Today is the last day of the year 2024 and it’s this time when we look back at (some of) what happened in snooker during the last 366 days …

Ronnie had a mixed year overall but …

This year is the first that showed a clear decline in Ronnie’s game. The first half of the year was great. He won three titles in 20024: the 2024 Masters, the 2024 World Grand Prix and the 2024 World Masters of Snooker in Saudi Arabia. He also reached the final of the 2024 Tour Championship. All of those titles/finals came in the 2023/24 season. Since the start of this season he hasn’t won a title, actually he hasn’t reached a single final.

I can’t help wondering how much his private situation has impacted his form. In September the media were out about him splitting from his fiancée, Laila Rouass . They had been together for 13 years, albeit with ups and downs, like many couples. They remain in friendly terms but it’s still a difficult time for anybody when a long-term relationship breaks. Early in this season Ronnie had clearly no desire to play, and, probably, the difficulties had been building up for some time. In the last month and a half he seems to have rediscovered enjoyment in playing, he is working with Lee Walker, he played very well in Macau earlier this week. Let’s hope for a better 2025. That said, Ronnie has nothing to prove. Even if he doesn’t win another tittle, his legacy is immense and I’m grateful for all the great moments he gave us fans.

Judd Trump dominated but it’s Kyren Wilson who triumphed at the Crucible

Judd Trump was, without any doubt, the player of the year 2024. He reached seven ranking finals, winning four of them, including the 2024 UK championship. It’s been a very long time since a player dominated the way Judd did this year. The only really disappointing result, and probably a surprising one all things considered, is that he exited the World Championship in the quarter-finals. In many ways, 2024 for Judd was similar to 2020. That year he had won 6 ranking titles… but had exited in the QFs at the World Championship. Judd’s triple crowns tally (only four) remains very modest for a player of his quality.

Kyren Wilson is the reigning World Champion and he’s been outstanding in the way he has carried his crown and represented his sport so far. He’s been playing well, has won two more ranking titles and reached the semi-finals at the UK championship. He doesn’t have Judd’s flamboyance, he hasn’t won as much as Judd, but as a first time World Champion he has done all the rights things and has played very well overall.

Young Chinese players are in the ascendancy

After Ding celebrated his 18th birthday by beating Stephen Hendry by 9-5 to win the 20005 China Open and followed up by beating Steve Davis to win the 2005 UK Championship, some had predicted a Chinese tsunami but it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen for a number of reasons, notably because the whole organisation of the sport is so strongly UK-centric and favours the UK players massively. We have discussed the how and why of this situation many times, I won’t repeat it. But this year things have been moving.

• There are three Chinese players in the top 16: Ding Junhui, Zhang Anda and Si Jiahui. Si Jiahui, at 22, is by some margin the youngest player in that elite group and, interestingly, the second youngest member of the “top 16″”, aged 29 is Luca Brecel, a Belgian. The youngest British player in the top 16 is Chris Wakelin, aged 32…
• Wu Yize who is only 21, reached the final of the 2024 English Open where lost by 9-7 to Neil Robertson. He lost to Tom ford in the semi-final of the 2024 Shoot-out. He lost again in the final of the 2024 Scottish to Lei Peifan, another young Chinese player.
• Lei Peifan is also only 21 years old and he became a ranking event winner by winning the 2024 Scottish Open.
• The 2024 Scottish Open final contested by Lei Peifan an Wu Yize is the “youngest” final in the sport since the 1998 Welsh Open final between Paul Hunter (19) and John Higgins (22).

Mainland Europe snooker is also showing progress albeit slow

Although there is still a long way to go mainland Europe snooker is also showing progress. The young players from mainland Europe don’t face as huge a cultural gap as the one the Asian players face, but they are more “isolated” in that there is rarely more than a couple of them per nationality. We have three Belgians on tour, two speak Flemish, one speaks French… The cultural and linguistic diversity of mainland Europe means that those players are not “a group” in the same way Chinese players are. There are not many of them either: three Belgians, one Hungarian, one Latvian, one Pole, one Swiss … but the two younger Belgians, Julien Leclercq and Ben Mertens managed to stay on tour at the end of their initial two years as professionals, which is rather exceptional. Artemijs Zizins, Vladislav Gradinari and Bulcsú Révész have all shown some good performances.

As I wrote, it’s long way to go but there are other encouraging signs, notably the fact that the German Masters has been extended to a full week with 64 players at the venue instead of just 32 but much more must be done to develop professional snooker in mainland Europe and, definitely, Brexit hasn’t helped…

Mach Fixing, again …

Mark King has been banned from the sport for five years for match fixing. An independent disciplinary committee found the him guilty of one count of match-fixing and one count of providing inside information on a match. He will be 54 when his ban ends and is unlikely to return to the professional circuit.

.. and Zhao Xintong return

Zhao Xintong’s ban is over. He isn’t back on the main tour but he’s been playing on the Q-Tour Europe. It’s fair to say that he’s been back with a bang. He became the first ever player to win three consecutive Q-Tour events… He currently leads the 2024/25 Q-Tour order of merit by a very comfortable margin and is very likely to be back on tour next season. Not everyone is happy to see him back but I am. He wasn’t found guilty of match fixing, basically he was found guilty of no grassing on his mates and of betting on snooker. He’s served his time, and worked hard to be ready to play and win on the Q-Tour and re-qualify via that route. He should be welcomed back like others have been … some of whom I personally think should never have been allowed back ever.

In a few hours 2024 will be over and a new year , 2025, will start … to all of of you and those dear to you

The 2025 invitational championship League snooker is due to start on January, 3, 2025. That’s less than a week from now, actually less than five days from now… BUT …

This page, https://championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk/invitational/ , is supposed to be the official home page for the event but there is nothing to be found there…

Based on the matches scheduled available on the WST site, snooker.org has put up a page fro Group 1

The players involved are: Chris Wakelin, Gary Wilson, Pang Junxu, Elliot Slessor, Jak Jones, Hossein Vafaei and Ryan Day. Chris Wakelin and Gary Wilson are the only members of the “top 16” in the field, they are ranked 15th and 16th respectively.

The event used to be streamed, on matchroom.live in recent years, but that doesn’t seem to be the case this time. Actually, no event in any sport is currently scheduled on that platform … which probably means that it is actually being “phased out”. WST has announced a new platform starting on January, 7, 2025

This is the information available on the WST site:

2025 CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE INVITATION EVENT

The 2025 BetVictor Championship League Snooker Invitational Event will take place from January 3rd to February 4th at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
 
Last year, hometown hero Mark Selby claimed the title, and he is in the field this time along with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson. The draw will be announced shortly. 

The tournament will be played over seven group stages, beginning on Friday January 3rd, followed by the Winners’ Group Stage February 3rd and 4th. The winner of the event will earn a coveted spot in the 2025 Champion of Champions in November.

Both Tables 1 and 2 will be broadcast globally, with Table 1 available on the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel in the UK. Fans from China can tune in to catch the action on Rigour, while audiences in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Iceland can watch on Viaplay. A full broadcast schedule will be announced soon.
 
Event Schedule
•    Group 1: January 3–4
•    Group 2: January 6–7
•    Group 3: January 8–9
•    Group 4: January 10–11
•    Group 5: January 20–21
•    Group 6: January 22–23
•    Group 7: January 24–25
•    Winners’ Group: February 3–4
 
Prize Fund
Groups 1–7
•    Winner: £3,000
•    Runner-Up: £2,000
•    Losing Semi-Finalist: £1,000
•    Per Frame Won in Play-Offs: £300
•    Per Frame Won in League Play: £100
•    Highest Break Prize: £500
 
Winners’ Group
•    Winner: £10,000
•    Runner-Up: £5,000
•    Semi-Finalists: £3,000 each
•    Per Frame Won in League Play: £200
•    Per Frame Won in Play-Offs: £300
•    Highest Break Prize: £1,000

…

At the time of writing the “full broadcast” has not been announced and who plays in which group has not been published either. The part I put in bold above puzzles me. Does it mean that the Youtube channel will not be available outside the UK? If so why is it not made available in all territories not covered otherwise?

Ronnie beat Si Jiahui by 5-2 yesterday evening in Macau.

Here is the match, shared on YouTube:

It was a match played at a fast fluent pace. It featured some big breaks. Si Jiahui won only two frames but scored the highest break of the match, a 141 in frame 4. There was a 104 by Ronnie in frame 2. Ronnie also scored two breaks of 95. One of them was the match winning break.

Ronnie was interviewed by the local press after his match against Marco Fu on Thursday:

Big thanks once again to Kalacs, who found this piece and translated via AI technology and also for finding these pictures:

It’s nice to see Ronnie so positive despite the lack of success this season. As long as he enjoys playing anything remains possible even if the “highlights” become rarer and far between. Also his perspective about what his Hong Kong academy should be, and his thoughts about how different it would be from the one in Saudi Arabia, and why, are quite interesting. It has to be said that Hong Kong already has its excellent Elite Sports academy to meet the needs of those with professional aspirations.

Speaking of highlights, Marco Fu made a 147 in the second match of the day:

The 13th red was far from easy. Overall though Marco’s positional play was remarkable throughout the break.

The last black was “saluted” by a big roar of the crowd and genuine applause from his opponent, Kyren Wilson, who was all smiles.

Yesterday Ronnie played one match, against Marco Fu. He beat him 5-3. There was no other match on the program that day. Once again, Kalacs is our hero as he gathered a treasure of videos and images.

The match is available on Youtube:

And here is a set of very nice pictures shared in a HK press article found by Kalacs.

As well as some more shared by Ronnie himself

Today Ronnie will play Si Juahui and Marco Fu will play Kyren Wilson.

Ronnie is back in Macau for exhibitions, just like last year and Kalacs is again doing a sterling job in hunting pictures and videos all over Chinese social media. Make sure to check the comments section!

Thank you Kalacs!

Here is the program for those exhibition matches:

As mentioned by Kalacs in commentary, Ronnie beat Jack by 5-4 and Judd beat Ding by 5-1!

Ronnie made two centuries in his match yesterday, and here they are, shared on Youtube:

Both played well, of course in exhibition mode which means playing entertaining snooker rather than winning at all costs.

Interestingly, Judd Trump has now followed Ronnie in becoming a Hong Kong resident. In this piece he explains (some of) the reasons behind this move:

Judd Trump ‘much happier’ playing as HK resident

Snooker star Judd Trump said he is looking forward to playing in a major tournament at Kai Tak next March as a Hong Kong resident.

For the first time in 35 years, the SAR will stage a ranking event as the World Snooker Tour announced earlier that the World Grand Prix will take place at the brand new Kai Tak Sports Park between March 4 and 9, 2025.

Trump, who just obtained a Hong Kong passport through the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, was speaking to reporters on Wednesday ahead of a match in Macau.

He said he hopes to inspire the younger generation in the city to take up snooker along with local stars Marco Fu and Ng On-yee. 

“I hope to really inspire the next generation because there are already so many younger players coming through in Hong Kong,” Trump said. 

“Marco Fu is doing such a good job to inspire, and in the women’s game, [we have] On-yee, I really hope that I can promote snooker to everyone in Hong Kong and make it as cool as possible, and get younger kids away from different sports and enjoy snooker,” he added.

He said he is open to promoting the sport in the city along with Ronnie O’Sullivan, who also became a Hong Kong resident two months ago. 

The snooker star also shared that he loved the vibrant life Hong Kong has to offer.

“Hong Kong has a fast-paced lifestyle, everyone is always on the move, and there is also so much to do, as you are so close to everyone and if you drive 15 minutes, you’re already at the beaches, somewhere more relaxing,” Trump said. 

“For me, it’s perfect for what I do, as sometimes I like to feel the hustle and bustle around everybody, and sometimes I want to get away and do more relaxing stuff,” he added. 

Trump said he lives in the city for at least six months of the year, and that his girlfriend was a major reason why he decided to move to the city.

“At the moment, I only spend time in the UK for tournaments and my priority is to be as happy as possible off the table. I’m much happier living in Hong Kong,” he said.

And here is the full match:

This year, in a rare occurrence, Christian celebration of Christmas and Jewish celebration of Hanukkah coincide¹. Both celebrations roots are associated with the “rebirth” of the light. Light is essential to live, and has a huge impact on our mood and health. Such celebrations are very old and are about hope, and the promise of spring, the season that sees flowers blossom again in the fields, fresh leaves grow again on trees and young animals being born everywhere.

I’m wishing all of you, and your loved ones, to find peace in your mind, health in your body, love in your heart.

Merry Christmas – Happy Hanukkah!

To all of you, celebrating or not … be happy, be healthy and enjoy life to the full

1. Hanukkah starts today at sunset time ↩︎