Let’s start with Ronnie … although the official Championship League Snooker site still shows Ronnie in Group 1 draw, the WST score system now has him replaced by Michael Holt. So, it’s 99,99% certain that he has withdrawn from the event, which, TBH, isn’t a big surprise.
During the 2023/24 season, the following qualifying events will be open to fans:
International Championship Qualifiers, September 18-23, Sheffield BetVictor Northern Ireland Open Qualifiers, October 17-20, Sheffield UK Championship Qualifiers, November 18-23, Leicester Morningside Arena BetVictor German Masters Qualifiers, December 18-22, Sheffield BetVictor Welsh Open Qualifiers and Six Red World Championship Qualifiers, January 22-28, Barnsley Cazoo World Championship Qualifiers, April 8-17, Sheffield
Nearer the time of each event, details will be announced on how to buy tickets or gain access.
As in previous seasons, our intention is to give fans access where this is possible. Qualifying rounds are a fantastic way to enjoy live snooker with outstanding value for money. The quality of snooker is extraordinary and the strength in depth on our tour has never been greater. And at all qualifying events you can see a wide range of players on a single day.
We hope to see you at our qualifying events this season.
The good news clearly is that the UK Championship qualifiers will be open to fans.
However, as things stand for now, qualifiers to be played before mid-September will apparently not be open to fans. That includes the 2023 British Open qualifiers, the 2023 European Masters qualifiers, the 2023 Wuhan Open qualifiers and the 2023 English Open qualifiers.
Zhou Yuelong and Jak Jones earned their places in the second phase of the BetVictor Championship League ranking event in Leicester, topping their respective groups.
In group 17, China’s Zhou began with a 3-0 whitewash victory over Scottish amateur Chris Totten, rounding the win off with a century run of 105 in the third. However, the three-time ranking event finalist’s progression was put under threat after he suffered 3-0 reverse against Oliver Brown in his second match.
Brown was defeated 3-1 by Ashley Hugill and drew 2-2 with Totten. That was enough for him to secure second place and meant that a win for Zhou in his final match against Hugill would see him top the group. Zhou obliged with breaks of 77, 75 and 50 to run out a 3-0 victor.
Welshman Jones ended last season superbly with a run to the quarter-finals of the World Championship on his Crucible debut. He continued to impress in group 26, but was held to a 2-2 draw in his opening match against Dean Young. He followed that up with a 3-0 whitewash win over Rebecca Kenna to set up a group decider against Jamie Jones. It was Jak Jones who prevailed 3-1 to top the group and make the next stage.
I’m not sure who writes those reports but they should do better …
“Welshman Jones ended last season superbly …”. Which Jones? There were two of them, both Welsh, Jak and Jamie. Of course given the context you understand it’s Jak but is typing those three letters to make the text more easily understandable too much to ask?
Anyway… yesterday wasn’t the best day for me, with all sorts of (minor) inconveniences and power cuts. I did see only bits and pieces of the action. What I did see though was Bex Kenna coming back from 2-0 down to force a draw against Dean Young. She hadn’t won a frame all day, and Dean didn’t gift it to her as the draw meant that he would finish third whilst a win would have given him a second place. It made no material difference for Bex, she would be last in the group no matter the outcome, but it made a 1000 pounds and ranking points difference for Dean. Bex nevertheless tried her best to the very end, and played for pride. Well done!
Today we have Ali Carter, Jackson Page, Long Zehuang and Ryan Davies on table 1, Wu Yize, Pang Junxu, Hammad Miah and Stan Moody on table 2.
In other bad news … this
Shame on you WST. This is the second most important tournament of the season. If it’s played with the same tiered format as last year, only 32 players will be at the main venue. All the others will compete in front of nobody, with no support, no atmosphere, no or little exposure. This will impact their opportunities to find a sponsor. This is dispiriting and another clear sign that snooker is NOT in a good place. No wonder more and more players look at other cue sports for opportunities. And we shouldn’t be surprised, nor should we blame the top boys who are nearing their 50th to give priority to lucrative exhibition events.
And about players looking at other cue sports… this conversation came up on twitter
Brendan has been a top referee in snooker for many years, but has now turned to pool…
This is what happened yesterday in Leicester, as reported by WST … and if Matchroom.live is to be believed it happened in Gibraltar as well where , apparently, table 2 can be found 😎
Stevens And Hamilton Through
Matthew Stevens kicked off his 30th season as a professional by qualifying for the second stage of the BetVictor Championship League ranking edition at the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Tuesday.
Stevens, a former UK Championship and Masters winner, finished top of Group 15 after winning his opening two matches, leaving him in an unassailable position going into his final contest.
The Welshman opened his account with a 3-1 victory over Allan Taylor before a hard fought 3-0 win against Duane Jones, which culminated in Stevens claiming a 46-minute third frame on the black.
The top seed in the group, 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham, had been held to a 2-2 draw by Jones before suffering a 3-1 defeat to Taylor, who highlighted his victory with a break of 129.
It meant Bingham was unable to win the group heading into his final encounter with Stevens, who went into the match safe in the knowledge he had already done enough to qualify. Bingham won 3-1 and finished third behind Taylor.
“I was a bit in and out today,” Stevens said. “I started well in my first match but I was lucky that Duane struggled against me and let me off the hook, which made the difference in the end. But all in all, I felt okay.
“We’ve got tournaments coming up so I’ll carry on playing now and try and put some graft in.”
Experience told in Group 28 as 52 year-old Anthony Hamilton secured qualification for the last 32 stage.
Hamilton, the 2017 German Masters champion, completed a 3-0 whitewash over Chinese tour debutant Xing Zihao by successfully obtaining the three snookers he needed in the last frame before winning it on a re-spotted black.
Hamilton, who had made a 116 break against Xing, added a second century, 110, during his 2-2 draw with Australian Ryan Thomerson. The group’s other results left the veteran needing just a point from his last match with Belgian Ben Mertens and he duly took a 2-0 lead before Mertens hit back to force a 2-2 draw, finishing off with a 131 total clearance.
I mainly watched table 2. The Sheriff was his reliable self – he’s always been a good scorer – and totally deserved to win the group. Ben Mertens probably celebrated with Luca Brecel until the day before yesterday … he was quite out-of-sorts. He produced a mixed bag of excellent pots and unexpected mistakes. He saved his best for last, but it was too late. Xing Zihao played better that I expected after Lewis’ comments. He’s obviously very young and not at all accustomed of the professional environment but he showed some really good stuff.
This what awaits us today:
Chris Totten is taking the last spot in Group 17 (table 1). The spot was still “TBA” when the draw was published and was probably destined for the Africa Champion, provided they could make it.
In other news… we finally know a bit more about the outcome(s) at the exhibition tournament in Shanghai, as this appeared on twitter
Here is the said clearance (obviously an amateur video)
And another one, probably recorded by the same person, showing Judd at the table … playing a fantastic last red
After a two days hiatus, the 2023 ranking CLS was back yesterday … competing for attention with Wimbledon. Despite getting some help from the gods of rain, I’m not sure it worked 🤨
Ben Woollaston and Xiao Guodong both made it through to phase two of the BetVictor Championship League Snooker – Ranking Edition with fine performances at the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Monday.
In Group 32, China’s Xiao opened with a 2-2 draw against Rory McLeod, and in his second match against Alexander Ursenbacher he was 1-0 behind, but hit back with breaks of 101, 123 and 50 to win 3-1. Xiao then rounded off his day with a 3-0 success against Martin Gould and he’ll be back for the next phase later this month.
Woollaston opened Group 16 with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Liam Graham, highlighted by a break of 96 in frame three, and he was equally dominant in a 3-0 win over Peter Lines. The Leicester cueman still needed to avoid a 3-0 defeat in his last match of the day against Jimmy Robertson, and he was in danger at 2-0 down, but Woollaston crucially took frame three on the colours and added the fourth with a break of 73 for good measure to leave the result at 2-2.
The BetVictor Championship League is the first ranking event of the season and carries total prize money of £328,000. The eventual winner on July 21 will earn a place in the prestigious Champion of Champions event in Bolton from November 13-19.
Among the players in action this week are 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham, last season’s German Masters winner Ali Carter and reigning Welsh Open champion Robert Milkins.
Despite the tennis competition I watched most of the action yesterday. I was pleased to see Ben Woollaston playing well. He has struggled a lot with health issues in recent years. Xiao looked rusty in his first match but got rid of the cobwebs pretty quickly. Jimmy Robertson also struggled at the start of the day; he improved but too late and too little. Martin Gould, on the other hand was really poor.
I watched a lot of Liam Graham and I’m in two minds about what I saw. The young man has abilities and he is a fighter. That’s commendable and I liked that. On the other hand, he clearly has a lot to learn, which is normal, but I’m not sure he expected the level of opposition he had to face. He oozed frustration for most of the day and this I didn’t like, because I’m not sure this attitude will help him to learn what he has to learn and it’s a lot. I may be wrong – I hope I’m wrong – but I have the feeling that many young players, especially the young UK players, fresh from the amateur ranks, believe that they are much better than they actually are and it often backfires. Confidence is a good thing, but over-confidence isn’t. When mercilessly crushed by daily reality-checks over-confidence can be very destructive.
Anyway, this is today’s program
I will probably in the minority concentrating on table 2.
The exhibition tournament in Shanghai was played to a conclusion yesterday but I have no clue who won it, neither who played who, nor what the match scores were. It seems that the format was best of 11. I’m not sure if the final was longer.
Anyway…
Here is a short video showing Ronnie thumping in a fantastic final black
From what I understood, reading the comments on that video, this was during Ronnie’s match v Marco Fu, and to avoid going 3-0 down. Marco then won the next two frames to go 4-1 up, only for Ronnie to win five on the bounce for a 6-4 victory.
I also found a few pictures
One of those shows Ronnie being 3-0 up on Judd Rump, and at the table. And it’s nice to see Zhou Ying refereeing. Since she got married, she rarely referees outside China, if ever.
Thanks to Silvry who found the crucial information on Instagram: Ronnie won the event, beating Judd Trump by 6-5 in the Final.
And some off-math pictures shared by Robbie
And, while Ronnie was at the other side of the world, Stephen Hendry shared a video where Ronnie answers the fan’s questions, and they have a relaxed chat:
It’s really enjoyable.
Meanwhile, in Leicester, the 2023 ranking CLS week 2 is about to start and here is today’s program, as shred by WST:
WST can’t get a thing right at the moment it seems … unless Barry Pinches, who already qualified for stage two, is tasked to replace Alex Ursenbacher in the afternoon session.
PS… they realised their mistake and corrected it. Still … it’s careless 😏
The players invited to the new Macau Snooker Masters are excited for the opportunity to play in the event this December, with Judd Trump saying: ‘Christmas is going to be very special this year.’
There will be £150,000 on offer to the winner, with Trump battling it out with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ding Junhui, Jack Lisowski, Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson, Marco Fu and Si Jiahui for the big top prize.
The eight-man tournament is to be held at the Wynn Palace in Macau from 25-29 December, an unusual time for a snooker event, but one that slots in when they players won’t be involved in World Snooker Tour competitions.
World Snooker Tour confirmed that the Macau Masters is unsanctioned meaning the players won’t be able to play if it is streamed or broadcast, so don’t expect to watch the action over Christmas dinner.
Nevertheless, it will be a glamorous event at the Wynn Palace hotel, with Trump joking he is looking forward to winning some money back from the place after spending plenty at Wynn in Las Vegas.
‘Whenever I go on a holiday to Vegas, I always spend my money on the Wynn Hotel, so it will be nice to earn some money back here. Christmas is going to be very special this year.’
O’Sullivan added: ‘It’s a fantastic place. So excited to come here and play at such a big event in one of the best hotels in the world. I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic event with so much support from the people.’
The Rocket enjoyed a trip to Asia for a huge event last year when he won the Hong Kong Masters, beating Marco Fu in the final in front of a world record snooker crowd of 9,000.
‘The whole experience was perfect,’ he told SportsRoad. ‘I also want to say hello to the Hong Kong fans, and I hope to see you all in Macau at Christmas and play exciting games again.’
Ronnie O’Sullivan beatMarco Fu to win the Hong Kong Masters in October 2022 (Picture: Getty Images)
Chinese snooker has obviously been hit hard by the recent match-fixing scandal which has seen 10 players banned, with two for life.
However, O’Sullivan feels recent World Championship semi-finalist Si could win the world title within four years and thinks China is still a serious force at the top level.
‘In another three or four years’ time, he might win the tournament, it’s just experience,’ O’Sullivan said of the 20-year-old.
‘I’ve seen a lot of Chinese players practise a lot and they want to become the best. Some are so strong now, so the future is now and it will only get stronger.’
A couple more videos have emerged, notably one showing how much Ronnie appreciated the gym at the venue!
2023 Macau Masters launch
Ronnie loves the gym…
Whilst Judd loved the piano…
Some of the players have now moved to Shanghai for this exhibition event. It was initially supposed to happened on June, 30, but has now been moved to July 1 and 2, now played over two days.
I haven’t found pictures so far, but I found this video, showing the reception Ronnie got as he was introduced in the arena.
Impressive crowd welcomes Ronnie in the arena.
But that’s not all… Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski were involved in an exhibition mixing Chinese Pool and Snooker (I hope I got that right).
Here are the relevant posts on weibo … (as automatically translated)
This is the poster…
And some pictures from the action…
Ding also announced a “Fashion Show” that actually is not exactly what we expect when we read “Fashion Show”. Here is the explanation found on weibo …
Accompanied by some promotional images …
On a personal note … as you can see after years of deprivation because of covid, things are moving in China and Asia in general and there is a huge appetite for snooker there. WST doesn’t sanction the Macau Masters and maybe there are contractual reasons behind this decision. But it’s a shame. It will be a fantastic promotion for snooker, a sport I feel in under threat, having to compete with pool – actively promoted by Matchroom – and Chines Pool (Heyball) in Asia. Snooker I feel could do with all the exposure it can get.
And yes, I’m back on weibo as China has eventually discovered that both Belgium and Greece are countries where people have phones… 😎 … but I still can’t post. I need to register my phone for verification purposes. I tried to use the same (Belgium) phone, I used to successfully resuscitate my account … no joy. I’m told to use a “local” phone. So I tried to use our Greek mobile, as I’m living in Greece … same result. Any clue anyone?
All-time great Mark Williams began his 32nd season as a professional by reaching the second stage of the BetVictor Championship League Snooker – Ranking Edition with a hat-trick of victories at the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Friday.
Williams, 48, completed a clean sweep in Group 6 by whitewashing fellow Welshman Dylan Emery 3-0 in his final match. He made two centuries and six half century breaks in the nine frames he won during a vintage display of potting and break-building.
The three-times world champion opened his account with a swift 3-0 defeat of Polish amateur Daniel Holoyda, helped by breaks of 101 and 78.
Williams then won the first frame against Ken Doherty on a re-spotted black before a second century, 121, put him 2-0 up. The Irishman dominated the third but Williams made 92 to wrap up a 3-1 victory.
Emery had beaten Doherty 3-0 and Holoyda 3-1 so could still win the group with victory over Williams, but experience told in the decisive match as the 24-time ranking event winner fired in contributions of 86, 92 and 56 to coast into the last 32.
“I’m a bit surprised because my cue hasn’t come out the case for a while, but I played good stuff,” said Williams, who headed to the airport to catch a flight to Ireland where his youngest son, Joel, is competing in a junior event.
“He’s enjoying it,” Williams said. “You never know, one day he might be good enough to turn pro, but he’s only ten so we’ll see if he sticks with it.”
On the other table, Norwich veteran Barry Pinches made his vast experience tell to finish top of Group 27.
The 52 year-old defeated Belgium’s Julien Leclercq 3-1 before earning a crucial 2-2 draw with the group’s top seed, Jordan Brown, by fashioning a 71 clearance in the fourth frame.
Pinches then beat Joshua Thomond 3-1 to put himself on seven points and ensure he could not be caught at the top of the table.
As you might guess, my main focus was on Julien Leclerc. Julien started slowly and hopefully, will learn from his match against Barry Pinches. This is typically the type of match he needs to learn to win but probably rarely experienced against other young players. Barry put him under pressure right from the start by punishing every mistake. He may not score (anymore) as heavily as some of the younger ones but he’s very clever, determined and vastly experienced. In second part of the day, Julien played better, won his two remaining matches and eventually finished second in the group.
At 48, Willo remains an extraordinary player and one I love to watch. He makes it look easy, he may not seem to care but his will to win is there, as strong as ever. He was sublime at times yesterday.
Ben Woollaston and Xiao Guodong both made it through to phase two of the BetVictor Championship League Snooker – Ranking Edition with fine performances at the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Monday.
