Jak Jones made the first official maximum break of his career at the BetVictor Championship League Snooker Invitational on Tuesday, however he finished runner-up in Group Two to Si Jiahui.
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Jones’ perfect break came in the third frame of a 3-0 victory over Chris Wakelin during the group phase, in which he also made breaks of 81 and 119. Wakelin failed to score a single point in the fixture as Crucible runner-up Jones showed his break-building calibre. It’s the 209th maximum in snooker history and seventh of the 2024/25 season so far.
China’s Si finished top of the group table with five wins out of six, followed by Ali Carter, Jones and Wakelin who all notched three wins. In the semi-finals, Si came from 2-1 down to beat Wakelin 3-2, making breaks of 94 and 77 in the last two frames. Jones saw off Carter 3-1.
Welshman Jones took a 2-0 lead in the final, but Si stormed back to 2-2 with runs of 101 and 94, then got the better of the decider to book his place in February’s Winners’ Group. Before that, the 22-year-old can look forward to a debut in next week’s Johnstone’s Paint Masters, and Si will head to Alexandra Palace full of confidence with a series of wins under his belt.
Group Three gets underway on Wednesday with World Champion Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan joining the action.
Broadcast Information Fans can watch the action unfold globally, with comprehensive live coverage available on two tables throughout the tournament. Table One will be streamed live on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel and available to UK viewers as well as on Rigour in China and Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Iceland. Table Two will be streamed live on the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel, accessible to fans worldwide.
I’m coming out once again regarding WST “broadcast” information… and It’s not just about this event. I live now in Greece. Table 1 is geo-blocked in Greece despite the fact that there is no other way to watch it without a vpn. Next week the Masters will be played. Again I will have no means to watch it without a vpn. We have a television, with 40+ different channels available but only BBC news is part of the available packages. 1HBOmax is now the replacement platform for the ES player … but again, I need a vpn to use it because it’s not available in Greece. Vpns don’t come for free and you must know how to set them up. Over the last years WST policies, and broadcasters policies have made it increasingly difficult and costly for me to watch the snooker. IF the people in charge at WST really want the sport to be truly “global” and grow in new regions, these policies have to change. They won’t develop a growing interest in the sport if more and more people are prevented to watch it unless they have some IT stuff knowledge and are willing to pay. Quite the opposite, they will lose viewers in places were it used to be easily accessible.
Some more channels are available via satellite TV. However, on top of the associated costs, there are restrictions on that too. In most traditional villages, satellite plates are not allowed. ↩︎
7 thoughts on “Snooker News – 8 January 2025 … and more rant”
The Championship League is a Matchroom event so maybe have no say in relation to broadcasting?
As for other events, will the new WST Play service cover Greece?
that should say “maybe WST have no say in relation…”
No, it will not. The whole Europe zone is considered having a “snooker broadcaster”. But that’s not the case.
I asked WST and they say you should be able to access Eurosport or Discovery+. Are they not available to you?
No it’s not. None of the packages that our phone/internet provider offers include Eurosport or Discovery+. Our friends who have a hotel near the sea, used to have Eurosport via satellite television. To have that you need a “plate”. That’s not allowed in areas considered “traditional settlements” which is the case in Megalochori where I live. So no, I don’t have access to that. Of course, WST has no idea about such peculiarities but why restrict access to table 1 in the first place?
Best. Monique
It might be best if you were to try talking to WST as Tom Rowell promised on the Snooker Scene podcast to respond to messages, but they prefer social media rather than email. I would say Instagram might be best as they don’t allow DM on X.
But as far as the Championship League and Table 1 restriction goes, it is a Matchroom event, not WST, so I don’t think they will have any say in it.
Here is more … after researching where platforms are available: “At the beginning of 2021 it was announced that Discovery+ would become available to Vodafone customers in Romania, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary and Iceland sometime in the middle of 2022. However, the plans were halted as Max was launched instead in those regions, excluding Greece and Iceland.” … so It was supposed to become available to people with a “vodaphone” contract. For your information,, the main telephony provider in Greece is Cosmote, not vodafone. But it’s irrelevant as even they didn’t make it available. And as you see, Max isn’t either.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
The Championship League is a Matchroom event so maybe have no say in relation to broadcasting?
As for other events, will the new WST Play service cover Greece?
that should say “maybe WST have no say in relation…”
No, it will not. The whole Europe zone is considered having a “snooker broadcaster”. But that’s not the case.
I asked WST and they say you should be able to access Eurosport or Discovery+. Are they not available to you?
No it’s not. None of the packages that our phone/internet provider offers include Eurosport or Discovery+. Our friends who have a hotel near the sea, used to have Eurosport via satellite television. To have that you need a “plate”. That’s not allowed in areas considered “traditional settlements” which is the case in Megalochori where I live. So no, I don’t have access to that. Of course, WST has no idea about such peculiarities but why restrict access to table 1 in the first place?
Best. Monique
It might be best if you were to try talking to WST as Tom Rowell promised on the Snooker Scene podcast to respond to messages, but they prefer social media rather than email.
I would say Instagram might be best as they don’t allow DM on X.
But as far as the Championship League and Table 1 restriction goes, it is a Matchroom event, not WST, so I don’t think they will have any say in it.
Here is more … after researching where platforms are available: “At the beginning of 2021 it was announced that Discovery+ would become available to Vodafone customers in Romania, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary and Iceland sometime in the middle of 2022. However, the plans were halted as Max was launched instead in those regions, excluding Greece and Iceland.” … so It was supposed to become available to people with a “vodaphone” contract. For your information,, the main telephony provider in Greece is Cosmote, not vodafone. But it’s irrelevant as even they didn’t make it available. And as you see, Max isn’t either.