Marco Fu produced a late blitz to overcome 1997 Crucible king Ken Doherty 10-6 and move within two matches of a first trip to the Theatre of Dreams in six years at Cazoo World Championship qualifying in Sheffield.
Legendary Hong Kong cueman Fu’s last appearance at the Crucible came all the way back in 2018. Since then, he has had to endure a period of exile from the tour with travel restrictions during the pandemic and eye problems which have also kept him out of action for an extended period.
Though the eye issues persist, the three-time ranking event winner has shown flashes of form this season. He made the last 16 at the Welsh Open and thrashed Mark Selby 5-1 at the German Masters, before being forced to retire from his second round match against Alfie Davies in the mid-session.
Fu and Doherty were nip and tuck for much of the match today. However, with the scores locked at 6-6, it was Fu who produced a scintillating burst for the finish line. Breaks of 97, 136 and 61 saw him move one from the win at 9-6. He then embarked on a 147 attempt in the last frame, but the final two reds were at the baulk end and his run ended on 104 attempting to get position on the black.
Next up here at the English Institute of Sport, Fu faces a tough test against Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei.
“Ken is an old friend and old opponent. I’ve been playing him since I first turned professional and he is a tremendous player. You don’t expect him to be the same standard as 20 years ago, but he is still so classy around the table, beautiful to watch. That class will always be there. It is always nice playing him, a bit like a reunion after what happened with Covid.”
Marco Fu
Former Crucible Semi-Finalist
Fu added: “It has always been a privilege and a dream for everybody to play at the Crucible. I miss playing there. I’m just going to take it one match at a time. I needed to win four matches at the start of the event to get there, I’ve won two and it is going to get more difficult. I’m starting to enjoy playing and that is the most important thing.
“It shows the standard nowadays that Hossein is at the qualifiers. That shows you how strong the game is. I’m looking forward to playing him. He is an attacking player and quite quick. It is going to be a good game.”
Belgian Julien Leclecq appears to have all but secured his tour survival after a crucial 10-3 win over Hayden Pinhey. The 21-year-old former Shoot Out finalist now plays Joe O’Connor in round three.
Scotland’s 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott scored a 10-5 win over the Egyptian Mostafa Dorgham, while Jiang Jun sprung a shock 10-8 win over former European Masters winner Fan Zhengyi.
That report as you would expect is mainly about Ken Doherty and Marco Fu. Both deserve the exposure, of course they do, but, in those WST pieces a bit more about the younger players, and some insight on what is at stake for the players in action on the next day would be welcome!
Yesterday, young rookies Ma Hailong (20 years old) and Jiang Jun (18 years old) won their match and whilst Jian Jung win over Fan Zhengyi is mentioned, nothing is said about Ma Hailong 10-7 victory over Martin O’Donnell.
Julien Leclercq is probably safe but he will need to improve to beat Joe O’Connor who will not offer him as many opportunities as Haydon Pinhey did. His friend and fellow Belgian citizen, Ben Mertens really struggled yesterday against Rod Lawler whose pace is… slow … to put it kindly. They only played seven frames and given the way it started it’s a good outcome that Ben is only 4-3 behind.
Round 3 starts today but there are still eighth round 2 matches in progress.
Mohammed Shehab is certainly one of the surprises of those qualifiers. He played well in beating Stan Moody and is only 5-4 behind in his round 2 match against the vastly experienced Tian Pengfei. Tian will be concerned for sure because he was 3-0 up at the start of the match which means that he lost four of the last six frames played.
6 thoughts on “The 2024 World Snooker Championship Qualifiers – Day 5”
Just read that Gould stays on the tour for medical exemption.
Yes, I knew he was in no fit state to play, but of course there are procedures to go through to actually get a medical exemption and a tour card extension.
There are implications with the tour card allocation, but in fact (fortuitously) it will probably end up OK.
Good for him, happy for Martin.
You would have thought that Graeme Dotts win gauranteed his tour place for next season would have deserved a mention.
You are right, it just didn’t occur to me that Dotty was in danger of dropping off.
I’ll give some leeway to WST regarding the Ma Hailong win. I left that match around midnight, with the score 8-7 and about 10 reds all on the cushion. However, Ma won fairly quickly, to cap a fine performance. If Martin O’Donnell expected his tactical game would be successful, he was mistaken. Ma Hailong is a good safety player, but what was impressive yesterday was his scoring. There is no question he was helped by romping to an easy win in his first match.
It was a similar situation in the best match of the day, where Jiang Jun beat Fan Zhengyi. Both players were brilliant, trading spectacular pots and beautiful centuries. But Fan felt the pressure more, being expected to win. Jiang Jun used to have a very extravagant cue-action, but is now a much more technical player, developed in Dongguan (with Ma Hailong and Bai Yulu). The World Championship is a real breakthrough for him, a player with tremendous potential who had struggled to adapt to the UK.
There was also a crash by Dylan Emery, a player I have been following, who will be relegated. Like Fan, he had a 4-0 lead. But Julien Leclercq won, keeping his hopes alive. Ben Mertens still has a lot of work to do.
But it was probably reasonable for the report to focus on Marco Fu and Ken Doherty. There was a large crowd watching. But both players are invitational wildcards, and WST should be wary of blurring the boundaries of professional snooker.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Just read that Gould stays on the tour for medical exemption.
Yes, I knew he was in no fit state to play, but of course there are procedures to go through to actually get a medical exemption and a tour card extension.
There are implications with the tour card allocation, but in fact (fortuitously) it will probably end up OK.
Good for him, happy for Martin.
You would have thought that Graeme Dotts win gauranteed his tour place for next season would have deserved a mention.
You are right, it just didn’t occur to me that Dotty was in danger of dropping off.
I’ll give some leeway to WST regarding the Ma Hailong win. I left that match around midnight, with the score 8-7 and about 10 reds all on the cushion. However, Ma won fairly quickly, to cap a fine performance. If Martin O’Donnell expected his tactical game would be successful, he was mistaken. Ma Hailong is a good safety player, but what was impressive yesterday was his scoring. There is no question he was helped by romping to an easy win in his first match.
It was a similar situation in the best match of the day, where Jiang Jun beat Fan Zhengyi. Both players were brilliant, trading spectacular pots and beautiful centuries. But Fan felt the pressure more, being expected to win. Jiang Jun used to have a very extravagant cue-action, but is now a much more technical player, developed in Dongguan (with Ma Hailong and Bai Yulu). The World Championship is a real breakthrough for him, a player with tremendous potential who had struggled to adapt to the UK.
There was also a crash by Dylan Emery, a player I have been following, who will be relegated. Like Fan, he had a 4-0 lead. But Julien Leclercq won, keeping his hopes alive. Ben Mertens still has a lot of work to do.
But it was probably reasonable for the report to focus on Marco Fu and Ken Doherty. There was a large crowd watching. But both players are invitational wildcards, and WST should be wary of blurring the boundaries of professional snooker.