…
First round matches involving the top 16 seeds, as well as the two Welsh wild cards, have been held over to the venue in Llandudno. They are:
Riley Powell v Liam Davies Robert Milkins v Jamie Jones Jack Lisowski v Oliver Brown Mark Williams v John Astley Neil Robertson v Jackson Page Mark Allen v Cao Yupeng Ding Junhui v Jenson Kendrick John Higgins v Mohamed Ibrahim Alexander Ursenbacher v Powell or Davies Judd Trump v Liam Highfield Ronnie O’Sullivan v Liam Graham Zhang Anda v Ahmed Aly Elsayed Ali Carter v Elliot Slessor Mark Selby v Yuan Sijun Shaun Murphy v David Grace Kyren Wilson v Ashley Carty Barry Hawkins v He Guoqiang Luca Brecel v Jiang Jun
Most of these matches will be played on the opening day, Monday February 12, with the schedule to be announced soon.
All other first round matches will take place at the qualifiers which run from January 25 to 27 in Barnsley. Notable matches include:
David Gilbert v Ken Doherty Gary Wilson v Mark Davis Si Jiahui v Stephen Maguire Stephen Hendry v Ross Muir Dominic Dale v Jimmy White Stuart Bingham v Marco Fu
The Welsh Open is one of the sport’s most historic ranking events having been ever-present on the calendar since 1992 – only the World Championship and UK Championship have been running for longer. It will be televised by BBC Wales, Eurosport, discovery+, CCTV5, Matchroom Live and many other broadcasters worldwide.
Giants of the baize including Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy local favourite Mark Selby and defending champion Mark Allen will be in action at the World Grand Prix at the Morningside Arena in Leicester in January.
The prestigious event, with a field of only the best 32 players from the one-year ranking list, will run from January 15 to 21.
…
Player of the season so far Judd Trump gets the tournament underway on the evening of Monday January 15 in a clash with Jamie Jones. The opening round will also see blockbuster battles including John Higgins taking on Shaun Murphy and Mark Allen facing Jack Lisowski.
The full first round schedule is:
Monday January 15
7pm Judd Trump v Jamie Jones Chris Wakelin v Lyu Haotian Followed by Mark Selby v Yuan Sijun Ali Carter v Wu Yize
Tuesday January 16
1pm John Higgins v Shaun Murphy Stephen Maguire v Zhou Yuelong Followed by Gary Wilson v David Gilbert Hossein Vafaei v Matthew Selt
7pm Mark Williams v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Tom Ford v Jordan Brown Followed by Ronnie O’Sullivan v Pang Junxu Barry Hawkins v Cao Yupeng
Wednesday January 17
1pm Ding Junhui v Ricky Walden Noppon Saengkham v Xiao Guodong Followed by Mark Allen v Jack Lisowski Zhang Anda v Dominic Dale
The World Grand Prix is the first of three events in the 2024 Players Series, to be followed by the Players Championship in Telford in February and the Tour Championship at Manchester Central in April.
Following the massive success of the MrQ UK Championship, World Snooker Tour (WST) is pleased to announce MrQ as the new Lead Partner of The Masters, the sport’s greatest invitation event, to be contested by the best 16 players on the planet.
The MrQ Masters will run from January 7 to 14 at the iconic Alexandra Palace in London. Celebrating the 50th staging of this historic tournament, which was first held in 1975, WST is delighted to join forces with MrQ.com for one of the outstanding events of the global tour.
Popular UK-based online casino MrQ launched in 2018 and established a modern, easy to use platform to provide a fun and transparent customer experience.
MrQ’s first partnership with snooker came at the recent UK Championship in York. The event achieved tremendous viewing figures, with a peak audience of 2.6 million for the final on BBC, and a cumulative audience of 14.3 million across the event on BBC and UK Eurosport.
MrQ has now grasped the opportunity to join forces with WST again for another of snooker’s Triple Crown Series. The MrQ Masters will bring packed crowds to Alexandra Palace, with all standard tickets for the 2,000-seat arena sold out weeks in advance.
Judd Trump will defend the title, in a field full of giants of the baize including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Mark Allen and many more.
MrQ’s Head of Acquisition James Booth said: “We were elated by the success of the MrQ UK Championship, we had not fully appreciated snooker’s vast reach and popularity, in terms of its live and television audience. We look forward to seeing this partnership taken to the next level at the MrQ Masters in London.
“We’re particularly excited about getting involved with the fan experience at Ally Pally, renowned as the best of its kind on the snooker circuit, including interactive games. As always we’ll be bringing an extra element of fun for fans coming for a great day out.”
WST’s Chief Commercial Officer Peter Wright said: “We’re delighted to develop this relationship with MrQ, our lead partner for two of the three Triple Crown events this season. Clearly they were amazed by the incredible atmosphere at the UK Championship and the exceptional data that came out of the event, so naturally they were very motivated to extend their relationship with a rapidly growing sport.
“We can now look forward to the MrQ Masters, which in recent years has increased its appeal to become one of the hottest tickets across London. We look forward to working with the MrQ team on this elite event.”
…
I can’t say I’m thrilled… you know my thoughts about bookies and betting in general. It’s a plague…
The 2024 Championship League Snooker line-up has been revealed on the event site.
This line-up will certainly change, it always does. As it stand Ronnie has entered the event, but in the last Group , Group 7.
This event is not everybody’s cup of tea (coffee for me, please) but I like it because the players usually play with a lot of freedom and it’s often very pleasant to watch.
The 2024 German Masters qualifiers are currently underway in Sheffield. I’ll probably only post about that at the end of this week, unless something really out of the ordinary happens.
Meanwhile here are some interesting snooker news published by WST and WPBSA in recent days.
Gary Wilson’s victory at the BetVictor Scottish Open saw him come from a lowly 61st place on the one-year ranking list to jump to tenth and earn a place at next month’s World Grand Prix in Leicester.
Wilson went into the tournament in Edinburgh knowing he had to at least reach the semi-finals to climb into the top 32, and he went two steps further by winning his second ranking title and £80,000.
The field of 32 players is now confirmed for the World Grand Prix to run from January 15 to 21 at the Morningside Arena, the first event in the 2024 Players Series. The first round draw is below and the format will be announced soon …
Judd Trump v Jamie Jones Lyu Hoatian v Chris Wakelin Mark Selby v Yuan Sijun Ali Carter v Wu Yize Barry Hawkins v Cao Yupeng John Higgins v Shaun Murphy Hossein Vafaei v Matthew Selt Mark Williams v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Zhang Anda v Dominic Dale Mark Allen v Jack Lisowski Noppon Saengkham v Xiao Guodong Ding Junhui v Ricky Walden Tom Ford v Jordan Brown Gary Wilson v David Gilbert Zhou Yuelong v Stephen Maguire Ronnie O’Sullivan v Pang Junxu
Saengkham’s run to the final earned him £35,000, boosting him from 20th to 11th. After the World Grand Prix, there will be just two ranking events before the line-up of 16 players is confirmed for the Players Championship in Telford in February.
Big names to miss out on Leicester include Kyren Wilson and Luca Brecel, who both needed just one more win in Edinburgh, but fell at the last 16 and last 32 stage respectively.
Wilson moves up to third place in the BetVictor Series rankings, albeit still £114,000 behind runaway leader Judd Trump. There are just two counting events to go: the BetVictor German Masters and BetVictor Welsh Open, so Trump could wrap up the £150,000 bonus if no one gets within £80,000 of him by the end of the tournament in Berlin.
On the official two-year list, Wilson jumps from 20th to 17th while Saengkham is up from 26th to 22nd. Ronnie O’Sullivan will go into 2024 as the world number one with a lead of £113,500 over Trump. This list will now be used for seeding for the 2024 BetVictor Welsh Open and the 2024 World Open.
It’s early days in the Race to the Crucible, with six ranking events still to go, but Wilson has boosted his hopes of a place at the Theatre of Dreams, climbing to 13th, while Saengkham is among the chasing pack in 20th. Robert Milkins is in 16th spot, with Barry Hawkins just behind him, while former champion Neil Robertson is in 30th place, £116,000 behind Milkins.
Neil Robertson is currently in Australia, having a good time and playing exhibitions. I’m not sure that home sickness alone can explain his current dip of form and it’s hard to believe that he will very probably need to qualify for the Crucible but that’s how it is.
Global Q Tour Playoff to Be Held in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has announced that the newly expanded WPBSA Q Tour Global Playoff will be held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 13-15 March 2024.
To be played at the Hotel Hills alongside the European Championships organised by the European Billiards and Snooker Association (EBSA), the relaunched Playoff will see three players earn a two-year World Snooker Tour card from the start of the 2024/25 season.
THE FIELD
The event will be contested by 24 players who will need to win three matches to secure a professional tour card.
This will include a minimum of 16 players from the Q Tour UK/Europe Series, with Liam Davies, Michael Holt, Umut Dikme and Antoni Kowalski already guaranteed to qualify as event winners so far this season – unless one of them were to claim the automatic tour card for finishing in top spot.
They will be joined by up to eight players from regional Q Tour events held around the world. To date, Q Tours in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Middle East Regions have already been announced, with outstanding performers based upon regional ranking lists set to qualify for the Global Playoff.
THE FORMAT
The three-day event will comprise three sections of eight players, to play quarter-finals, semi-finals and ultimately final qualification matches. These will be played under and expanded long format of best of 9, 11 and ultimately 19 frame matches respectively, to provide the ultimate test for aspiring professionals.
The Playoff will also carry a prize fund of almost £20,000 for the first time, with each of the 24 players guaranteed to earn prize money from the event.
“THE VERY BEST CONDITIONS”
Jason Ferguson, WPBSA Chairman said: “We are delighted to announce that this prestigious new Playoff will be held alongside the EBSA European Championships in Sarajevo next spring.
“The announcement of Q Tour Global last July has received a fantastic response from amateur players around the world and already this season we have seen record entry numbers as players aim to earn their place on the professional tour.
“Open to players of all nationalities, gender and ability, the WPBSA Q Tour is a truly inclusive and open tour, with more players able to compete internationally than ever before with the introduction of Q Tour Series’ in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions this season.
“I would like to thank our friends at the EBSA who I know will strive to deliver the very best conditions for the players in what are hugely important matches and I look forward to seeing who will emerge victorious from what promises to be a wonderful event.”
Maxime Cassis, EBSA President said: “On behalf of the EBSA I am delighted to be able to cooperate with the WPBSA to host this major event which will see three amateur players turn professional for the start of the 2024/25 season.
“Combined with the two players to be claimed by the winners of our European Championship and European Under-21 Championship tournament, this means that there will now be five players who will join the World Snooker Tour following this historic event in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
There are some interesting infos in this announcement.
I have always been puzzled by how closely WPBSA worked with the English amateur snooker bodies but not so much other national and international bodies. This joint even is a step in the right direction.
The new format for the play-off, with proper, longer matches is a welcome move, as is the increased prize money.
I want to hope that these changes are paving the way to a true secondary tour and to a more truly international tour. By the latter, I also mean, a tour where the majority of events will be played outside the UK, and outside Englangd in particular and that goes for qualifiers – if any – as well. You know my stance: there should be no qualifiers for any flat-draw event.
Christmas With The Rocket 
, Ronnie O’Sullivan in China 
Being in the presence of Ronnie O’Sullivan, also known as “The Rocket,” is truly a privilege. His unmatched skills, precision, and strategic gameplay are a sight to behold. I witnessed firsthand the level of dedication and passion he brings to the game of snooker when I worked with him a few years ago. His humility and down-to-earth nature are truly remarkable, making this experience even more memorable.I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time with Ronnie O’Sullivan at Christmas as this is first during the festive period as my wife passed away earlier this year.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 