Although I’m slowly getting better, I’m still in no state to watch any snooker… or any moving images actually. This means that I saw nothing from yesterday action but here is WST report about day 9 at the 2024 Ranking CLS:

WILSON FALLS IN FIRST GROUP STAGE

In his first appearance since conquering the Crucible, Kyren Wilson failed to qualify for the second stage of the BetVictor Championship League, as Scott Donaldson topped the table in Group One.

Six weeks after his World Championship triumph, Wilson mustered a win and two draws from his three matches in Leicester, but that was not enough as Scotland’s Donaldson notched two wins and a draw to go through to the second group phase.

Opening with a 3-0 win over Baipat Siripaporn, Donaldson went on to beat Daniel Womersley 3-1, which left him needing to avoid defeat in his final match against Wilson. A break of 79 gave Wilson the opening frame, before Donaldson hit back with 88 and 101 to go 2-1 up and ensure top spot in the group. Wilson finished with a 111 for a 2-2 draw but misses out on the rest of the season’s first ranking event and now has a four-week gap before he’s back on the table at the Shanghai Masters.

Hossein Vafaei finished top of Group 14 , conceding just one frame in his three matches. A break of 89 helped him to a 3-0 win over Josh Mulholland, then he saw off Manasawin Phetmalaikul 3-1 and Louis Heathcote 3-0. 

Results / Fixtures

A draw in his first match of the new season cost Kyren, but, yeah, it was the first match of the season, and a very short format. Never easy. And, of course, Scott Donaldson is a quality player. So it’s no “big shock” and not a disaster either. Baipat on the other hand didn’t win a single frame. It’s worrying because I have the feeling that instead of progressing during her first year as a pro, she has only regressed. She’s probably lost all self-belief and with that all motivation. I hope I’m wrong in this assessment but…

Hossein winning the other group emphatically didn’t surprise me, although I expected more resistance from Louis Heathcote.

2024 Shanghai Masters Wildcard News: Selection process

There will be a rather big qualifying process to determine the wildcards for the 2024 Shanghai Masters.

Sinosport indeed shared this on Twitter (X) , and they surely did share that info on other platforms as well:

Now, I’m not sure I fully understand the whole process but the whole thing looks like a stern test for the aspiring wildcards.

WPBSA anti doping procedures

This was shared on the WPBSA website yesterday:

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has today announced updated anti-doping procedures to apply to its amateur and development organisations across the WPBSA Group from the start of the 2024/25 season. This does not relate to the professional World Snooker Tour which has existing procedures organised by the WPBSA.

As part of our commitment for our sport to be IOC compliant, from the start of this season random drug tests will take place at events organised across the WPBSA Group throughout the season. The relevant organisations/events may include:

• World Snooker Federation
• World Women’s Snooker
• World Disability Billiards and Snooker
• World Seniors Snooker
• World Billiards
• WPBSA Q Tour

All players will note the relevant addition to the Standard Conditions of Entry for each of these organisations:

Drug Testing: Players shall at all times comply with the WPBSA Anti-Doping Rules and must make themselves available for and must submit to Doping Control (urine and/or blood) at any time as per section 5.2.1 of these Rules.

Should you have any further questions please contact us.

The red highlight is my doing. The reason I highlighted it is because it shows a clear commitment by WPBSA to get snooker into the Olympic games. Although I’m not sure snooker is particularly “suited” for this type of competition, if it became an olympic sport it could bring great benefits for the amateurs in many countries.

As an example, in Belgium, in past years, athletes preparing for the Olympic games got special support in the form of funding, access to training facilities and part-time work in order to allow them the best possible preparation. Inclusion in the Olympic games would also lead to the recognition of snooker as an actual sport, which would also open them access to to various funding possibilities.

The end of the Eurosport App … and what it means for many snooker fans

Today I got this in my email…

Cher Client,  

Nous avons le regret de vous informer que le service d’abonnement Eurosport Premium sera supprimé le 22 juillet. Après l’arrêt du service, vous recevrez un remboursement pour la période restante non utilisée de votre abonnement. Les remboursements seront effectués selon le mode de paiement que vous avez utilisé pour acheter votre abonnement. 

Vous pouvez continuer à profiter de nos articles d’actualité et de notre contenu gratuits sur le site Internet et l’application Eurosport. 

Pour plus d’informations sur les endroits où vous pouvez continuer à regarder vos sports préférés, ou si vous avez besoin d’aide, consultez notre Centre d’aide. 

Cordialement, 
L’équipe Eurosport 

Which translates like this

Dear Customer,

We regret to inform you that the Eurosport Premium subscription service will be discontinued on July 22. Après l’arrêt du service, you will receive a refund for the remaining unused period of your subscription. Refunds will be made according to the mode of payment that you used to purchase your subscription.

You can continue to benefit from our current articles and our free content on the Internet site and the Eurosport application.

For more information on where you can continue watching your favorite sports, or if you need help, consult our Help Center.

Cordially,
The Eurosport team

This is a disaster for me, and I’m sure for many other snooker fans around Europe. Living in Greece, the Eurosport App is the only way I can watch Eurosport. It isn’t part of ANY available package for terrestrial television in this country. BTW, BBC and ITV aren’t available either. So I will have to rely solely on matchroom.live with no possibility to watch a match “later” if I can’t watch it at broadcast time for any reason … including time difference. I wonder if WST/WPBSA are aware of this, and wether they will care. Really they should.