The two qualifying rounds foe the 2024 Northern Ireland Open were played this week but were largely overshadowed by the news of Clive Everton’s passing and by the 2024 British Open being played in Cheltenham. Actually the most “prominent” talking point in relation to this event is the “conflict of schedule” created by Oli Lines run to the semi-finals in Cheltenham.

Anyway… here are the reports by WST

Qualifying Round 1

WINNING START FOR WHITE IN BELFAST QUALIFIERS

Jimmy White took a first step towards qualifying for the final stages of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open with a 4-3 victory over Paul Deaville.

Veteran White must beat Jackson Page on Sunday to earn a spot in the televised stages in Belfast next month. A break of 77 helped White build a 3-1 lead, and after Deaville had fought back to 3-3, the Whirlwind took the decider with a run of 69.

Northern Irish amateur Joel Connolly edged out Ian Burns 4-3, while Baipat Siripaporn came close to her first win on tour but was beaten 4-3 by Liam Graham. Stan Moody top scored with 77 in a 4-2 win over Dylan Emery, while India’s Kreishh Gurbaxani enjoyed a 4-1 success against Andrew Higginson. 

Antoni Kowalski came from 3-2 down to beat Hammad Miah 4-3 with breaks of 108 and 51 in the last two frames. Marco Fu pulled out of the event which meant that Bai Yulu received a bye into the next round, and she will meet David Grace on Sunday. Bulcsu Revesz came from 3-0 down to beat Iulian Boiko 4-3  with a top break of 101.

Qualifying Round 2

BROWN EARNS SPOT IN BELFAST

Antrim’s Jordan Brown earned a place in the final stages of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open with a 4-1 win over Liam Davies in the second qualifying round.

Brown goes through to the Waterfront Hall in Belfast for the televised stages to run from October 20-27. ..

Breaks of 83 and 113 helped former Welsh Open champion Brown to a comfortable win over Davies and put him into the last 64.

Jimmy White, still going strong at the age of 62, secured his progress with an impressive 4-3 win over world number 45 Jackson Page. White led 3-1 with a top break of 61, then Page fought back to 3-3 before White got the better of the decider.

Stan Moody came from 3-1 down to beat Ben Woollaston 4-3, making breaks of 96, 64 and 58 in the last three frames. India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha, a semi-finalist at the BetVictor English Open last week, saw off Ashley Carty 4-1 with runs of 73, 53, 93 and 60.

Yuan Sijun scored heavily in a 4-0 win over Liam Graham, firing breaks of 59, 51, 65, 65, 56 and 142. Matthew Selt top scored with 92 and 87 in a 4-1 win over Michael Holt, while Louis Heathcote edged out Cork’s Aaron Hill 4-3.

All the detailed results can be found on snooker.org

I didn’t see much at all of the event and can’t really comment, but what I did watch yesterday evening was the match between Joe Perry and Wang Yuchen. Wang had lead 3-0 but Perry came back at him, winning the next two frames. Wand eventually won that match by 4-2 but the last frame was quite extraordinary. It turned into a “magnet frame”, with the black over the top right pocket, entirely surrounded by reds, eventually by all the remaining reds on the table. The other colours were all over the place, many on or close to cushions. Given Joe Perry’s experience and shrewd mind, I was expecting him to eventually win that frame. The two of them battled for a very long time around that cluster of balls, trading extremely delicate skilful shots. Eventually it was Wang who fouled and that made me even more convinced that this would be Joe’s frame. But no… the battle of wits continued. It was all about getting colours into play without leaving the opponent opportunities. And it was Joe who faltered first… Wang kept his cool and got the points he needed to win! Joe played on but it was in vain. He looked absolutely gutted when leaving the arena. He probably didn’t expect that type of snooker, and all the patience in the world, from such a young opponent. Unfortunately it isn’t on YouTube.