Neil Robertson, Jack Lisowski, Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui, Anthony McGill, Ryan Day and Hossein Vafaei are among the star names in the strongest ever field for the qualifying rounds of the Cazoo World Championship.
The draw and format is now available for the qualifying event, which runs from April 8th to 17th at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
All players seeded outside the top 16 compete in the qualifiers, including the likes of 2010 Crucible king Robertson and Lisowski who have both dropped out of the elite this season. They will both need to win two matches to make it to the Theatre of Dreams for the main event which runs from April 20th to May 6th.
Tickets for the qualifying rounds are on sale now, for just £12 per day – fantastic value for the chance to see a wide array of all-time greats and up-and-coming talents, competing in snooker’s biggest tournament.
Players starting in the opening round – including 16 invited amateurs – must win four matches to make it to the Crucible. First round ties include six-time world finalist Jimmy White taking on Martin Gould, and new women’s World Champion Bai Yulu up against Jenson Kendrick.
The final round, on April 16th and 17th, is known as Judgement Day, when places at the Crucible will be at stake.
Fans can watch from round one on discovery+ as well as streaming platforms worldwide. Then our Judgement Day production, presented by Rob Walker, Ken Doherty and David Hendon, will be streamed live and free on WST’s YouTube and Facebook channels.
The seeding structure is:
Round one pits players ranked 81-112 against those seeded 113-144 In round two, those 32 winners face players ranked 49-80. In round three, those 32 winners face players ranked 17-48. In round four, those 32 winners play each other, with the 16 winners going through to the Crucible.
All matches are best of 19 frames (9/10). Sessions times are 10am, 2,30pm and 7pm for the first three rounds, then 11am and 5pm for Judgement Day.
The draw for the first round at the Crucible will be made on the morning of Thursday April 18th, you can listen on BBC Radio Five Live and watch live on the BBC Sport website.
This is, in my opinion the best tournament of the season from a fan’s point of view and it’s quite affordable too. Unfortunately for me, life circumstances are such that I can’t attend this year and I’m not sure I will ever again be able to follow it live from the venue.
It’s also a format I like and one I would like to see used in other tournaments as well. The lowest ranked players face matches of progressive level of difficulty, allowing them to learn (and earn) and hopefully win a couple before being pitted against a top player.
For me “the match” of the first round is Bai Yulu v Jenson Kendrick. I believe that Bai has a real chance in this one and that’s nothing from me against Jenson. Another very interesting match will be Ashley Carty v Liam Graham. Liam is very highly rated and I wonder how Ashley, who played at the Crucible before, finds himself low enough in the rankings to need to play in the first round. Fergal O’Brien intends to retire at the end of the season but I would love to see him have agreat “last run”. He faces a tough match against Mustafa Dorgham and whoever wins that match will face Dotty !!! I will also follow the Bulcsú Révész v Sean O’Sullivan and Iulian Boiko v Alex Ursenbacher battles.
Looking at the possible second round matches, Marco Fu and Ken Doherty could face each other. Julien Leclercq could face Hammad Miah – a though draw that – and one win would probably be enough for Julien’s tour survival. Ben Mertens may well face Rod Lawler … tell me about a clash of styles!
The much anticipated 2024 All Star Challenge in Hong Kong proved to be a rather disappointing event on many accounts. I already mentioned the overpriced tickets and the seating disaster.
Unfortunately there were even more issues …
Patsy Cheung and her family are huge fans of the sport and have, in the past, been involved in the staging of the General Cup. I know that for sure because they contacted me at the time, asking if I could help with pictures for the posters. Patsy has become close friend with some of the top players, notably Mark Williams, with whom she went out for dinner this week in Hong Kong. She posted pictures on her Facebook page..
Also on her page, she shared a post in Chinese that translates like this:
Me myself had wonderful two days with the super stars on and off the snooker table. But the event itself is terribly disappointing, not professional at all. As a close friend of Mark Williams, they claimed he was sick the 2nd day and skip the match. But actually he already has another tournament scheduled months ago, so he could only play one day in HK. Fans may misunderstand him as being not professional. Any respect to the stars in all aspects?
This is extremely disappointing and concerning. Misrepresenting the players damages their image and selling a match when you know full well that one of the players will not be available is dishonest. Credits to Patsy for trying to put things right. She genuinely loves snooker and does share a genuine friendship with some of the players.
Here are some of her pictures notably showing her with Willo’s family and Kyren Wilson, eating by the river.
Mark Allen has withdrawn from this weekend’s World Mixed Doubles due to personal circumstances, and has been replaced by Mark Selby.
As the next highest player in the world rankings, Selby joins the field and will play alongside Rebecca Kenna.
The tournament at Manchester Central features four teams, each with one man and one woman player. The event gets underway on Saturday at 1pm. The teams are:
Neil Robertson and Mink Nutcharut Luca Brecel and Reanne Evans Judd Trump and Baipat Siripaporn Mark Selby and Rebecca Kenna
Selby and Kenna played together at the inaugural staging of this event last season, reaching the final before losing to Robertson and Nutcharut.
Stephen Hendry decides not to play World Snooker Championship qualifying
Phil Haigh
Stephen Hendry says he will not be playing in World Snooker Championship qualifying this season, meaning he will end the campaign winless on the professional circuit.
The seven-time world champion returned to the main tour in the 2020/21 season, accepting a two-year tour card, which was given again at the start of the 2022/23 campaign.
There were some notable wins in the first two years of the return, beating Jimmy White in qualifying for the 2021 World Championship, then picking up victories over the likes of Michael White and Chris Wakelin the following season.
However, the two most recent campaigns have been fruitless, with no wins from four matches last season and none from five outings in the current campaign.
There will be no more matches this season for the 55-year-old, after he posted a comment on Fergal O’Brien’s Instagram ahead of World Championship qualifying.
He explained on the WST Snooker Club podcast: ‘I’ve not entered the World qualifying this year.
‘There’s a couple of reason, it starts the day after the Tour Championship finishes. I’ll have been working for TV all week and obviously not had much chance to practice, which I haven’t really done.
‘I’m not going to bother this year. There’s a lot of things to do in between the Tour Championship and World Championship, so I thought I’d give it a miss this year.’
As announced earlier this month by the WPBSA: ‘Any current professional players who do not enter the tournament will be replaced from the 2023 Q School Order of Merit.’
Hendry’s current two-year invitational tour card will come to an end when this season is over and it is yet to be seen whether he will be offered another one or choose to accept it if he is.
Really, Stephen Hendry shouldn’t get another invitational tour card. He’s not done anything with the opportunities he’s been offered. When he first came back on the tour, he said that his goal was to play at the Crucible again, if only once, but now he’s telling us that it never was a “comeback”. The very simple truth is that he’s not good enough and hasn’t the motivation to work hard on his game which he would need to do to stand any hope of getting results. He’s doing a lot of great things on social media and in commentary to promote and support his sport and he’s excellent at that. All credits to him for that but IF WST is to give wildcards to older legends or retired player it should go to one of hard-working long time servants of the game who will actually use it and try their best to make the most of it.
The action continued in Hong Kong and Ronnie had just one match to play yesterday … against Judd Trump who beat him by 5-2 and made a 147 for good measure … 🙄 There is no doubt that Judd is currently the man in form and – allegedly – he had some extra motivation: he was watched by his alleged new girlfriend who is Chinese…
Here are some pictures of the action … they were shared yesterday on weibo.
Also now available on YouTube is Ronnie’s match v Mark Williams, a close match where both players played well especially considering that it started late and amongst unhappiness from spectators who had paid for pricy tickets only to be unable to watch the table properly. This kind of delay would have affected Ronnie more than Mark who is pretty unflappable…
Fixtures Confirmed For Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship In Manchester
Snooker’s biggest names including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Allen, John Higgins, Mark Selby and many more will be in Manchester next week for the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship, and the match schedule is now confirmed.
The best 12 players of the 2023/24 season will compete in the world ranking event which runs from April 1st to 7th at the fantastic Manchester Central venue in the heart of the city.
…
The top four seeded players go straight into the quarter-finals, while those seeded 5-12 start in round one. All matches are best of 19 frames. The schedule is:
Monday April 1st
1pm Mark Allen v John Higgins (first eight frames) Gary Wilson v Mark Selby (first eight frames)
7pm Mark Allen v John Higgins (conclusion) Mark Williams v Tom Ford (first eight frames)
Tuesday April 2nd
1pm Barry Hawkins v Ali Carter (first eight frames) Gary Wilson v Mark Selby (conclusion)
7pm Barry Hawkins v Ali Carter (conclusion) Mark Williams v Tom Ford (conclusion)
Wednesday April 3rd
1pm QF4 Ronnie O’Sullivan v Hawkins or Carter (first eight frames) QF3 Zhang Anda v Wilson or Selby (first eight frames)
7pm QF4 Ronnie O’Sullivan v Hawkins or Carter (conclusion) QF2 Ding Junhui v Allen or Higgins (first eight frames)
Thursday April 4th
1pm QF1 Judd Trump v Williams or Ford (first eight frames) QF3 Zhang Anda v Wilson or Selby (conclusion)
7pm QF1 Judd Trump v Williams or Ford (conclusion) QF2 Ding Junhui v Allen or Higgins (conclusion)
Friday April 5th
1pm Semi-final 2 (QF3 winner v QF4 winner) first eight frames
7pm Semi-final 2 (QF3 winner v QF4 winner) conclusion
Saturday April 6th
1pm Semi-final 1 (QF1 winner v QF2 winner) first eight frames
7pm Semi-final 1 (QF1 winner v QF2 winner) conclusion
Sunday April 7th
1pm
Final (first eight frames)
7pm Final (conclusion)
Televised by ITV, the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship is the third and final event in the 2024 Players Series. Manchester Central hosts the event for the first time.
2024 Hong Kong All Star Challenge
The action continues in Hong Kong and I really appreciate the help readers of this blog in the chase for images and videos. Thank you! You know who you are ❤️ … I can’t put everything in the post, it would be very long to read but the comments are there for all pick, chose and enjoy…
So here goes… Ronnie yesterday played two matches. The first match was delayed by nearly an hour because spectators were unhappy, and rightly so. The more expensive tickets – and they were really expensive – were for seats that were close to the table but basically level with it … and the persons seated in them could not actually see the bed of the table. How daft!
Ronnie’s first match was against Mark Williams. Willo won it by 5-4. Ronnie fought back from 4-2 down to force a decider but it as Mark who took it eventually.
Here are some images … (thanks Kalacs!)
Ronnie’s second match, in the evening was against Marco Fu and Ronnie beat him by 5-2.
That match is on Youtube (thanks Ben!) filmed by a spectator.
The action continues today and I will report on that tomorrow.
This is the programfo the event as known at this stage:
Northern Ireland’s Robbie McGuigan is the 2024 European Champion in Sarajevo following an incredible Final where he beat Craig Steadman 5-4.
McGuigan just 19 years of age will now become a Professional Player on the WST in the 2024 – 2025 Season after winning a two year Main Tour Card.
The final could have gone either way and the two players were level no fewer than four times until in yet another deciding frame and McGuigan kept his nerve to pot the final couple of Reds to win the title.
BIH President Senad Pehlivanovic and EBSA President Maxime Cassis with the new Champion
Final Referee from Bosnia and Herzegovina Almedin Hodzic and Final Marker Catalin Cojoc from Moldova
Robbie also received a New Titanium Cue from the Newest EBSA Sponsor ‘little monster’ presented by EBSA General Secretary Simon Smith and EBSA President Maxime Cassis.
Runner Up and Silver Medal winner Craig Steadman
Bronze Medal winner Florian Nuessle from Austria
Congratulations Robbie!
About this competition, a player from England was reflecting on Facebook that, a few years back, when facing an amateur from mainland Europe, the UK players almost always won easily, but things have changed radically. That’s good news to me! All the results are available on snooker.org.
Lei Peifan came from 5-3 down to defeat Vinnie Calabrese 6-5 in the final of the Asia Pacific Open Championship to earn a return to the World Snooker Tour after a one-year absence.
The 20-year-old Chinese player came through a strong field of 90 cueists at the Mounties Club in Mount Pritchard, Australia to regain his professional status less than twelve months after dropping of the tour at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
Both Lei and fellow eventual finalist Calabrese stormed through the initial group phase with a clean sweep of victories and an aggregrate frame score of 11-1.
Victories over Adam Waller and Chi Kin Yeung early in the knockout phase saw Lei lose just one further frame as he set up a mouthwatering quarter-final contest with fellow countryman and former WSF champion Luo Honghao.
Lei was able to overcome his toughest opponent thus far as he defeated Luo 4-2, before booking his place in the title match with a 5-2 victory over Hong Kong China’s Wan Nansen Sin Man.
Former professional and recent Q Tour Asia Pacific event winner Calabrese would be his opponent in the final as he lost just four frames in his four knockout matches en route to a meeting with Lei – comfortably defeating fellow Australian Shaun Dalitz 5-1 in the last four.
Calabrese had been in fine form throughout the event, including firing in four centuries and a further sixteen breaks of 50 and over, and he moved to the verge of claiming the Asia Pacific Open Championship title when he moved 5-3 ahead in a race to six.
Lei held his nerve, however, to claim three consecutive frames and dramatically secure both the championship crown and a two-year World Snooker Tour card for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons.
Photos courtesy of the Asia Pacific Snooker & Billiards Federation
Congratulations Lei Peifan
Ronnie News
According to Weibo, Ronnie traveled to Xinchang, Shaoxing yesterday to participate in the filming of a film named “Lovely Home”. At the scene Ronnie admitted that this was a completely new experience for him. He also met many fans.
The film, named “Lovely Home” is produced by the Xinchang County Tourism Group and features a scene where the main protagonist competes with the World Billiards best player. The crew invited Ronnie, the current number one, to Xinchang Stadium for the filming. From what transpired, the film is written and directed by Chen Tianyi – who was born in Xinchang – and stars some famous actors such as He Saifei and Zhang Chenguang. The film is a “family drama” about billiards.
Here are some images shared on Weibo:
And, yes, Ronnie travels by train… he often does actually. He finds it more relaxing than dricving.
Today, Ronnie is playing an exhibition in Hong Kong
I haven’t found much about the outcome yet, but some images were shared on Weibo, as well as news about spectators being unhappy with the organisers about the seating…
Judd Trump had won the World Open in 2019 – the last time the event was played before the Covid crisis – and, today, he successfully defended the title, beating Ding Junhui by 10-4 in a disappointingly one-sided final1. He has now 28 ranking titles to his name, same as Steve Davis2
Judd Trump won his 28th ranking title – matching the career tally of Steve Davis – with a 10-4 victory over Ding Junhui in the final of the Huading Nylon World Open in Yushan, China.
Home favourite Ding was outplayed as Trump made two centuries and five more breaks over 50 as he cruised to a fifth ranking title of the season, having previously won the BetVictor English Open, Wuhan Open, BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and BetVictor German Masters. It’s the third time within five years that he has won five (or more) ranking titles in a single campaign, having landed a record six in 2019/20 and five the following season. The only other players to achieve that feat are Hendry (five in 1990/91), Ding (five in 2013/14), Mark Selby (five in 2016/17) and O’Sullivan (five in 2017/18).
Trump and O’Sullivan have been the dominant forces of the 2023/24 season, with five titles apiece (three of O’Sullivan’s have been at invitation events), and the Player of the Year debate could be settled at the Crucible.
The £170,000 top prize brings Trump’s total earnings for 2023/24 to £1,061,000, the third time in his career that he has reached seven figures for the season. O’Sullivan is ahead of him with £1,155,500, already a record, with the lucrative Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship and Cazoo World Championship still to come. It’s the first time that two players have earned over £1 million in a single season.
Impressively, all of Trump’s five titles this term have come in events with 128-player flat draws, meaning he has had to win seven matches in each of them. Relentlessly determined with strong emphasis on preparation, practice and consistency, world number two Trump shares many qualities with Hendry and Davis, who dominated in past decades. Winning – even when he is not at his best – has become a habit. And his scoring is prolific, with 76 centuries this season; 100 tons for the campaign still a possibility.
Ding missed out on a first ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship, and has now lost both of his finals this season, having finished runner-up to O’Sullivan in York in December. The 36-year-old enjoyed an epic 6-5 win over Neil Robertson in the semi-finals but, with so much expectation from his home crowd, could not replicate that success today. The £73,000 second prize lifts him from ninth to seventh in the official rankings, and he is up to fourth on the one-year list, which means he goes straight into the quarter-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship in Manchester.
Breaks of 88, 59, 79 and 78 helped Trump build a 7-2 lead in the opening session. When they returned, the Bristol cueman quickly stretched his advantage with a run of 130. Ding pulled one back with an 84 only for Trump to edge 9-3 ahead with a 106, his eighth century of the tournament. Ding won the 13th to force a mid-session interval.
On a run of 58 in the 14th, Trump missed a tricky thin cut on a red to a top corner. The frame came down to a safety battle on the last red, and Ding missed a chance from distance, handing his opponent the opportunity to clear to the brown to retain the title, having won this event when it was last staged in 2019.
“Ding had been playing really well this week so I thought it was going to be tough,” said 2019 World Champion Trump. “I managed to dig in during the afternoon and get a good lead, then played my best stuff of the tournament tonight. I didn’t want to give Ding the chance to start winning frames and let the crowd get behind him When most of the crowd is with your opponent, you have to use that to motivate yourself.
“As I have got older I have learned not to punish myself when I miss easy balls. I see other players doing that. You are not trying to miss, so there’s no point punishing yourself, you have to forget about it, go back to your chair and wait for your next chance. So much of snooker is in the head, if you can be in the right space mentally then you have a big advantage. I am a lot more consistent in that respect these days.
“It has been great to get back to China this season, I was excited to get back here. The crowds have been massive this week, snooker is growing and the fans here are very young. It’s really promising for our sport.
“I can relax and enjoy the rest of the season, it has been a dream season for me. I’m looking forward to the two events in Manchester coming up, to be playing in the centre of a major city will feel special.”
TRUMP’S WINNING MOMENTS
Congratulations Judd Trump
Images shared on Weibo by WST
In the coming days there will be no live professional snooker and I will look at what happened last week on the amateur scene, including in “main tour qualifying route” events.
Judd himself played really well but, unfortunately, Ding was far from his best ↩︎
Although Steve won the UK Championship before it became ranking so those comparisons are to be taken with some caution ↩︎
Ronnie O'Sullivan 