Month: June 2024

2024 Ranking CLS – Day 18

Monique Professional snooker tournament

Scott Donaldson and Ali Carter booked their place in the final stage at the 2024 Ranking CLS yesterday and here is the report by WST:

DONALDSON AND CARTER INTO STAGE THREE

Scott Donaldson reached the last eight of a ranking event for the first time in four years as he topped Group A in the second phase of the BetVictor Championship League.

Donaldson won the invitational version of this event in 2020 and his last deep run in a ranking event came in the same year as he reached the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open. The former world number 22 has slipped to 51st in the rankings, but has made a promising start to the new campaign.

Breaks of 106 and 81 helped him beat Chris Wakelin 3-1 in his opening match today in Leicester, and he then saw off Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 3-0. The group was still in the balance as Fan Zhengyi could have leapfrogged Donaldson by winning the last match of the day, and he took the opening frame with a run of 68. But Donaldson levelled with a run of 54 then crucially won frame three with a 32 clearance. Fan took the last with a 73 to draw 2-2 but that was not enough.

Donaldson goes through to stage three next Wednesday (July 3) where the last eight players will be split into two groups of four, with the two group winners to contest the final. He will be joined by Ali Carter, who topped Group E.

Neil Robertson withdrew from the group, which meant that Carter, Jack Lisowski and Wu Yize played each other twice. Having started with a 2-2 draw against Wu, five-time ranking event winner Carter got going with a 3-1 win over Lisowski. A break of 130 helped him to secure another draw against Wu, then Carter clinched top spot by beating Lisowski 3-1 for a second time, his top break 120.

As always you will find all the results on snooker.org

Scott Donaldson is a hard worker. He’s humble, maybe too humble. I would love to see him win this. He’s better than his ranking shows. It’s not easy to “grow” in the shadow of the Scottish Greats.

I have very little to say about the matches, as I saw very little of the action yesterday. That Ali Carter beat Jack Lisowski twice, by 3-1 both times, didn’t please me one bit but didn’t surprise me at all. I have given up all hopes on Jack ever doing justice to his extraordinary natural talent. I love watching him play and I hate watching him play … all at the same time because when it works, he’s marvellous, but it only works until the next careless shot or the next lapse of concentration and those always come, sooner or later but they come. They are just as foreseeable as rain in Belgium, never a matter of “if”, it’s only about “when”.

The last frame between Theppy and Wakelin was hilarious. With no hope to progress both had completely lost their concentration and played some seriously slapstick snooker, demonstrating that even at their level they need to stay focused on every shot or it “degenerates” pretty quickly! At least they had a good laugh about it.

Finally … I owe Neil Robertson an apology. If what I read is true, it wasn’t a mishap. It seems that the calendar that was initially communicated to the players for this event was changed at some point later in time. In between however Neil had committed to exhibitions in China at dates that were “free” for him in the initial version he had got

Day 17 at the 2024 Ranking CLS – the Defending Champion bows out

Monique Snooker

Shaun Murphy’s title defence came to an end yesterday evening at the hands of Hossein Vafaei. Shaun went into his last match of the day as “top of the table” but a 3-0 defeat saw him eventually finish only third1. Shaun has, so far, never succeeded in defending a title. Hossein though didn’t benefit much from this late win, as it was Long Zehuang who progressed to the final day on frame difference.

David Gilbert was brilliant in winning the other group.

Here is the report by WST:

David Gilbert, who won his sole ranking title at the BetVictor Championship League three years ago, moved a step closer to doubling his tally by progressing to the final group stage.

Gilbert and Long Zehuang topped their respective groups on Friday in Leicester to qualify for the last stage, which will take place on Wednesday July 3rd. There will be eight players in action, split into two groups of four, with the group winners to meet in the final on Wednesday night to compete for the first ranking title of the 2024/25 season.

Champion of this event in 2021, Gilbert appeared in the semi-finals at the Crucible last month and has carried his momentum into the new season. He opened Group B today with a 3-1 win over Ashley Carty, then saw off He Guoqiang 3-1 with a top break of 132. Stuart Bingham still had a chance to top the table by winning the last match of the group, but Gilbert eased to a 3-0 success.

China’s Long was the surprise winner of Group C and he’s into the last eight of a ranking event for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old played his first season on the pro tour in 2023/24, his best run coming at the Shoot Out where he reached the last 16. 

He lost his opening match today 3-1 against defending champion Shaun Murphy, then hit back to score 3-0 wins over both Hossein Vafaei and Jamie Jones. Murphy would have topped the group with a draw in his last match against Vafaei, but lost 3-0. That left three players tied on two wins apiece, but Long on top with a superior frame difference.

  1. Just like Ronnie actually… ↩︎

The 2024 Ranking CLS – Day 16 and Ronnie’s “fashionable” practice + Neil Robertson withdrawal

Monique Professional snooker, Professional snooker tournament

Yesterday was the last day of stage 1 at the 2024 Ranking CLS and it produced something quite extraordinary in Group 15. I put it in bold green in the report hereafter. All credits to Gilbert, but you have to feel for the other three, especially Pagett who finished the day on three points, undefeated and will get very little to show for his efforts, no money, no ranking points, nothing. It’s cruel really.

Here is the report by WST:

DEFENDING CHAMPION MURPHY TOPS GROUP

Shaun Murphy got his season and the defence of his BetVictor Champonship League title off to the perfect start, winning all of his matches to top Group Three. 

The Magician lifted the title in the ranking edition of this event 12 months ago. He defeated three-time World Champion Mark Williams 3-0 in the final to secure what was the 12th ranking crown of his career. 

His season started today with a group featuring Steven Hallworth, Reanne Evans and Tian Pengfei. Murphy got his campaign up and running in style with a 3-0 win over Hallworth, crafting runs of 100, 93 and 61 during the rout. He then defeated Evans 3-1 and dispatched Tian 3-0 to progress to Stage Two, after a day which saw him win eight out of nine frames. 

David Gilbert produced a stunning last gasp century break to win Group 15 by the narrowest of all margins. 

The Tamworth cueman was pitted against Andrew Pagett, Xu Si and Duane Jones. Remarkably all of the matches ended in 2-2 draws. It was Gilbert who took on Xu in the last game of the day. They headed into the final frame with Xu leading 2-1 and in pole position to progress, even with a draw, having made a 131 high break. However, Gilbert fired in a sublime 136 to snatch top spot on the high break tiebreaker and clinch a place in the next stage. 

Meanwhile, Ronnie has been practising at Vic Snooker Academy in Sheffield

Screenshot

Don’t ask about his sense of fashion ! I love yellow as a colour but… 😂

Also shered on social media this … typical Neil Robertson mishap!

The 2024 Ranking CLS – Day 15 – and Wildcards’ Stuff

Monique Professional snooker, Professional snooker tournament, Tour News , ,

I mainly watched Group 16 yesterday. Zhou Yuelong was very poor on the day, it has to be said. Mink, on the other hand, performed better than I expected. She managed two draws. OK, Zhou Yuelong was far from his best, but she got a draw against the eventual group winner, Fan Zhengyi, as well and she secured some precious points by finishing third in the group. She is clearly working hard and progressing. She is a petite, slender women. She lacks cue power but she has a very decent safety game as well as the right mindset and attitude. Is that enough to give her a chance on the main tour? The honest answer is that I’m not sure. What I’m very sure of though is that she deserves respect, a lot of it. She certainly doesn’t deserve the contempt that so often transpires through disparaging comments made by insecure machos in chats and posts. You know who you are.

Here is the report by WST:

CAPTAIN CRUISES THROUGH

Ali Carter got his season off to a strong start by topping Group Five at the BetVictor Championship League and earning his place in Stage Two. 

The Captain opened his day with a 2-2 draw against Joshua Thomond, where he lost the final frame to surrender victory. However, he recovered well with a 3-1 defeat of Indian tour rookie Kreish Gurbaxani. That set up a group decider against Xing Zihao, who won his opening two matches with Thomond and Gurbaxani. It was Carter who crafted breaks of 87 and 73 en route to a 3-1 victory and the next round. 

Former BetVictor European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi prevailed in Group 16. He opened with a 3-0 whitewash win over former World Seniors finalist Alfie Burden, before making breaks of 121 and 65 in a 2-2 draw with women’s world number one Mink Nutcharut. Fan faced Chinese compatriot Zhou Yuelong in a crucial final game, but crafted contributions of 113 and 57 in a group sealing 3-1 victory. 

As always you will find all the results on snooker.org

About Wildcards …

This was shared by WST three days ago:

DOHERTY AWARDED INVITATIONAL TOUR CARD

Former World Champion Ken Doherty has been awarded an Invitational Tour Card which will allow him to compete on the World Snooker Tour for the next two seasons.

Ireland’s Doherty has been ever-present on the tour since 1990. He would have been relegated at the end of last season having finished 79th in the world rankings, but has accepted the Invitational Tour Card which gives him the chance to enter events during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons.

Doherty conquered the Crucible in 1997 and in all has won over 20 professional tournaments. 
 
WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “In view of Ken’s tremendous record as a player and a fantastic ambassador for snooker, we had no hesitation in offering him a tour card. He is a great asset to our sport and also remains very competitive as a player and no doubt fans will continue to enjoy watching him in action over the next two seasons.”

Stephen Hendry was also offered an Invitational Tour Card but has decided not to accept. The seven-time World Champion had held the card since 2020, but now feels that he is unable to commit to the tour due to other priorities including the growth of his CueTips YouTube Channel and brand, broadcast commitments and ambassadorial role in China.

His various commitments aren’t the only reasons why Hendry decided to decline the offer. Indeed here is what he had to tell the Daily Record as reported by BBC:

“Let’s be honest, I wasn’t pulling up any trees, was I?

“I was a little bit surprised with how good the standard was, but I’ve just got so many other work commitments, I won’t be able to dedicate enough time to practising.

“I know the game inside out, I still know all the shots, but unfortunately the body is not performing like my brain wants it to.“

Stephen Hendry did the right thing. Respect. It’s always hard to cope with the situation when your body starts to fail you because of age. You have to accept it and adapt. It’s not easy at all. Ken took the offer and I saw some very negative comments about his decision on social media. “He should leave his spot to young players who are better than him”. Possibly … BUT … bear in mind that the likes of Ken and Jimmy still put bums on seats, quite a lot of bums too. They bring money to the game that way, money that, amongst other things, helps supporting to the rookies and young on tour financially. No matter how good they may be, these are players very few would pay to watch, quite simply because they don’t know them (yet).

The 2024 Ranking CLS – Day 14 – He wins, Ronnie exits

Monique Professional snooker tournament

Just like the Kyren Wilson and John Higgins, Ronnie failed to reach stage 2 at the 2024 ranking CLS.

Here is the report by WST:

HE MAN POWERS PAST ROCKET

China’s He Guoqiang scored a superb 3-0 defeat of seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan to top Group Two of the BetVictor Championship League in Leicester.

He made a huge impact in his maiden season as a professional last term, winning the Rookie of the Year award. He appears to have carried his form into the new campaign after earning his progression to stage two at the Morningside Arena. 

Breaks of 80, 57 and 77 saw He score that massive win over O’Sullivan in the last game of the group, which helped him leap from third position into top spot. The 23-year-old did lose out 3-1 in his opening match of the day to Mitchell Mann, but a 3-0 win over Kayden Brierley gave him the opportunity to clinch the group with his win over the Rocket. 

O’Sullivan’s first outing of the season ends with an early exit. He had looked sharp in a 3-0 win over Brierley in his opening game, but let a 2-1 lead slip against Mitchell Mann in his second game to draw 2-2. 

Group 12 saw six-time ranking event finalist Jack Lisowski get his campaign underway with a successful day, which saw him make the second stage. The Englishman was in fine form, top scoring with 138 in a 3-0 win over Ukrainian Anton Kazakov. He then crafted runs of 127 and 106 on his way to scoring a 3-1 defeat of Jiang Jun, before a 2-2 draw with Mark Davis secured top spot. 

Results / Fixtures

Here are the scores for Ronnie’s matches

And Group 2 final standings

Coming into his last match, Ronnie only needed a draw to top the group. But he missed too many easy balls in that match and He Guoqiang played really well. He punished nearly every mistake Ronnie made heavily and had three breaks over 50, one in each of the three frames they played. Ronnie appeared tired and lacking focus by the end of the day and, if I’m honest, I’m not sure really how much, by the end of the day, he still wanted to come back on Friday. I know him well enough to know for sure that he doesn’t like it when he has to hang around at venues for hours and that’s what happens in this format. He played his first match at noon, and it was over in a blitz. Then he had to wait until 7 pm to play the next one and that was a hard fought affair. Ronnie missed a good opportunity to win 3-1 and then, with only three balls on the table, he fought for several minutes needing two snookers on the blue. It was in vain. Had he won that match, he would have gone to his last match already assured to top the group, no matter what. His next match was scheduled at 9 pm but it was nearly 10 pm when Mann and Brierley finished their match and the table became available again. Also, with nobody watching, there is no atmosphere. Those thing are inevitable but they certainly don’t suit Ronnie who isn’t particularly patient and gets bored easily. And this is not to excuse him, it’s the same for all the players and they all have to deal with it. It’s just to explain why the eventual outcome came to no surprise to me.

In the other group, Group 12, all credits to veteran Mark Davis who battled with all he had, managed to win the last two frames of the day and finished the group in second position. I didn’t watch anything of that group but I will do. Knowing that it was broadcast on Youtube, I knew that the opportunity to watch it later was there.

The 2024 Ranking CLS – Day 13 and 2024/25 Q-Tour Global Good News

Monique Amateur, CBSA, News, Professional snooker, Professional snooker tournament , , ,

Here is WST report on what happened yesterday at the 2024 Ranking CLS:

HIGGINS KNOCKED OUT IN FIRST STAGE

ohn Higgins’ 33rd season on the pro tour started with an early exit from the BetVictor Championship League as he finished third in Group Nine, behind Ma Hailong and Ben Mertens.

Four-time World Champion Higgins has been ever-present among the top 16 since 1995, and kept that sequence going by beating Mark Allen 13-12 in the last 16 at the Crucible in April. But his status among the elite remains under threat as 2024/25 gets underway.

The Scot opened strongly today in Leicester with a 3-0 win over tour rookie Artemijs Zizins, firing breaks of 95, 74 and 120. But Higgins then lost 3-0 to Mertens, who scored runs of 68, 86 and 82. Meanwhile, China’s Ma drew 2-2 with Mertens and beat Zizins 3-0, which meant he only needed a draw in the last match of the day against Higgins. A break of 111 gave Ma the opening frame, and he lost the second but then snatched the third on the final black to go 2-1 up and guarantee top spot in the group. Higgins made it 2-2 with a 62 clearance in frame four, but it was not enough.

Group Six was topped by Gary Wilson, who enjoyed his best ever season in 2023/24, winning two ranking titles. The world number 11 saw off Huang Jiahao 3-0 then beat Michael Holt 3-1 with a top break of 97. He still needed a draw in his last match against Joe Perry and fell 1-0 behind, but Wilson made an 83 for 1-1 then added frame three, before Perry clinched a 2-2 draw to secure second place.

Results / Fixtures

I saw nothing from group 6 yesterday but group 9 was certainly very interesting, featuring three young players, one from Latvia, one from China and one from Belgium. They all delivered. Ma Hailong played really well and stayed focused throughout. Ben Mertens played very well in his first two matches but then, rather surprisingly, lost by 3-0 to Artemijs Zizins, when he had a very good chance to top the group. During that match, Ben appeared tired and suffering from the heat. Artemijs Zizins himself showed some very good things: he pots well, his positional play is good but he needs to improve in the safety department and risk management.

The WPBSA has published a very interesting piece yesterday. It outlines what the 2024/25 Q-Tour season will be made of, and lists the 48 “invited” seeded amateurs.

WPBSA Q TOUR GLOBAL EXPANDED FOR 2024/25
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association Group of organisations (WPBSA) has today announced the continued expansion of WPBSA Q Tour Global, the series which provides an elite pathway for talented snooker players around the world to earn their place on the World Snooker Tour.

The announcement follows the biggest-ever Q Tour season to date which saw 551 players (individual players taken from all the Q Tour regional ranking lists) from 44 countries complete 1174 matches across four continents.

WPBSA Q Tour Global will continue to grow over the coming 12 months, with an increased number of regional series’ each set to provide players for the season-ending Global Playoff.

WPBSA Q TOUR EUROPE

Topped last season by former Shoot Out champion Michael Holt, Q Tour Europe will return with seven events for the 2024/25 season.

For the first time, the series will include four tournaments in mainland Europe, with the remaining three to be staged within the UK. The circuit will once again see players compete to finish the season as the top ranked player and earn a place on the World Snooker Tour.

The next 16-ranked players (to include each event champion) will be guaranteed to qualify for the season-end Q Tour Global Playoff.

Following player feedback, the match lengths from the last 64 stage onwards has been increased with each match to be played over the best of seven frames (including the final), with the last 16 moved to Sunday morning to accommodate this change.

As in previous seasons, 48 players (see below) will be seeded through to Saturday’s last 64, to be joined by 16 qualifiers.

THE DATES

The provisional dates for this season’s Q Tour Europe are:

  • Q Tour 1 – 16-18 August 2024 – Northern Snooker Centre, UK
  • Q Tour 2 – 13-15 September 2024 – Bulgarian Snooker Academy, BULGARIA 
  • Q Tour 3 – 4-6 October 2024 – Snookerhallen, SWEDEN
  • Q Tour 4 – 8-10 November 2024 – Club 200, UK
  • Q Tour 5 – 13-15 December 2024 – Vienna, AUSTRIA 
  • Q Tour 6 – 10-12 January 2025 – Zurich, SWITZERLAND 
  • Q Tour 7 – 7-9 February 2025 – Landywood Snooker Club, UK

All dates are provisional and subject to change.

All Q Tour Europe events in England will be held at official 147 Clubs recognised by the English Partnership for Snooker and Billiards.

THE PLAYERS

As was the case last season, each weekend tournament will be made up of 64 players comprising the following:

The top 32 eligible players from the 2024 UK Q School Order of Merit eligible to compete.

Dylan Emery, Simon Blackwell, Iulian Boiko, Joshua Thomond, Paul Deaville, Daniel Womersley, Anton Kazakov, Joshua Cooper, Florian Nuessle, Mark Joyce, Lewis Ullah, Gerard Greene, Kayden Brierley, Umut Dikme, Sean O’Sullivan, Andres Petrov, Craig Steadman, Connor Benzey, Barry Pinches, Zachary Richardson, Josh Mulholland, James Cahill, Ryan Davies, Lee Daegyu, Alfie Davies, Hamim Hussain, Steven Hallworth, Jenson Kendrick, Alex Clenshaw, Andy Hicks, Rory McLeod, Harvey Chandler

The top 8 from the 2024 Asia-Oceania Q School Order of Merit

Lan Yuhao, Ali Gharahgozlou, Ehsan Heydari Nezhad, Kwok Wai Fung, Xiao Long Liang, Yang Gao, Amin Sanjaei, Muhammed Naseem

The eight highest ranked junior players on the 2024 UK Q School Order of Merit, not already qualified.

Vladislav Gradinari, Shaun Liu, Riley Powell, Steven Wardropper, Adam Abbas, Edward Jones, Oliver Sykes, Aidan Gallagher

EVENT ENTRY

The 48 qualified players will be contacted directly by email with entry instructions after 1 July.Each player will be required to pay a block entry fee of £525 by 12:00pm on 5 July and will be guaranteed a place in the last 64 of each Q Tour Europe tournament.

Following this date, subject to the number of players who have accepted and paid for their Q Tour Europe place, we will contact top up players as required until we have 48 confirmed players for each event. These players will have until 12:00pm 10 July to claim their place.

Open entry for all Friday qualifying tournaments will be opened to all players from no later than 12 July. We aim to accommodate all players who wish to enter; however, we do reserve the right to limit entries for each qualifier or to extend events to Thursdays subject to the number of tables available at the club and time available.

All entries are to be made via WPBSA SnookerScores.

Q TOUR GLOBAL

WPBSA Q Tour Global will continue to incorporate regional Q Tour Series’ staged around the world as part of the planned international expansion of Q Tour.

Following last season’s inaugural Middle East, Americas and Asia-Pacific Series, each of these series will be expanded for the 2024/25 season. They will be joined by the CBSA China Tour which becomes a recognised part of Q Tour for the first time.

As part of the WPBSA’s commitment to the international growth of our sport, the leading players from these Regional Q Tour events will qualify to compete at the Q Tour Global Playoff, alongside players from Q Tour Europe.

Players competing in Q Tour events outside of Europe, must be resident for a minimum six months to be eligible to play in these events.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The 48 players eligible to accept a seeded place on Q Tour Europe will be contacted from 1 July with instructions on how to accept their place.

Further information, including open entry details and full entry packs, will be published as soon as possible.

There are several interesting and encouraging aspects to this announcement.

  • For the first time the “European leg” features more events set to be played in mainland Europe than in the UK
  • The format has been changed to make the matches slightly longer. This is will favour the better players.
  • The inclusion of the CBSA Tour into the Global Q-Tour really surprised me, but in a good way.

Ronnie is scheduled to play today in the 2024 ranking CLS. I have no expectations. I doubt that he enjoys playing in front of nobody and having to wait hours between his matches. His goal, if he shows up, will be most probably to prepare the best he can for the next event that will really be important to him: the 2024 Shanghai Masters.

The 2024 Ranking CLS – Day 12

Monique Snooker

Again, I didn’t watch anything yesterday but I’m feeling much better today and hopefully normal service will resume soon. Meanwhile, here is the WST report on what happened yesterday:

China’s Long Zehuang dominated Group 19 at BetVictor Championship League on Saturday, winning all three of his matches to reach the second stage.

Long played his first season on the pro tour in 2023/24 and enjoyed promising results, notably reaching the last 16 of the Shoot Out and the last 32 of the World Open. He is looking to build on that in his second season and is off to a fine start.

A break of 73 helped him to beat Lei Peifan 3-1 and he then saw off Alfie Davies by the same scoreline before wrapping up the group by beating Jamie O’Neill 3-1 with breaks of 68, 78 and 98.

Group 20 went to Stuart Carrington, finishing ahead of top seed Pang Junxu. Carrington beat Gong Chenzhi 3-1 with a top break of 107 then whitewashed Gerard Greene 3-0. That left Carrington just needing to avoid defeat in his final showdown against Pang, and he managed a 2-2 draw to seal his progress. 

Results / Fixtures

Jamie O’Neill was replacing Noppon Saengkham who withdrew.

Stuart Carrington made a 107 in the last frame he played yesterday. It was his only century of the day but the 100th of his pro career. He became the 83d player to have made 100 centuries or more in professional matches. Well done Stuart!

I watched a bit of the Long v Lei match this morning. This was hard match snooker, but not negative snooker and, in that match at least, both were playing well. Long only turned pro in 2023, at the age of 26, hence a bit older, and probably more mature, than most Chinese rookies. He has beaten some very good players during his first professional season, notably Theppy and Si Jiahui. Also, it seems that he likes this format. Last season, as a rookie, he played in this event and qualified for stage 2 as well. He bowed out in stage 2 … undefeated.