Ronnie arrived in Finland yesterday for a series of three exhibitions in Tampere.
Amusingly the pilot of the Finnair flight that brought him to Finland was also to be the referee on the night!
On this first night, Ronnie played Gary Wilson. Despite a slow start – he went 2-0 down to Gary – Ronnie won the match by 6-3. He finished with a 122, the only century in the match.
Here are some images taken by fans on the evening …
Once again BIG Thanks to Kalacs for their much appreciated contribution!
The 2024 Asia -Oceania Q-School event 2 concluded yesterday and here is the report by WST:
TAHIR AND GURBAXANI SECURE TOUR CARDS
Pakistan’s Haris Tahir and India’s Kreishh Gurbaxani prevailed on the final day of Asia/Oceania Q School to earn two year cards for the World Snooker Tour.
Tahir was up against China’s Lan Yuhao in his final match and he showed no signs of nerves early on, firing in a break of 67 to move 1-0 ahead. Lan dug deep and crafted a run of 69 on his way to moving 2-1 ahead. However, Tahir claimed the last three on the bounce to clinch a momentous 4-2 victory.
“I am totally speechless. This means so much to me, my mother and my brother back home. The pressure was so high, but I am glad I handled it well towards the end. I will prepare myself to go to the UK, work hard and do my best.”
Haris Tahir
Asia/Oceania Q School Event Two Winner
The second match saw Gurbaxani fall 2-0 behind to Pakistan’s Muhammad Naseem Akhtar. The third saw Akhtar require three snookers, but he got them to give himself a chance of moving to the verge of victory. However, Gurbaxani won a safety battle on the final brown to reduce his deficit to 2-1.
That proved to be pivotal, as from there he powered to a further three on the bounce to secure a 4-2 win and a place among the professional ranks.
I’m both happy and disappointed with the 2024 Q-Schools results. Disappointed because some of the players I really wanted to see back on tour didn’t make it. Happy because the laureates are young but not children. It is not true that if you are good enough you are old enough. Being a professional, especially if it means moving to the UK and live there as an expat – which is what most “non British/Irish” players HAVE to do because of the UK centric organisation of the sport – involves much more than skills at the snooker table.
Browsing through social media yesterday I stumbled upon a quote by Nigel Bond expressing his pleasure at seeing Kreishh Gurbaxani qualifying. The young Indian spent a lot of time in the UK over the last twelve months, working with Nigel, in order to give himself the best possible chance to succeed at becoming a professional. Nigel is one of the nicest person you could wish to meet, he totally loves his sport, is extremely knowledgeable and is the best mentor any young player could wish for…
This – for me – marks the end of the 2023/24 season.
The 2024 UK/Europe Q-School event 2 concluded this afternoon and here is the report by WST about the four laureates:
Farakh Ajaib, Antoni Kowalski, Mitchell Mann and Chris Totten came through the final round of Q School event two in Leicester to earn two-year cards on the World Snooker Tour.
Former professional Ajaib booked his return to the circuit with a 4-1 victory against talented Ukrainian Iulian Boiko.
The ex butcher from Accrington first became a snooker professional in 2020, when he came through Q School. However, he was relegated in 2023.
Ajaib’s initial stint on the tour was highlighted by a run to the last 16 of the European Masters in 2022. He was denied a famous win over Judd Trump in a deciding frame. The Ace in the Pack needed snookers at 4-4, but got them and and clinched the frame to beat Ajaib 5-4.
A string of near misses for 18-year-old Boiko continues, he was beaten in the final round of both Q School events last year and bowed out in the last 32 of event one this time.
After losing the first frame this morning, 33-year-old Ajaib notched up four on the bounce to score a momentous victory.
Ajaib said: “I’m delighted. I didn’t think I’d get on, but in the end I played quite well. I’ve not put much time in. I just thought I would come here, see how it goes and play the right shots. It is tough playing at Q School. I don’t want to be here ever again.”
Poland’s Kowalski earned his professional status for the first time after a 4-1 defeat of Englishman Simon Blackwell.
Despite prevailing in routine fashion this morning, Kowalski earned his passage to the World Snooker Tour the hard way. The 20-year-old came through a thrilling last 16 clash with James Cahill yesterday evening, winning 4-3 on the final black.
Kowalski also came close to securing his card through his performances on the Q Tour last season. After winning event four, he qualified for the Global Playoffs, but narrowly missed out after a semi-final defeat to Yu Kiu Chang.
Today’s victory sees him follow in the footsteps of Polish compatriots Adam Stefanow and Kacper Filipiak, who have both been professionals in recent years. Breaks of 58, 66 and 64 helped Kowalski to the 4-1 win in just over two hours. Afterwards he was thrilled to have made it to snooker’s biggest stage.
“I am chuffed to bits. I am so delighted to be a professional, finally. I have struggled in the last four years. Despite playing at what I think is a professional level, I couldn’t quite make it. Finally something clicked,” said an ecstatic Kowalski.
“I love playing against players who are better than me. You gain so much experience from it. Hopefully I will meet Ronnie O’Sullivan or Judd Trump in the TV stages of a tournament and hopefully I will beat them.”
Mann clinched his return to the professional ranks with a 4-2 win over Joshua Thomond.
The Englishman is an experienced campaigner on the World Snooker Tour, having competed at the Crucible and reached a ranking event semi-final. He made the last four at the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic, where he lost out to eventual winner Michael White.
Mann dropped off the tour in 2023 and was unsuccessful at last year’s Q School. In the aftermath he gave up the sport, but the 32-year-old decided to return to have another crack at Q School this year. Contributions of 65, 76 and 51 helped him to secure an emotional victory and vindicate that decision.
Mann said: “It is absolutely amazing. If I rewind the clock to 12 months ago, I’d quit the game and got a job. I fell out of love with it and didn’t want to play. Getting a job changed my mind. I realised how good you have it playing on tour. It has all worked out nicely.”
Totten became the final player to graduate Q School with a 4-2 victory against Lewis Ullah. The Scot missed out in the final round of Event One in a decider against Allan Taylor, but held his nerve to secure a second run on the World Snooker Tour having first qualified in 2017.
Congratulations to the four laureates!
I’m really disappointed and sorry for Iulian Boiko. I do hope that getting so close and yet so far so many times over the last years will not affect him in the longer term. He’s still very young, he has plenty of time ahead of him but psychologically it must be difficult and, certainly, the situation in his home country must affect him as well deeply. He has friends and family living in Ukraine and it must be a cause of worry every day. It’s a lot to cope with. He’s third in the Q-School order of merit, he will probably have plenty of opportunities to play in professional events in the season to come. But still all this must be hard on the young man.
The second Asia-Oceania Q-School will conclude tomorrow. I had hoped that Luo Hong Hao would be able to return to the main tour, but he was beaten today… Four players remain on course, one Chinese, Lan Yuhao, one Indian, Kreishh Gurbaxani , and two Pakistanese, Haris Tahir and Muhammad Naseem Akhtar . None of them has been professional before. All four are young. Two will get on the main tour. There were a lot of Chinese players in the draw this time, and you would expect the Thai players to have a home advantage, therefore this line-up surprises me a bit but well done, and good luck, to the four of them, they are there on merit.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 