The 2024 International Championship – Ronnie exits the tournament on day 3

Monique Professional snooker, Professional snooker tournament

Here is the report by WST

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DAY THREE

Pang Junxu produced a superb performance to defeat seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-4 at the International Championship in Nanjing.

It’s a first ever win over the Rocket for Pang in a match over the best of seven frames or longer. The victory sees him progress to earn a last 16 encounter with Jackson Page.

Pang, who was Rookie of the Year in 2021, is currently in red hot form. He arrived in Nanjing off the back of a run to the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open, which ended in a 6-4 defeat to World Champion Kyren Wilson.

After the opening four frames they were locked level at 2-2, before breaks of 85 and 73 saw Pang pull clear at 4-2. The Rocket didn’t back down and replied by taking the following two frames himself to restore parity at 4-4.

The ninth frame saw Pang embark on a 147 attempt. Having potted 15 reds and 14 blacks, he was left out of position with a long range cut on the 15th black. Pang deposited it, but failed to follow that up with a difficult yellow on the side cushion, ending his run on 120.

He quickly recovered from the disappointment of missing out on the maximum by crafting a match winning 123 in the next to secure victory.

“I felt a bit tense going for the 147 and I didn’t get the position I wanted. It was unfortunate, I left myself with an almost impossible angle on the black, so I wasn’t sure how to take on that final ball,” said 24-year-old Pang.

“When he came back to level after I was leading 4-2, I didn’t feel much pressure. His comeback wasn’t really related to my own performance. I managed to finish the last two frames with single visits.

“I’ve faced him four times in pro tournaments and each time I lost by a close margin. In previous matches I held back quite a bit, but today I played more freely and went for my shots. It wasn’t scared. I approached the game as an opportunity to learn from him.“

Although Pang narrowly missed out on the perfect break, his Chinese compatriot Xu Si did achieve the feat of making a 147 in his 6-2 defeat of Welshman Ryan Day.

Xu is now in line to scoop the £5,000 high break prize and it is the 15th perfect run to have been made in mainland China. Next up for Xu is the daunting prospect of meeting world number one Judd Trump, who battled past Joe O’Connor 6-4.

Barry Hawkins scored a 6-1 win over Neil Robertson to enhance his hopes of making it into the world’s top 16 and automatically qualifying for the UK Championship ahead of the seeding cut off, which comes at the end of this week.

Hawkins crafted breaks of 77, 50, 80 and 51 on his way to victory. He now faces World Champion Kyren Wilson, who made three centuries in a thrilling 6-4 win over Wu Yize.

Australia’s Robertson is now relying on other results to remain in the automatic qualifying spots for York. Hawkins must reach the semi-finals to surpass him, while Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong just needs to make the quarters. Xiao scored a 6-2 win over world number three Mark Allen today and now plays Jack Lisowski.

Chris Wakelin was a 6-3 victor against Shaun Murphy, while Chinese legend Ding Junhui whitewashed Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei 6-0. They now face Mark Williams and Jiang Jun respectively. 

All the detailed results are on snooker.org

Ronnie’s defeat is the big story of the day but … but in fact his match versus Pang was high quality from both, albeit Ronnie appeared tired towards the end. Here are the scores:

I honestly can’t brand this a “shock”.

Pang has shown his quality over the last couple of years and Ronnie has struggled this season. I did expect this match to be a difficult one for Ronnie and so it proved to be.

Here is the last frame of the match shared by Eurosport on their Youtube channel

It starts with Ronnie missing a long red, but during the course of the match he had knocked his fair share of similar balls in. Ronnie didn’t play badly at all. The main factor was that Pang was excellent, very consistent, and, particularly towards the end, he showed how solid mentally he has become.

Here ares some pictures shared by various sources on the Internet

Regarding the other results…. Ronnie is was not the only highest seed to lose today. In fact, 9 of the 16 matches played today were won by the lowest seed.

  • Zhang Anda, the defending champion, went out beaten 6-1 by Lyu Haotian and incredibly it isn’t even mentioned in the above report. This is seriously wrong.
  • Mark Allen, seed 4, lost to Xiao Guodong (6-2)
  • Shaun Murphy, seed 9, lost to Chris Wakelin (6-3)
  • Ali Carter, seed 12, lost to Jackson Page (6-4)
  • Si Jiahui, seed 13, lost to Jack Lisowski (6-5)
  • Neil Robertson, seed 15, lost to Barry Hawkins

and that’s to mention only the fate of the “top 16” seeds who went out today….

The 2024 International Championship – Day 2 and a win for Ronnie

Monique Snooker

This is WST report on day 2 in Nanjing

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DAY TWO

Neil Robertson fired in four centuries to blow China’s Fan Zhengyi away 6-0 at the International Championship in Nanjing.

The Australian is in need of a strong showing this week, which marks the final cut off for UK Championship qualification. With only 16 players automatically securing a place in the final stages, he arrived in Nanjing perilously positioned in 16th in the provisional Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings.

Today’s result leaves the Thunder from Down Under needing just one more victory to move ahead of Jak Jones in 15th and strengthen his hand. However, he now faces a crunch showdown with Barry Hawkins, who is also vying to push his way into the top 16.  Hawkins beat Joe Perry 6-2 in his last 64 tie.

A supreme display today saw Robertson demolish former European Masters champion Fan in just over an hour and 40 minutes. He hammered home breaks of 135, 102, 135 and 109 along the way.

Robertson said: “I’m very pleased because Fan is a really dangerous player. He has beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of a ranking event before. The key was to try and limit his chances to tough ones where he might be leaving me in. That happened a couple of times and I potted some good long balls. I scored really heavily and that is going to be the key this week.

“It was a good to win. There are a lot of ranking points up for grabs. The UK Championship is coming so I want to get a good run going. Everyone is building up towards the first Triple Crown event of the season. This is the one where the real world exposure is on you.”

Having lost twice to him already this season, seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan secured his first ever win over China’s He Guoqiang, prevailing 6-2.

The Rocket succumbed to losses at the Championship League and the English Open at the hands of the talented Chinese 24-year-old, who was Rookie of the Year last season.

O’Sullivan crafted breaks of 73, 87, 83, 70, 58, 53 and 72 during today’s win. He now plays Pang Junxu in the last 32.

O’Sullivan said: “There are so many good Chinese players, who are technically very good and play amazing games. That was the third time I’ve played this guy and he beat me the first two times. For me, it was a big match and I had to just block out that I’d lost the previous two and try to play my game.”

China’s top star Ding Junhui thrilled his home fans with a 6-1 win over Martin O’Donnell. That sets up an intriguing meeting with Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei.

World Champion Kyren Wilson was a 6-3 winner over Liu Hongyu, while world number one Judd Trump whitewashed Sanderson Lam 6-0. They now face Wu Yize and Joe O’Connor respectively.

World number three Mark Allen scored a 6-1 win over Aaron Hill to progress. That books him a clash with recent Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong.

The “highlighting” of the part of the text relative to Ronnie’s match is my doing.

Here are the scores for that match:

As you can it was a quality match, despite the fact that there was no century. They played 8 frames and, between them had 10 breaks over 50, 7 by Ronnie, 3 by He ! That’s some scoring fest. I was a good match to watch. No procrastination, no mind games. It was played at a good rhythm too. My impression was that Ronnie is playing faster than he was a couple of months ago. It was very much “see shot, play shot” and I think that this is the right approach for him… and for most players actually.

Here are some images shared by WST

You will find a link to Ronnie’s post match interview in the comments section. Thanks to Kalacs !!!

In that interview Ronnie reiterates how much he loves China. He also praises the young Chinese players.

Some of these quotes are reported by Charlie Parker-Turner, writing for the Express

Ronnie O’Sullivan jealous of snooker rival despite hammering him 6-2

Ronnie O’Sullivan has returned from a 47-day hiatus in style.

Charlie Parker-Turner

Ronnie O’Sullivan has progressed into the last 32 of the International Championship (Image: Getty)

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed that he is jealous of the ‘talent’ some of his Chinese rivals have.

After withdrawing from a string of events, the Rocket has hit the ground running upon his return to the table at the International Championship.

The seven-time world champion added to his first-round win over Mink Nutcharut with an impressive 6-2 win over He Guoqiang on Monday, having lost to the 24-year-old on the two occasions that they had met previously.

Speaking after booking his spot in the final 32 in Nanjing, O’Sullivan heaped the praise on Guoqiang and opened up on how he was envious of his opponent’s ability, despite putting him to the sword in style.

He explained: “It was a big match for me because he’d beaten me the two times we’d played. I had to block out that I lost the previous two and play my game.

“These Chinese boys are so talented. I wish I had their games. They’re so technically good. I’ve got that nous. I’m a bit streetwise, that’s got me through my whole career. But I wish I had the technique that about 80 guys on the tour have.

He Guoqiang beat O’Sullivan twice previously (Image: Getty)

“The way they pot balls is unbelievable. I can’t pot like them. If I had their technique and cue action I’d go unbeaten the whole of my life.”

O’Sullivan will face Pang Junxu in the next round of the competition as he bids to win his first International Championship title, though several other familiar faces have also hit a rich vein of form in the early stages of the tournament too.

Ronnie O’Sullivan praised the talent of his rivals (Image: Getty)

….

O’Sullivan will be keen to take plenty of confidence from his victory over Guoqiang as he looks to go all the way in Nanjing, especially given how he was so despondent when losing to his Chinese rival at the English Open. Following the defeat, the Rocket labelled himself as ‘embarrassing’ and ‘poor’, though his display here suggested that he has found his mojo once again.

He also assessed his own popularity:

“I get very good support wherever I go all over the world,” O’Sullivan, who is playing a tournament for the first time since losing to He at the English Open in September, told the World Snooker Tour following his win.

“I think that’s just because I’ve been playing the game for so long now. I’ve won a lot of big titles, I think that’s what people like: to win the big tournaments, holding all the records.

“As well as my style of play, I’ve managed to entertain the fans.

“If you asked 100 snooker fans who they’d want to watch, probably the majority of them would say me because I kind of tick every box there is to tick as a sportsman.“

Here is also the end of match video shared on Youtube by Eurosport

The 2024 International Championship – Day 1

Monique Professional snooker, Professional snooker tournament

This is WST report on what happened on the first day at the 2024 International Championship, other than Ronnie’s win over Mink Nutcharut this morning.

Defending champion Zhang Anda, who won his first ranking title at this event a year ago, was pushed all the way by India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha before scraping a 6-5 victory. China’s Zhang made a 131 to lead 3-2 but later saw a 5-3 lead vanish at 5-5. The decider lasted 35 minutes and Zhang took it with a 39 clearance to earn a second round tie with David Grace.

John Higgins came from 3-0 and 4-2 down to beat Ben Woollaston 6-4, as breaks of 117, 64 and 81 helped the Scot to take the last four frames. Mark Selby, who beat Higgins in the recent British Open final, also enjoyed a fine comeback from 4-2 down, beating Jamie Clarke 6-4 with runs of 112, 114 and 70 in the last four frames.

Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong top scored with 130 in a 6-0 whitewash of Ricky Walden while Ding Junhui made a 124 in a 6-0 win over Reanne Evans. World Champion Kyren Wilson was another 6-0 winner, beating Mitchell Mann.

China’s Xu Si won a thrilling battle with Stan Moody by a 6-5 scoreline, taking frame ten with a 43 clearance and the decider with an 83. Matthew Stevens came from 5-3 down to beat amateur Simon Blackwell 6-5, making a 140 total clearance in frame nine. Pang Junxu edged out Elliot Slessor 6-5 with a 58 in the decider, while Si Jiahui earned a 6-4 success against Andrew Pagett.

All the detailed results can be found on snooker.org

As you can see, today’s matches were a mix of held-over matches, and round 2 matches.

Surprisingly, there were withdrawals from three players who had already won their first round match: Anthony Hamilton, Mark Davis and Zak Surety, offering a free passage to round 3 to Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams and Chris Wakelin. I’m not sure why those players withdrew.1

All of the held-over matches were won by the highest seeded player. Still, some of the very young wildcards gave a good account of themselves.

As mentioned in the above report, Ishpreet Singh Chadha pushed the defending champion all the way. So much so that this match, scheduled in the morning session, had to be pulled off and only finished in the evening.

Other than Ronnie’s match, which I enjoyed thoroughly, I watched the Mark Selby v Jamie Clarke match. I like both players, so I didn’t really care who won that one. That said, I still found it hard to watch because it brought back all the frustration I used to feel supporting Jamie Clarke when he was still an amateur trying to get on tour. Time and again, Jamie started brilliantly, playing really well, only to apparently succumb to pressure when the chips were down. I’m not trying to belittle Mark Selby’s win here, we all know what a competitor he is. He was there to do a job and did it well. It was just that uncomfortable “déjà vu” feeling …

Also worth nothing … THIS … reported by Phil Haigh

Ronnie O’Sullivan match delayed ‘for safety reasons’ at International Championship

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s game against Mink Nutcharut at the International Championship had to be delayed ‘for safety reasons’ due to the size of the crowd in Nanjing.

The Rocket beat the women’s world number one 6-3, making two centuries, including a brilliant 132 in the final frame.

The 48-year-old tends to attract the biggest crowds in the sport all over the world and that was certainly the case at the South New City National Fitness Center.

The amount of spectators wanting to get in to see O’Sullivan vs Mink meant that the match on the main table in the morning session had to be cut short and the main event started nearly an hour late.

World Snooker Tour posted on social media: ‘Due to the amount of spectators, for safety reasons the afternoon session has been delayed until 2:50pm.’

Eurosport commentator David Hendon explained during the match: ‘It actually started nearly an hour late because there was such a lot of people to get in, the previous session had to be curtailed. They had to get everybody in, it took a while.’

The previous contest on the main table was defending champion Zhang Anda facing Ishpreet Singh Chadha, which was dragged off with Zhang leading 5-4 and the pair will return later to complete the game

…

But yeah… snooker would be better without him, he? 2

  1. Either the reasons weren’t given or, likely, I missed something… ↩︎
  2. say those who hate him… among them a significant number of gamblers who lost bets … ↩︎

Ronnie wins his opening match at the 2024 International Championship in Nanjing

Monique Professional snooker, Professional snooker tournament

Ronnie has beaten Mink Nutcharut by 6-3 to progress to round 2 at the 2024 International Championship in Nanjing. I was a good and enjoyable match.

Here is the report by WST:

Ronnie O’Sullivan returned to the World Snooker Tour after a seven-week absence and battled to a 6-3 first round win over women’s world number one Mink Nutcharut at the International Championship in Nanjing.

O’Sullivan’s last appearance on the circuit was a 4-2 defeat against He Guoqiang at the English Open in September, but the 48-year-old looked sharp today as he compiled two centuries and four more breaks over 50 setting up another meeting with China’s He in the last 64 on Monday. 

Nutcharut, the 2022 World Women’s Champion, threatened a huge upset when she took the opening frame on the colours, before seven-time Crucible king O’Sullivan recovered to take the next four with runs of 124, 89, 61 and 53. Thailand’s Nutcharut battled back to 4-3, only for O’Sullivan to claim the last two frames with breaks of 69 and 132.

World number five O’Sullivan wrote on X: “An absolute privilege to play such a talented opponent. Thank you for the game and good luck in the future.” And in a post-match press conference he added: “Hopefully I’ll get a chance to see more of Nanjing because I hear it is a very beautiful city. All the players love being in China because the people treat us very well and make us feel special.” 

O’Sullivan was also asked a recent meeting with legendary actor Jackie Chan and added: “We have spoken a few times on the phone and we have mutual friends. This was the first time we he had met, he’s a lovely guy.“

Here are the scores for this match:

Ronnie wasn’t at his absolute best but he played much better and looked much happier than the last time we had seen him on the baize. Mink played well too, she really did. This was the best I remember seeing her play actually. Ronnie’s praise is absolutely genuine. When the match finished the camera was on the two of them and it was obvious how Mink felt happy and valued despite the defeat. Ronnie turned to the crowd and invited them to applaud her. Here is a short footage of the end of the match, shared by WST on Weibo:

And here some images of the match, shared by WST on Weibo and on their website

Ronnie was wearing a classy white shirt. That was a nice change from the usual all black attire. I loved it!

Here are short videos shared by Eurosport on their YouTube channel:

Frame 2
End of match

The 2024 International Championship – Opening Day in Pictures …

Monique Snooker

As usual in China players were made to feel very welcome in Nanjing on the day before the tournament proper starts. As usual too, Kalacs has gathered an impressive collection of pictures and short videos. It’s all in the comments section.

I had done some gathering myself, by no way as extensive as Kalacs’ one mind …

Anyway…

Here is a selection of pictures found on Weibo and Twitter

And a short video

In a few hours the serious stuff will start…

2024 IBSF Championships in Qatar

Monique Snooker

The 2024 International Championship starts tomorrow in the very early days of the morning… but if you suffer badly from snooker deprivation, this might interest you…

There are IBSF snooker events currently going on in Doha, Qatar.

Following this link, you will find results and live scores for the men events, as well as links for the women event and “masters” event (seniors).

The field in those events is largely “Asian” although there are some known names in there, notably from Belgium, Germany, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Some of the matches are streamed live on Youtube by Dariuz Goral

2024 Champion of Champions – Draw and Format

Monique Snooker

WST has announced the draw and format for the 2024 Champion of Champions

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS DRAW

The draw for the 2024 Champion of Champions is now complete, with defending champion Mark Allen set to open his title defence against World Seniors Champion Igor Figueiredo in Group One. 
 
Taking place from November 11-17 at Bolton’s Toughsheet Community Stadium, the 11th edition of the Champion of Champions will bring together snooker’s biggest stars for a thrilling week, broadcast live on ITV and networks worldwide.
 
BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE
 
In the second Group One match, Welsh Open and Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson will face World Championship runner-up Jak Jones, as both players aim to advance in this prestigious event.
 
World number one Judd Trump leads Group Two, where he will face either the International Championship winner or, if already qualified, the next highest-ranked player on the World Snooker two-year ranking list. Championship League Snooker Ranking winner Ali Carter is set to challenge two-time Champion of Champions titleholder Neil Robertson in the second match of Group Two. 
 
Group Three promises a clash of World Champions, as reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson takes on 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel. The second match will see Tour Championship winner and Welsh Potting Machine Mark Williams pitted against Women’s World Champion Bai Yulu.
 
Ronnie O’Sullivan begins his pursuit of a record-breaking fifth Champion of Champions title in Group Four, where he will meet Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong. Meanwhile, British Open and Championship League Snooker invitational winner Mark Selby faces off against former Champion of Champions winner Shaun Murphy, each eyeing their next title.
 
The top four seeds—defending champion Mark Allen, World Champion Kyren Wilson, World No. 1 Judd Trump, and British Open champion Mark Selby—were each allocated to a separate group. The next four seeds were then assigned to groups according to their ranking, with Seed 1 paired with Seed 8, Seed 2 with Seed 7, and so on. 
 
The remainder of the field was drawn randomly to complete the 2024 Champion of Champions draw.
 
Tournament Schedule 
Group stage dates are subject to change pending the results of the International Championship. The group stage will take place from Monday, 11 November, through Thursday, 14 November, with each session starting at 1pm in a best-of-seven format. The group finals will follow each evening at 7pm, with matches played over a best-of-eleven frames.
 
Semi-finals are scheduled for Friday, 15 November, and Saturday, 16 November, both at 7pm, and will be played as best-of-eleven contests. On Friday, the Group Two winner will face the Group Three winner, while Saturday will see the Group One and Group Four winners go head-to-head.
 
The 2024 Champion of Champions final will take place on Sunday, 17 November, starting with an afternoon session at 1pm and culminating in an evening session at 7pm. The final showdown will be a best-of-19 frames, crowning this year’s Champion of Champions.
 
Tickets start from £15 a session, with fans also offered the opportunity to experience one of snooker’s finest spectacles in VIP from £110. VIP includes front two-row seats, a premium two course meal, free programme on arrival, drinks voucher, access to the practice table viewing area, and much more. Secure your tickets here.
 
Group One
Mark Allen vs Igor Figueiredo 
Gary Wilson vs Jak Jones

Group Two
Judd Trump vs International Champion
Ali Carter vs Neil Robertson
 
Group Three
Kyren Wilson vs Luca Brecel 
Mark Williams vs Bai Yulu
 
Group Four
Mark Selby vs Shaun Murphy
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Xiao Guodong

The least that can be said is that Ronnie is in a though group!

In other news and thoughts …

Jak Jones has beaten Ronnie by 3-1 in their exhibition yesterday.

As always, I want to thank Kalacs who hunted a lot of videos and images for us all to enjoy. Make sure to check the comments section.

Regarding Ronnie’s move towards Hong Kong … he candidly admitted that the tax system is one of the reasons behind his decision. Indeed the taxes on people’s professional incomes are extremely low in Hong Kong as compared to what we face in Europe in general. I have no doubts that there will be people to who will criticise him for this move. This however is no different from a lot of top sports persons, notably tennis stars and Formula One drivers being Monaco residents.