And so, here we are … the 2025 World Championship is underway. Yes, it’s called “qualifiers” but it is integral part of the tournament and, at least, it is played in the same location as the “main event”, and right before it. That’s how it should be for every event that requires qualifying rounds, without any exception and no matter where the event happens1.
Those matches featured eight players from the UK, and eight players from other nationalities. Only three of the matches were won by British players, proof – if it still was need – that snooker is no more a British fief and there is no excuse for perpetuating the current UK-centric organisation of the sport. Of course, as long as the BBC is showing the three “majors” there is mo hope for these events to move away from Britain, but everything else should be played elsewhere, with mainland Europe getting its fair share of them. Anyway …
Polish 21-year-old Antoni Kowalski took the first step in what he describes as his Mission Impossible, beating Reanne Evans 10-4 on the opening day of Halo World Championship Qualifying.
With an element of tongue in cheek, the talented rookie declared he is gunning to beat Stephen Hendry’s record as the youngest ever World Champion. The Scot was 21 years and 106 days old when he conquered the Crucible in 1990. That makes this Kowalski’s last opportunity to achieve the feat.
After a fragmented opening session today, Kowalski emerged just a solitary frame in front of 12-time Women’s World Champion Evans, leading 5-4.
However, he pulled away this evening with two breaks of 63 on his way to five on the bounce and a 10-4 win this evening. He now plays Zak Surety in round two.
Kowalski said: “It is my last ever chance to become the youngest ever World Champion. I’ve set myself Mission Impossible, but anything is possible in this game.
“In the morning I was thinking to myself, you have perfect conditions in front of you and you can’t make a 20 break, come on! It is a joy to play on the TV table. I am grateful for the opportunity and can’t wait to do it again.”
He wasn’t the only Polish success story of day one, with 27-year-old amateur Mateusz Baranowski thrashing Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh 10-2.
It was a brilliant win for Baranowski, who’s only other Crucible qualifying appearance came back in 2016, when he was subject to a 10-2 demolition at the hands of Ali Carter. He earned his place here this week by reaching the semi-finals of this season’s WSF Championship.
A former barman in his local snooker hall, Baranowski’s turn to coaching has inspired him to have a crack at returning to the sport’s biggest event himself. He’s recently coached the Polish Junior Team, which includes the likes of 14-year-old sensation Michal Szubarczyk.
Baranowski said: “I’m very proud of myself. It has been nine years since I’ve played in the World Championship. I started working as a snooker coach and decided that I wanted to try again to become a professional. I cannot believe I am playing here, because one year ago I was so low in my snooker career. To win 10-2 against a really good player is an amazing feeling.
“I started coaching the Polish Junior Team. This year we had two players in the final of the European Under 16 Championship and one in the final of the Under 18s. When I started, they were losing in the group stages. Now they are fighting for medals and winning tournaments. I thought I needed to show them not to give up. I love snooker.”
Hammad Miah kept his hopes of tour survival alive with a 10-0 whitewash win over Jonas Luz, while Welsh amateur Dylan Emery was a 10-4 victor against Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins. They now face Rory Thor and Joe Perry respectively.
TBH, Reanne didn’t offer much of a challenge. I’m afraid that, at 39, she isn’t the player she was anymore and, maybe, her motivation isn’t what it used to be either. She was poor yesterday.
Eight other matches are currently underway: the first session has been played, and the second session is scheduled for this afternoon. Notably, one of these matches saw Zhao Xintong return to professional snooker and it’s been a real “statement” of intent. Zhao currently leads by 8-1 after yesterday’s first session. In the process of building that lead, he made seven breaks over 77, including three centuries (122, 128, 132). His opponent, Ka Wai Cheung from Hong Kong, isn’t a bad player but he had absolutely no answer to Zhao’s game.
John Higgins came from 8-5 down to beat Mark Selby 10-8 in a record-equalling final at the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship, describing it as the best win of his 33-year career.
Higgins is a veteran of four World Championship crowns and 33 ranking titles but such was the nature of tonight’s victory that he rates it above any other achievement. He looked down and out when he lost seven frames in a row to go 8-5 behind, but rose to the occasion to reel off the last five to capture this trophy for the first time and earn the £150,000 top prize.
A clash between two of the all-time greats lived up to its billing as both players made four centuries, equalling the record of eight tons in a best-of-19 contest, set by Neil Robertson and Judd Trump at the 2019 Champion of Champions final. The crowd at Manchester Central enjoyed a dramatic finish as 49-year-old Higgins proved the stronger man in the closing exchanges, freezing out one of snooker’s toughest ever opponents.
Scotland’s Higgins went through what he described as “mental turmoil” for several years after winning the 2021 Players Championship, as he developed a tendency to squander winning positions in key matches, most painfully at the 2022 Tour Championship final against Robertson when he lost 10-9 from 9-4 ahead. Victory at last month’s World Open in China was a massive breakthrough and has given him new belief which was clearly evident tonight. This week he has been at the very top of his game, making 11 centuries in three matches, and will be one of the leading contenders when he heads to the Crucible this month.
“It is my best ever win,” said Higgins, who is just 42 days away from his 50th birthday. “I was playing an unbelievable champion and he was looking like he was not going to miss, he was tying me up in knots. To do that against Mark gives me incredible belief that I can still mix it with the best players.“
With 33 ranking crowns, Higgins is now just three short of Stephen Hendry’s tally of 36, albeit still well behind Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record of 41. He extends his record for the longest gap between first and most recent ranking titles: it’s 30 years and 165 days since his maiden victory at the 1994 Grand Prix. The Wishaw cueman climbs from sixth to third in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings, behind only Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson.
Selby missed out on a fourth title of the season and 25th ranking success of his career. He too made 11 centuries over the week and enjoyed emphatic wins over Neil Robertson 10-1 and Ding Junhui 10-2, but came up just short of a first Tour Championship success. The 41-year-old from Leicester earned £60,000 as runner-up.
Trailing 5-3 after the first session, Selby took the opening frame tonight with breaks of 39 and 68, then dominated a fragmented tenth frame to square the tie. Higgins trailed 41-25 in the 11th when he accidentally hit the yellow when trying to play safe, gifting Selby the chance to make 55 and take the lead for the first time. Leading 31-18, Higgins missed the pink to a top corner in frame 12, and Selby capitalised with a 77 clearance. The Englishman extended his lead to 8-5 with a break of 119.
Having lost seven in succession from 5-1 up, Higgins finally gained some momentum with a break of 110 to close to 8-6. A fluked red in frame 15 set him up for a run of 67 to close the gap to 8-7, and he got the better of a scrappy 34-minute 16th to restore parity. Higgins enjoyed another slice of luck in the 17th when he fluked a snooker on a red over a baulk corner, and from the chance that followed he made an excellent 80 to regain the lead. Selby narrowly missed a long red early in the 18th, and a classic final ended on a high note with Higgins’ match-winning 132.
“Mark shut me out up to 8-5,” Higgins added. “I was trying to stay positive but that’s very difficult because you are banging your head against a brick wall sometimes. Usually he would just pull away and win 10-5. When I made the break to go 8-6 it was beginning to change, little things went in my favour and you need that against Mark. The World Championship is a different animal. I will just enjoy the next two weeks and then go to Sheffield and give it my all. I am very proud.
“To have my family there was special because when they have been there before when I won events, they might be too young to remember. The crowd gave me great support, it’s a fantastic venue. I hope this event stays here for a few more years.”
Selby said: “John was incredible from 8-5. I missed a pink to the middle at 8-7, apart from that I didn’t do a lot wrong, but my head was spinning. Every mistake I made, John punished me, he stood up like the warrior he is.“
It was a very good match and one that brought “suspense” from start to finish. Thank you Mark and John!
Now, I have to make an admission… something I’m not proud about …
Since 2010 I really wanted John Higgins to lose every match he played because I felt that he hadn’t been punished as he should have been after he was caught on camera accepting to fix matches and even promising to drag more players into that match fixing “monkey business”. John always said that he acted out of fear, although he certainly didn’t appear frightened in the video. But then, videos can be doctored in various ways. My biggest problem with John is that he had been back in the UK for about two days before the NOTW article was published and had not alerted the snooker authorities about the approach. I always thought that giving a simple phone call to a member of the board, just saying “we had a problem in Kiev, we need to talk”, would have been enough to spare him all the problems he had to face afterwards, and the damage to his reputation. The fact that he didn’t call got me to think that he had no intention to report it at all. But who at the board should he have contacted? If this happened today, the answer is obvious, it would be Jason Ferguson. But back then, the organisation was different. Different members of the board had been tasked to develop the game in different regions. For instance, the late Brandon Parker had been tasked to develop the game in Western Europe where he had contacts. And who was in charge of Eastern Europe? No other than Pat Mooney, who was John’s manager and who had taken John with him to Kiev after John had lost early at the Crucible, and Mooney himself admitted that he had kept John in the dark about what was really going to be discussed in Kiev, until the last minute. So maybe John didn’t call anyone on the board, because, of course, he knew that the member of the board in charge of the Eastern Europe region already knew what happened, as he was present at the meeting.
Mark Selby played some magnificent snooker yesterday in beating Ding Junhui very convincingly by 10-2. He will face John Higgins today in the final of the 2035 Tour Championship and I do hope that he can bring the same form at the table today. Here is the report shared by WST:
Selby Crushes Ding To Earn Higgins Final
Mark Selby romped to a 10-2 victory over Ding Junhui to stay on course for a fourth title of the season, setting up a blockbuster tie with John Higgins in the final of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship in Manchester.
Having beaten Neil Robertson by a remarkable 10-1 scoreline in the quarter-finals, Selby’s win over Ding was almost as emphatic as he dominated from start to finish. Very close to the top of his game, the four-time World Champion has made 67 centuries this season, the highest tally of his career.
On Sunday he will meet another all-time great in Higgins in what promises to be a classic. It’s a repeat of the 2007 Crucible final, which Higgins won 18-13, and the 2017 final when Selby gained revenge 18-15. They also clashed earlier this season in the Unibet British Open final, Selby winning 10-5 to land the first of three titles this term. First to ten frames this time will capture the trophy and a top prize of £150,000.
Leicester’s 41-year-old Selby will be playing in his 37th ranking final and looking for a 25th title, which would bring him level with Neil Robertson in seventh place on the all time list. This will be his first Tour Championship final, having previous lost in the semis in 2020, 2021 and 2023. If he wins the title, it will be the first time he has lifted four trophies in a season since 2016/17.
Leading 6-2 after the first session, world number three Selby soon extended his advantage with a break of 104 in the opening frame tonight, then dominated the tenth for 8-2. Ding had a scoring chance in frame 11 but, trailing 33-32, ran out of position then went for a risky plant which missed its target and gifted Selby the chance to make 54 to move within one of the winning post.
Ding looked set to pull one back but, on a break of 70, went for another tough plant, chasing a possible 145 which would have been the highest of the week. Instead he let Selby back into the frame, and the Englishman eventually cleared with 58.
“I played good stuff all day,” said Selby, whose first ranking final came at the Scottish Open 22 years ago. “The last frame of the afternoon session was important, to go 6-2 ahead, as 5-3 could have made it a different game tonight. I have been playing with more belief this season and that has allowed me to be more natural and free-flowing so I think that’s why I have scored more heavily. My safety let me down last season but now it’s back where I want it to be.
“I hope John and I both play as well as we have been doing all week. I have got so much respect for him, he’s one of my all time favourite players, and for him to still be competing like this is incredible. It’s a chance for me to judge where my game is. I have enjoyed the challenge this week and stayed focussed.”
I certainly didn’t expect Ding to play so badly yesterday but then I stumbled upon this piece by Phil Haigh
Ding Junhui reveals battle with himself: ‘Sometimes my brain flies out!’
Ding Junhui is always fighting to focus (Picture: Getty Images)
Ding Junhui has been one of the finest snooker players on the planet since he burst onto the scene 20 years ago, with his own brain as tough an opponent as anyone he faces on the table.
The Chinese superstar turned 38 this week, two decades on from his incredible breakthrough in winning the 2005 China Open, beating Stephen Hendry in the final.
In a remarkable battle of generations, his next trophy was the 2005 UK Championship, downing Steve Davis in the final and he has now taken his tally to 15 ranking titles with the International Championship this season.
Given how prolific he was over a decade ago – winning five ranking titles in the 2013/14 season – it is a little surprising he does not have more wins on his CV.
The difficulties of being a player from overseas on a predominantly British-based tour does not help, nor did the pandemic, while Ding also feels like he has to fight himself on a regular basis.
Capable of unstoppable snooker, Ding is also liable to let his mind wander and look almost disinterested during some matches.
At the recent World Grand Prix and Players Championship this seemed to be the case, as he suffered first round defeats to Xu Si and Mark Williams.
He started the Tour Championship this week in similar style, looking very poor over the first four frames with Williams again, this time in Manchester.
Then everything changed. He won seven frames on the spin with two tons and five half-centuries to beat the Welsh legend 10-3, then was excellent again to down world champion Kyren Wilson 10-5.
So what happened?
‘In the last tournament and the one before I was struggling,’ Ding said after beating Wilson. ‘Actually I didn’t feel bad, I just played some weird snooker.
‘Like this first match against Mark Williams in the first four frames, I felt like I was 10 years of age. I didn’t know what I was doing.
‘I just need to keep concentration each shot and because it’s a long game, I think I can’t do this all the time, so I tried and it’s getting better.
‘Sometimes I find it hard to concentrate. In the last two tournaments and the first four frames before the interval I played some weird shots that I’ve never seen!
‘It’s all about playing snooker on the table when I get chances, how to get the ball moving better, how to make it easier to clear up, to make scoring, to put pressure on my opponent. This is how to do it on the table. But sometimes for no reason my brain flies out!’
The battle for focus also leads to Ding becoming frustrated with himself as he doesn’t find his top level as much as he would like.
Trying to concentrate but also learning to accept that he can’t remain at his peak constantly is all part of the challenge and one he says you have to win to remain sane.
‘Sometimes you can’t keep your best form every match so you have to keep calm, play some scrappy shots and good shots in between,’ he said. ‘You need to learn how to make a balance of that. If not you go mad!
‘Sometimes I blame myself too much about not playing well. I want to play well and feel good, I get very disappointed sometimes.’
The former world number one is also fighting against himself on technique, having developed a little pause as he pushes the cue through at times.
Asked about the strange addition to his cue action, he said: ‘I don’t want to do that. The arm doesn’t listen.
‘In practice I try hard to not do that. When I’m playing I’m concentrating on taking the shot and my arm has forgot!
‘I try hard to do it in one hit. It’s a strange feeling. I don’t want to do it.’
Ding has been getting past his mental and technical struggles impressively over the last two games and next up is another enormous challenge in the form of Mark Selby.
The pair meet in the Tour Championship semi-finals over two sessions in Manchester on Saturday, with the winner taking on John Higgins in Sunday’s final.
This is very puzzling indeed and must be extremely frustrating for Ding. It’s probably not even something a coach could “correct” easily because, clearly, Ding is acutely aware of the issue and trying his best to overcome it. Any snooker player reading this and willing to offer an opinion in comments? Is this some kind of “variant form” of the yips?
John Higgins remained on target for a second ranking title within five weeks as he enjoyed a superb 10-7 victory over Barry Hawkins in the semi-finals of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship.
From 5-5, Higgins pulled away to win five of the last seven frames, making three centuries to come out on top of a high quality contest. The Wizard of Wishaw is into the 58th ranking event final of his career, just six short of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record of 64. He will aim for a 33rd ranking title when he meets Mark Selby or Ding Junhui on Sunday at Manchester Central, with first to ten frames to capture the trophy and a top prize of £150,000.
After winning the Players Championship in 2021, Higgins went four years without a ranking title, and feared his days at the top table were over, particularly as he struggled to get over the line at the business end of key matches. But landing silverware at the World Open in China last month has made all the difference for the Scot, who turns 50 in May. One of the all-time greats, Higgins is now playing outstanding snooker, mixing heavy break-building with his granite tactical game, and most importantly he is finishing matches strongly. In this form, he will be one of the leading contenders at the Crucible.
Having shared the afternoon session 4-4, Higgins took the opening frame this evening with a break of 66 to lead 5-4, before Hawkins levelled with a 125. The Englishman had two scoring chances in frame 11 but managed only 12 points and Higgins punished him with 73. Early in frame 12, Hawkins went for a thin cut red to centre but completely missed the object ball and went in-off, handing Higgins an opening which he took advantage of with a sumptuous 144 total clearance, his best of the season and the new target for the £10,000 high break prize.
A safety exchange with two reds on the table in frame 13 was resolved when Higgins escaped from a snooker but left Hawkins the opportunity to clear and close the gap to 7-6. A superb 130 from Higgins restored his two frame cushion, then he dominated a fragmented 15th frame for 9-6.
A missed red to centre was costly for Higgins in the 16th as his opponent made 99 to claw one back. But Hawkins’ break-off in frame 17 left a red close to a centre pocket, Higgins swept over the line with a 107.
“I would love to win this one and be a multiple champion this season, before we go to Sheffield,” said four-time Crucible king Higgins. “In the first session, Barry was hitting the ball well and looking superb, if he had gone 4-2 up he then could have gone 5-3 or 6-2, he was freezing me out. I was delighted to be 4-4, then I knew had to play better tonight, and I thought I played great.
“It was an amazing atmosphere, it reminds me of Alexandra Palace on a smaller scale. It’s an incredible venue and Manchester is a great city. I’m sure Sunday will be even better and I can’t wait.“
Hawkins, who had knocked out Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump, said: “It was a good match, I just had a few loose shots and John punished me heavily, he looked at the top of his game. It has still been a good week but I am disappointed right now.“
It was a good match but I’m deeply unhappy about the outcome. Those who know me, or read this blog regularly, know why. And, no, that’s not going to change ever unless new elements come to light that radically change my perspective on what happened in 2010.
Regarding the second semi-final, due to be played today, I don’t have a “favourite”. I like both players. I would be delighted to see Ding lift the trophy tomorrow but I think that Mark Selby is better equipped to stop Higgins.
Some more personal thoughts on the Ronnie situation …
This is nothing new but for clarity, here is what Ronnie said about his plans, as reported by the BBC :
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t made my mind up, I’ll probably make a decision on maybe 17 or 18 April,” O’Sullivan said on TNT Sports.
“I don’t know when I’m due to play my first match, so I’m going to try and leave myself as much time as possible.
“I’d love to be able to go there and play. I’d love to be able to have the confidence to be able to get my cue out and go and play snooker.
“I just need to give myself as much time as possible to see where I’m at with it, and see whether it’s something I’m going to be able to do.“
…
“It’s been a real struggle,” he added. “I’ve tried to play my way through. I’ve had moments and glimpses where I thought: ‘OK, this is OK.‘
“But on the whole, probably three-and-a-half years out of the last four have been pretty terrible for me and that’s kind of took its toll.
“I kind of got a bit tired. It kind of ground me down to the point where I kind of lost the love for the game.
“That’s why in January, I snapped my cue just in temper, in frustration. I don’t really want to feel like that, so I’ve taken time out. I am just gonna try and fix what I think is the problem before I come back to play serious snooker again.”
So? Ronnie won five titles last season and still feels like he’s been awful for the best part of the last four seasons? That may sound crazy but that’s what depression does to those who suffer from it and it rarely really goes away completely. Mark Selby has been open about that as well. Also, in my opinion, the collapse of his 13 years long relationship with Laila Rouass hasn’t helped. People close to them have reported that, despite the difficulties, there was still a lot of love between them. I’m not sure that, if true, this is making things easier. When a relationship ends in acrimony and bitter resentment, it’s ugly, but it makes it easier to walk away and start anew.
For me, the situation is this: Ronnie is struggling with depression, badly, and feels unable, psychologically, to cope with the demands of his sport. Also the huge expectations that always weigh on him whenever he plays aren’t helping. If that’s the case, not playing is the sensible decision, and definitely far better than walking out mid match like he did at the 2006 UK Championship against Hendry. Nobody wants to see that again.
Many fans are complaining and brandishing the “what if there is an empty session?”. I understand their concerns but as seed number 5, Ronnie is likely to be scheduled to play his first session on the third or fourth day of the tournament, or even earlier but that has happened only once recently. That leaves a bit time for WST to deal with the situation IF necessary. Usually, during the first week, most sessions feature a match that is in its first session and one that is in its second session. When one table “finishes”, the curtain is lifted and the whole Crucible can watch the other table. The only possible “disaster” scenario would be that the match due to finish during Ronnie’s scheduled “first session” is so one sided that only a couple of frames remain to be played. It could happen, of course, but it doesn’t happen that often and given the quality of the qualifiers this year, I would be surprised if we had many one-sided matches in the first round this time.
Just six weeks short of his 50th birthday, John Higgins remains determined to compete at snooker’s highest level and moved into the semi-finals of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship with an emphatic 10-3 victory over Xiao Guodong.
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After a four year drought without a ranking title, when he had doubts as to whether he still belonged at the sport’s top table, Higgins enjoyed a landmark success at the World Open in China last month. That triumph has given the legendary Scot fresh confidence, and that showed as he reeled off seven frames in a row from 3-3 to beat Xiao with ease.
“I won tough games at the World Open, coming back from a few frames down,” said world number six Higgins today. “It has given me back the belief in my game and my fighting qualities, that I can still do it at this level, that has been the most important thing. Big players are winning multiple events, that’s what I need to try to do. I still want to compete with them. If I ever lose that I have got no chance.”
Higgins is into the semi-finals in Manchester and will meet another player in form, Barry Hawkins, over 19 frames on Friday. Two more wins would give Higgins a 33rd ranking title and would boost him to third in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings.
He led China’s Xiao 5-3 after the first session, and added the five frames he needed today with top breaks of 61, 87, 100. Over the match, the four-time Crucible king made four centuries and three more breaks over 50 as he booked an 88th ranking event semi-final.
Higgins and wife Denise will spend Thursday evening in Manchester watching Dutch conductor André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra. Back on the baize tomorrow, Higgins will be hoping to waltz into the final. “Barry is an unbelievable player,” he added. “I watched a bit of his matches with Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump and he has been nearly flawless. He has beaten me a couple of times this season so I will need to play better.“
On the other table, it was a bad afternoon for World Champion Kyren Wilson as he suffered a nosebleed and fell 7-1 down against Ding Junhui. Wilson beat world number one Judd Trump 10-9 in the final of the Sportsbet.io Players Championship in Telford, but both players could be absent from the last four this week.
China’s Ding looked sharp in a 10-3 first round win over Mark Williams and was by far the stronger player today. Wilson took the opening frame with a break of 70 before Ding took seven in a row with top runs of 126, 73, 76, 59 and 80. The match was halted during the seventh frame so that Wilson could take time backstage to recover from his nosebleed. Back on the table he couldn’t wrestle the initiative from Ding, and the Warrior will need to win nine of the last 11 frames when they return at 7pm.
On the 20th anniversary of his first ranking title, Ding Junhui enjoyed another momentous victory with a 10-5 defeat of Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship.
Ding will now meet Mark Selby, who crushed Neil Robertson 10-1. In a week of one-sided scorelines, this was one of the heaviest defeats of Robertson’s career, while Selby stepped up his bid for a fourth title of the season. In a rematch of the 2016 Crucible final, Ding and Selby will go head to head over 19 frames on Saturday.
At the 2005 China Open, Ding beat Stephen Hendry in the final, taking his first step towards superstardom. He has since become Asia’s most successful ever player, with 15 ranking titles to his name, and helping snooker to become one of the most popular sports in his homeland. Now age 38, Ding is still capable of beating any opponent, as he proved at the International Championship in November when he lifted the trophy. And today he outplayed World Champion Wilson, who won his fourth title of the season at the recent Sportsbet.io Players Championship.
Breaks of 123, 73, 76, 59 and 80 helped Ding to a 7-1 first session lead. Another run of 80 gave him the first frame tonight, before Wilson took the next two. In frame 12, Ding led 63-0 when he missed a red to a centre pocket and Wilson cleared with 66 to threaten a fight back.
Ding took frame 13 for 9-4, before Wilson pulled one more back with a 106. A break of 63 put Ding in control of frame 15 and he edged over the line as Wilson’s battle to gain the snookers he required ended on the green.
“Before the match there was no pressure, but tonight I really wanted to win, especially as I had a big lead,” said world number nine Ding. “I missed a few chances to win so I had to really concentrate. Maybe this is my lucky day, like 20 years ago. Winning big matches and long matches builds up my confidence.
“I have played Mark many times and it is always very tough. He had a very good scoreline today. I am hitting the ball well on most shots, it’s the way I like to play.”
Wilson said: “I left myself with too much to do. I changed my tip before the session tonight and I was getting through the ball better. Every credit to Ding, he was fantastic this afternoon. It might be a good thing because it gives me two weeks to rest before the World Championship.“
Four-time World Champion Selby looked close to his best in an outstanding display, albeit against an opponent who was suffering from illness today. Leicester’s Selby is through to the semi-finals of this event for the fourth time and hopes to reach his first final.
In Wednesday’s night’s opening session, world number three Selby compiled breaks of 51, 69, 105, 86 and 68 in building a 7-1 lead. He needed just 42 minutes to wrap up the match tonight, adding runs of 65, 124 and 123. Selby has now made 65 centuries this season, his highest ever total.
“I am really pleased to beat Neil by any scoreline,” said 43-year-old Selby, who has already won the Unibet British Open, BetVictor Championship League and BetVictor Welsh Open this season. “Last night 7-1 flattered me because there were three or four frames which could have gone either way. I just need to keep my tempo up and follow up each good performance with another one.
“It’s good to see Ding playing well because he is a great lad and what he has done for us in China is incredible. We owe him a lot, if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be going out there for so many big tournaments.”
I watched the Ding v Wilson match and, unfortunately, it was an anti-climax. To be fair to Kyren, he didn’t look well. He had this nosebleed in the first session and didn’t look his usual self in the second session either. He battled with all he had, but it clearly wasn’t his day, on and off the table. That said ,Ding played really well and when he does he’s a delight to watch. He’s a beautiful, beautiful player, is Ding. Precise, smooth, elegant …
As WST mentions, it was the 20th anniversary of Ding’s first tournament win. Ding was only 18 at the time, barely more than a kid and very, very shy. Hendry, of course was a seven times World Champion. He wasn’t at the peak of his powers anymore but he was still a force in the game. Ding’s win felt like thunder striking in a clear blue sky!
Not many at the time understood the long term consequences of that win and, even when the first contingent of Chinese players arrived in the UK, a lot of fans gave them no chance to succeed. They needed a bit of time to adapt, their impact wasn’t immediate but here we are now, with several events in China every season and a strong contingent of Chinese players, including a very “healthy number” of very good youngsters. A revolution started on that day.
That tournament was extraordinary in the most literal sense of the word. Like several other Chinese players, Ding had given up his normal tournament entry position and, instead he had taken an offer to enter the tournament as a wild-card player. As a result, he did not receive any prize money nor ranking points for his tournament win but he took the trophy and started a revolution.
There was a very extensive “wild card round” to start the tournament. Incredibly it featured 16 Asian wildcards, facing 16 professional players. Those wildcards, as mentioned already, didn’t get anything for their efforts, other than exposure and the opportunity for the amateurs among them to play main tour professionals.
Here is how that wildcard round panned out:
Dave Harold 5-3 Xiao Guodong
Gerard Greene 1-5 Kobkit Palajin (from Thailand)
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Cao Kaisheng
Mark Davis 2-5 Ding Junhui
Quinten Hahn 5-1 Guo Hua
Jimmy Michie 3-5 Habib Subah (from Bahrain)
Barry Pinches 5-3 Yang Quingtian
Ali Carter 5-1 Cao Xinlong
Robert Milkins 5-3 Liu Song
Ryan Day 5-3 Jin Long
Michael Holt 5-3 Cai Jianzhong
Ricky Walden 5-2 Pang Weiguo
Tom Ford 5-3 Zheng Peng
Anthony Hamilton 5-1 Zang Dongtao
Adrian Gunnell 5-1 Zang Kai
Nigel Bond 4-5 Liang Wenbo
Several of those wildcard players were pros, or later turned pro … with various fortunes as we know …
We are finally getting some news about Ronnie … it’s not great but the very fact that he decided to open up about his struggles is a positive. Here are two pieces reporting what Ronnie had to say about how he feels and what the situation currently is. Thank you Ben for sharing them in commentary.
It seems that we read and look up the same stuff …
Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals the chances of him playing at the World Snooker Championship – and opens up on being at the ‘end of his tether’ with the sport
Ronnie O’Sullivan has not competed at a tournament since his January meltdown
The Englishman snapped his cue and said he was ‘burnt out,’ needing a break
Now he has given an insight into his mentality about the World Championship
Ronnie O’Sullivan admits he still does not know if he will play at this month’s World Snooker Championship – and he will give himself until the day before the draw to decide.
The record seven-time world champion has not competed in a tournament since snapping his cue in anger at the Champions League in Leicester in January.
Explaining his prolonged absence for the first time, O’Sullivan said he needed to take a break because he was ‘burnt out’, revealing he had become ‘scared’ to pick up his cue because of how badly he was playing.
The 49-year-old has since returned to the practice table and is working with coach Gary Filtness to see if he can improve his form in time to make a comeback at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan has been given a provisional seeding of four for the World Championship which starts on April 19, with the draw taking place two days before.
But the Rocket told Mail Sport: ‘If you’d asked me three days ago, I’d have said, “100 per cent I’m playing”, because I found something, and I was like, “Wow, I’m hitting the ball good”.
‘The confidence came back and it lasted for three days, and I was like, “Oh yeah, I fancy it”. But then the last two days, it’s gone downhill. It seems to be one step forward, two steps back.
‘As I sit here, it’s highly unlikely I’ll play in the World Championship. But I’ve got some practice sessions booked in with a very, very good player who is in the top 16 on April 14th, 15th and 16th. So I’m going to give myself until that very last practice session to just see where my game is at.
‘If I think, “You know what, it’s all right”, I’ll probably play. But if it’s like it is today, it’s just not going to be pretty for me.
‘Obviously, I snapped my cue and I’m still trying to find a cue I’m comfortable with, which I haven’t yet been able to do.
‘I’d love to be back playing. I really, really would. Pulling out of tournaments ain’t good for me. It’s not what I want to be doing. I want to be out there competing.
‘The last three or four weeks I’ve been practising a hell of a lot. But at the start of the season I was getting scared to go near the practice table and getting scared to get my cue out of my case.
‘I got to the end of my tether with my game. Now I’m just focusing on getting that fixed because if I don’t get that fixed, there are no ournaments.’
‘Couldn’t keep going on’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan undecided on playing Snooker World Championship and is ‘SCARED’ to practise
O’Sullivan admitted he still hasn’t found a cue after snapping his previous one
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN admits he has felt “scared” to go near a practice or match table during his enforced snooker break.
In an exclusive SunSport interview, the Rocket, 49, remains undecided if he will play at this month’s World Snooker Championship, which starts on April 19.
The decision to appear at the Crucible will hinge on THREE key practice sessions the days before the action starts in Sheffield on Easter Saturday.
He regrets his meltdown in January when he snapped his cue in anger at a low-key event in Leicester – and he is struggling to find a suitable replacement.
O’Sullivan, who has pulled out of FIVE tournaments in 2025, said: “I’ll make a decision when I feel like I’m ready to make a decision. That will be it.
“I know I have nothing to prove. But I was getting to the point where I was scared to even go near a table.
“Not even the match table, just a practice table. And that has been going on for a long time.
“I tried to play through it. I tried and I tried and I tried. I was getting no enjoyment out of it.
“Even that season when I won five tournaments, it was just hard. I couldn’t keep going on struggling.
“At some point you’ve got to try and enjoy the game. I can only enjoy it if I’m playing half decent.”
O’Sullivan – currently ranked fourth in the Worlds seeding pot – will play another pro over three days and how he feels then will influence his decision whether to appear at the Crucible for a 33rd consecutive year.
The seven-time world champion said: “I’ve got practice sessions booked up on the 14th, 15th and 16th.
“I’ll make a decision after those three good sparring sessions that I have arranged.
“Until then, I’ll be working as hard as I can to try and figure out the problem.
“It’s hard. It’s really hard. I never thought I’d be in this situation where I didn’t feel like I’d have the confidence to go and play to be honest with you.”
A race against time is on to locate the cue that will make him competitive over 17 gruelling days of action in South Yorkshire.
At the start of this year, after he lost 3-2 to Chris Wakelin at the behind-closed-doors event Championship League, O’Sullivan took his equipment and broke it in half – and then stuffed it in the bin!
His pal Robbie retrieved the cue and O’Sullivan laughed: “Unrepairable. It’s a bit of memorabilia now. It’ll be getting sold off.
“I literally don’t have a cue. I still haven’t found one that I’m comfortable with. Still just trying out different ones. Trying to find one that I like.
“I’ve probably changed my cue maybe four, five times. On two or three occasions, I found one straightaway.
“On the other two occasions, it has taken me sometimes a year to find one.
“I do regret it really. Because it was my cue. It’s hard to find another one.
“What happened was just coming. I have done it before. And it’s not the game, it’s me really.
“I’ve just been struggling for so long now. I just couldn’t do it anymore to be honest with you. I couldn’t. And I’m still struggling now to be honest.”
O’Sullivan, who turns 50 this year, has pulled out of the Masters, German Masters, Welsh Open and World Grand Prix, citing “medical grounds”.
The long-term snooker expert for TNT Sports insists the issues are with his technique and are affecting his ability to strike the ball straight.
He said: “It got to the point where I was struggling with the game. I always call it snooker depression.
“Call it stage fright. Call it whatever you like. It starts to affect you mentally.
“Listen, that’s why I snapped my cue, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
“I don’t want to put myself in a situation where I feel like that could happen again.
“I need to find the love for the game, to find that passion.
“I’m not bothered about winning and losing. I never have been.
“I’ve always been more, ‘Where’s my game at?’ If my game is alright, then cool.
“If it’s terrible, I can leave that for one, two, three, four months. But I can’t live for three, four years of struggling and just grinding it out.
“It was just no fun to be honest with you. I’m trying to unravel it.
“If you’d asked me the question, ‘Do you think I’ll ever get to a point where I feel comfortable enough to go and play?‘
“Well, the answer two days ago would have been probably ‘maybe’. If you ask me today, after the last two practice sessions, I’d say absolutely not.
Gary Filtness is someone Ronnie has a lot of respect for. That’s no guarantee of success but it certainly helps. At least we now know where things stand. Also, Ronnie had spoken about going to Riyadh, end of next week to work with Nigel Bond. Nigel is also someone he trusts and an excellent coach. Fingers crossed something positive comes out of this!
But he’s been a lso beenworking with Lee Walker recently
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s coach reveals ‘hope’ ahead of World Snooker Championship decision
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s coach, Lee Walker, opens up about working with the seven-time world champion as fans wait to see if the Rocket will take part at the Crucible
By Mark Whiley Sports Reporter
It remains to be seen whether Ronnie O’Sullivan will play at the World Championship(Image: Getty)
Snooker coach Lee Walker has lifted the lid on working with Ronnie O’Sullivan as the Rocket ponders whether to play at the World Championship. Three years after going level with Stephen Hendry on seven world titles, it remains to be seen if the Rocket will show up for the 2025 showpiece, which begins on April 19.
O’Sullivan briefly returned to action in January at the low-key Championship League, only to smash his cue in frustration and withdraw before his final group match. He promptly withdrew from the Masters, where he was due to defend the title, and a series of other tournaments.
The 49-year-old is on the official entry list for the Crucible, but it remains anyone’s guess as to whether he will take part. Unhappy with his game, perfectionist O’Sullivan enlisted the help of Mark Williams’ long-time coach, Walker, earlier this season. That relationship is still ongoing as fans await the Rocket’s Crucible call with bated breath.
“We’re still working together but he’s taking a bit of a break at the moment,” said Walker in mid-March in an interview for Reach’s World Championship preview publication.
“We’ll just wait and see whether he comes back and plays at the World Championship. Hopefully, if he does play in the World Championship, he can feel a bit better and get back to doing what he does best, which is potting balls.”
O’Sullivan hasn’t played competitive snooker since January(Image: Getty)
While Walker has had just a handful of sessions with O’Sullivan so far, he described them as “incredible” experiences.
“It’s different to Mark because we’re very good friends and have practised together for years. I know what I’m seeing there,” explained Walker, a former World Seniors champion.
“I’ve played Ronnie a couple of times but had not actually seen what he does close up. I’ve had four or five sessions with him, and I enjoyed every one.
“He was first-class with me in every session we did. To see a player like that up close, everybody can learn different things from watching him.”
Williams had no issues with Walker linking up with one of his great rivals. Walker revealed: “He told me to do it. He basically said, ‘When a player like Ronnie asks you, there’s only one answer’.”
While O’Sullivan’s immediate future is uncertain, Walker insists it would be foolish to write him and fellow ‘Class of 92’ members Williams and John Higgins off.
“If he [O’Sullivan] never plays again or never wins another tournament, he’ll still go down as the greatest player who’s ever played the game,” said Walker. “This is what separates the likes of Ronnie, Mark and John from most other players.“
John has just won again [at the World Open] after a few years of not winning. People said he’d never win another tournament but you can never write these guys off. They’re just incredible.
“I’m sure Ronnie will eventually want to get back to it. I think everyone, firstly, wants to see him feeling good and then getting back to what he does best.”
I had just seen that same interview myself.
I’m not sure what to make of all this.
It’s obvious that Ronnie is truly struggling with his mental health at the moment and probably isn’t really fit to play. It’s not the first time it happens. Of course, we don’t know if the state of his snooker is the only thing weighting on his mind. Because a person, like Ronnie, is a “public figure” doesn’t mean the “public” has any right to know what’s going on in their private life and nobody knows what’s going on in other people’s life unless they share their concerns, fears or sorrows. Also, Ronnie has previous with depression. His documentary was very revealing in that regard. We just have to accept that it is what it is – as he would put it himself – and hope for the best.
Top 16 Seeds Confirmed For Halo World Championship
he top 16 seeds for the Halo World Championship have now been confirmed, with last year’s Crucible runner-up Jak Jones hanging on to the 16th and last spot.
Wu Yize could have jumped into the elite by reaching the final of this week’s Sportsbet.io Tour Championship in Manchester, but lost in the opening round which means he’ll be heading for the qualifiers. Jones is safe for the Crucible and will be a seed for the first time, as will Xiao Guodong and Si Jiahui.
The 16 seeds are below, though this order could change depending on results in Manchester:
Kyren Wilson Judd Trump Mark Selby Ronnie O’Sullivan Mark Williams John Higgins Luca Brecel Mark Allen Neil Robertson Ding Junhui Barry Hawkins Zhang Anda Si Jiahui Xiao Guodong Shaun Murphy Jak Jones
Of course the seeding order could still change and … what if Ronnie withdraws?
My understanding of what could happen if Ronnie withdraws is this: if he withdraws before the third round of qualifiers starts, every seed below Ronnie would “advance” one spot and Gary Wilson, who is currently ranked 17th in the provisional Crucible seeding list, would take the 16th spot as a seed at the Crucible. If Ronnie was to withdraw after the third round of qualifiers started, his opponent in the first round proper would get a bye.
Ronnie O’Sullivan ‘misinterpreted quite a lot,’ says former World Championship final foe
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s old rival has sent him his best wishes (Picture: Getty Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan is often ‘misinterpreted’ and ‘has a heart of gold,’ says Graeme Dott, who hopes to see the Rocket back at the World Snooker Championship.
Whether O’Sullivan will play at the Crucible this year is yet to be seen as he has not played competitively since the Championship League in January, pulling out of a string of tournaments since then.
Frustrations boiled over at the Championship League, where he smashed his cue and left it in a bin in Leicester, before pulling out of the Masters shortly after.
He has not been seen at the table since, but having never missed a World Championship since his debut in 1993, it would be a major decision not to play in Sheffield.
Dott, who lost to the Rocket in the 2004 Crucible final but then beat him in the 2006 semis before lifting the famous trophy himself, hopes that O’Sullivan is getting himself into a good place mentally so he can perform in Sheffield.
‘I’ve not spoke to him but the guy must be struggling,’ Dott told Metro. ‘I know he’s got a love-hate relationship with snooker, but he does still love it.
‘He puts a lot of work in in practice so he obviously is struggling if he’s not playing. Probably the best thing he can do is what he is doing, just don’t play.
O’Sullivan is yet to confirm his World Championship plans (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Hopefully he gets back to a better mental state so he can come back and play again.
‘He’s the box office name, he’s still the box office player, he’s probably still the best player. It’s certainly a better tournament with him in and it’s not quite the same when he’s not there.
‘I wish him nothing but the best and hopefully he’s back to feeling a bit better and he feels well enough to compete again.’
Graeme Dott hopes to make the Crucible and see the Rocket there (Picture: Getty Images)
The Englishman and the Scot go a long way back, having first played each other professionally at the 1995 International Open.
Both have gone through their own battles with mental health, with Dott speaking openly about suffering with depression in the past.
The 47-year-old has also told the story of how O’Sullivan reached out to him when the Rocket heard that he was struggling, to offer help and advice.
Ronnie O’Sullivan won his second world title against Graeme Dott in 2004 (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I thought it was really nice of him to phone, because he doesn’t really speak to me, it’s not as if we were mates. I kind of looked at him a different way after that. But it’s horrible [depression], horrible.’
Remembering that conversation now, Dott says it meant a lot to him: ‘Yeah it did because it’s not as if we were friends, it came completely out the blue, so it shows you what kind of guy he is.
‘He’s misinterpreted quite a lot, Ronnie, I think he’s got a heart of gold. Hopefully he can feel a bit better and he can play in the Worlds. It would be a much better tournament with him in it.’
Thank you Graeme! I’m wishing you the very best at the qualifiers.
Graeme is one of the most honest and genuine person you might want to meet. Fans don’t appreciate him enough. He always speaks his mind, but I’ve never heard a nasty word coming out of his mouth. He’s genuine, honest and a very very good player. More than very good, you don’t become World Champion if you are not a very top player.
