John Higgins has soared to fourth place on the one-year ranking list following his outstanding victory at the Cazoo Players Championship.
Higgins beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-3 in the final on Sunday and won the tournament for the loss of just four frames, landing his first ranking title in three years.
The £125,000 top prize sees him leap from tenth to fourth, and guarantee a spot at the Cazoo Tour Championship later this month. Only the top eight players on the list (as it stands at the end of the WST Pro Series) will head to the Celtic Manor Resort for that event which runs from March 22 to 28.
O’Sullivan is overtaken by Higgins and drops from fourth to fifth, despite taking the £50,000 runner-up prize. Barry Hawkins reached the semi-finals and climbs into eighth spot with £110,500, ahead of Jordan Brown who has £100,000 in ninth.
There are just two counting events to go before the field is set for the Cazoo Tour Championship: this week’s BetVictor Gibraltar Open and the WST Pro Series. A top prize of £50,000 is up for grabs this week so all players down to Ding Junhui in 14th could potentially jump above Hawkins into the top eight.
As is stands, Hawkins and Jack Lisowski are the only players inside the top eight of the one-year list who are outside the top eight of the official two-year list.
Hawkins – on the bubble in the Cazoo Tour Championship race
Higgins climbs to fifth on the two-year list while O’Sullivan remains second, closing the gap slightly on runaway leader Judd Trump. Higgins also tops the Cazoo Series rankings with £132,500.
This week’s BetVictor Gibraltar Open is the sixth and final event in the BetVictor European Series. The leader of that ranking list come Sunday night will earn a huge £150,000 bonus. Judd Trump leads the way with £124,500, followed by Mark Selby on £118,000. Selby must at least reach the final to have a chance of the bonus. The only other player in the running is Jordan Brown on £87,500 – he must win the title to have a chance.
Prize money for the BetVictor Gibraltar Open is:
Winner: £50,000
Runner-up: £20,000
Semi-finals: £6,000
Quarter-finals: £5,000
Last 16: £4,000
Last 32: £3,000
Last 64: £2,000
High break: £5,000
Total: £251,000
There are just three counting events remaining in the Race to the Crucible. Hawkins’ run last week moved him up from 16th to 13th and he now looks safe.
Lisowski reached the quarter-finals last week and the £15,000 pay day crucially moves him up from 17th to 16th, with Zhou Yuelong edged down to 17th. Both of those players could go ahead of 15th-placed Anthony McGill in the second phase of the WST Pro Series, as McGill has already been knocked out of that event.
For several players in the chasing pack, this week’s BetVictor Gibraltar Open is a vital opportunity to gain ground.
…
As it stands Ronnie is set to face John Higgins in the first round of the 2021 Tour Championship. John hasn’t entered the WST Pro Series, so his tally of points will not change before the start of that tournament.
Also, whatever happens, Judd Trump will be ranked number one, with Mark Selby and Neil Robertson ranked two and three but not necessarily in that order.
Theoretically, Ronnie, Kyren Wilson or Jack Lisowski could still overcome John Higgins in the “race to the Tour Championship” but it’s unlikely. Ronnie having pulled out of the Gibraltar Open, would basically need to make the final of the WST Pro Series. Kyren Wilson and Jack Lisowski would need to win the Gibraltar Open and do well, very well in Lisowki case, in the WST Pro Series. However, Kyren Wilson and Jack Lisowski would overtake Ronnie if they were to win this week. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind that.
Amine Amiri has withdrawn from the BetVictor Welsh Open and has been replaced with a straight swap in the draw with the next available player on the Q School 2020 Order of Merit, Jamie Curtis-Barrett.
WST also announced that this season there will be 8 tour cards availbale through the one year list.Here is the announcement:
WST, in consultation with WPBSA, has decided that the following players will receive two-year tour cards, for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons:
• Players finishing the 2020/21 season in the top eight of the one-year ranking list, who do not otherwise keep their tour card by finishing in the top 64 of the two-year rankings. This is a change from the current structure where only the top four on the one-year list earn a new tour card.
• Players who qualify for the final stages of the Betfred World Championship at the Crucible, who otherwise would not earn a new tour card. This rule was introduced for the first time last season.
This is as an interim measure due to the exceptional circumstances in the current season. Further details on the tour structure for 2021/22 will be announced in due course.
Cazoo Launches Partnership With World Snooker Tour
CAZOO LAUNCHES PARTNERSHIP WITH WORLD SNOOKER TOUR Sponsorship of new Cazoo Series to cover 3 major tournaments
Cazoo, the UK’s leading online car retailer, which makes ordering a car as simple and seamless as buying any other product online today, announces that it has signed a multi-year deal with the World Snooker Tour (WST) as the main sponsor of the Players Championship, Tour Championship and World Grand Prix.
This trio of prestigious events on the snooker calendar will be known as the Cazoo Series and will see prominent Cazoo branding on the main set, players’ waistcoats and interview and media conference backdrops and will have extensive live coverage on ITV and a range of broadcasters across the globe.
The Cazoo Players Championship will take place from February 22 to 28, contested by the leading 16 players on the one-year ranking list, followed by the Cazoo Tour Championship which will run from March 22 to 28, featuring an elite field of the world’s top eight.
During the 2021/22 season, the Cazoo Series will start with the Cazoo World Grand Prix, scheduled for early December.
This latest deal with WST adds snooker to Cazoo’s impressive portfolio of major sports sponsorships announced over the past year which includes principal sponsorship of the Rugby League World Cup, The Hundred cricket tournament as well as Premier League football teams Everton and Aston Villa.
Cazoo owns and fully reconditions all its cars before offering them on its website. Cazoo has thousands of cars available at any time for either delivery or collection in as little as 72 hours. Every Cazoo car comes with a full 7-day money back guarantee and a comprehensive 90-day warranty.
Cazoo is pioneering the shift to online car buying in the UK and, since its launch just over one year ago, has already delivered over 15,000 cars to consumers across the UK who have embraced the selection, transparency and convenience of buying high quality used cars entirely online.
Alex Chesterman OBE, Founder & CEO of Cazoo said: “We are delighted to partner with Barry and his team at the World Snooker Tour to launch the Cazoo Series. This partnership will help to further grow our audience as we continue to build Cazoo into a household brand and we look forward to engaging with and delivering the best car buying experience to snooker fans across the UK.”
Barry Hearn OBE, Chairman of WST said: “We are excited to welcome Cazoo to the snooker family and are looking forward to introducing our significant global audience to the Cazoo brand. The events in the Cazoo Series are some of the highest quality tournaments on the calendar because they bring together the cream of the crop and only the players in form earn a place in the draw.”
And, yes, you read it correctly, this NOT a bookie, it’s a company selling cars online.
Betting sponsorship: sport’s next financial crisis
Football and darts will be hit hard by shake up of gambling advertising laws
Britain’s sports industry – already on its knees due to the impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic – is bracing for another financial crisis.
In what is described by The Sunday Times as the “biggest shake-up of advertising in professional sport since tobacco promotion was outlawed”, the paper reports that gambling logos are set to be banned from all kits.
Football is one of the biggest beneficiaries of sponsorship by gambling companies with £110m a year alone generated for clubs in the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) Championship.
In the Premier League, eight of the 20 clubs are sponsored by betting firms – Burnley, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leeds, Newcastle, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves – while in the Championship, which is title sponsored by SkyBet, it’s 12 clubs.
It’s not just football finances that will be affected. Sports such as darts, snooker and boxing will also be dealt a blow if the ban comes into play.
Every player in the top ten of the Professional Darts Corporation wears gambling logos during big tournaments, the Sunday Times reports. While in snooker, many top players, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, wear waistcoats which feature the logos of betting sites.
When would the ban start?
A huge rise in “problem gamblers” has led to the review of Britain’s gambling laws and the advertising that surrounds the sector. According to The Telegraph there is a “rising unease” in the government over betting addiction and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “increasingly likely” to ban gambling sponsors on football shirts by the autumn.
In what would be the most extensive review of the sector since 2005, sources close to talks with Downing Street say there is “determination at the top” of the government to “press ahead with reform”.
In August 2017 a study by the Gambling Commission found that 430,000 people in the UK were described as “problem gamblers” and there were concerns that the volume of TV adverts helped to fuel under-age betting.
Research published in May last year suggested that levels of gambling addiction could be “even higher than was previously thought and half of those with a problem are not getting the help they need”. A YouGov survey of 16,000 people commissioned by GambleAware estimated that up to 2.7% of adults in Britain were “problem gamblers”.
‘Worst possible timing’
With sports seeking alternative revenue streams amid the Covid-19 crisis, senior Whitehall figures say they are conscious of “the worst possible timing” of the review into gambling advertising.
Clubs face “unprecedented financial chaos”, the Telegraph says, but according to campaigners the British public want to see a shake-up of laws. A Survation poll for Clean Up Gambling found that 51% back the banning of all advertising, sponsorship and promotion for gambling firms. Just 21% disagreed while the rest gave no opinion either way.
Campaigning Labour MP Carolyn Harris told the Daily Mirror a blanket ban on sports sponsorship by gambling firms has “got to happen”. She has also urged the government to go further, with further affordability checks and a complete end to newly-reformed “VIP schemes”.
Harris said: “It’s such a wide-ranging issue they can’t just put a sticking plaster on one thing and hope the rest will go away.”
Every time I’ve raised this issue on this blog I’ve had to face a lot of negative reactions from scorn to border-line insults, and a lot of those who reacted that way, wanted to negate or minimise the negative impact of betting on peoples’ live. I won’t have it: I have known personally two men who took their own life because they couldn’t see any other way out of their debts and shame over betting/gambling … leaving their family – in both case wife with kids – to deal with the aftermath of their addiction. And that was in Belgium. years ago, in a time and place where gambling was seen as a shady business at best and certainly not advertised. Betting/gambling kills.
Mark King has been very open about his own addiction and it’s consequences.
Barry Hearn has often hinted that, if snooker doesn’t grow as much as it could in mainland Europe, it’s because the lack of sponsors. The thing is, most potential sponsors in mainland Europe would not want to be associated with anything to do with betting or gambling. If snooker manages to distance itself from what is perceived here as “unethical” sponsors, it will strongly increase its chances to find good sponsors on the Continent.
Michael Holt beat Zhou Yuelong in the final last year to win his first ranking title
Michael Holt will begin the defence of his title against Jamie Jones, at the world ranking event which runs from February 4 to 7 in Milton Keynes.
Reanne Evans will face China’s Si Jiahui while the other woman in the field, debutant Rebecca Kenna, will be up against Germany’s Simon Lichtenberg.
Former World Champions Ken Doherty and Graeme Dott will go head to head while John Higgins will face a tartan tussle againt Scott Donaldson.
Other notable first round ties include Mark Williams against Ali Carter and Shaun Murphy taking on Luca Brecel.
The popular tournament, which was first staged in 2011, has a unique set of rules, with matches lasting a maximum of ten minutes and a shot clock of 15 seconds for the first five minutes and ten seconds for the last five.
Televised live by Eurosport, the event is part of the BetVictor European Series.
No Ronnie, no Judd Trump, no Neil Robertson, no Ding Junhui, no Stephen Maguire, but Reanne Evans and Bex Kenna will fly the flag for the ladies.
I would be highly amused if Reanne or Bex went on to win it. They have as good a chance as anyone… or maybe Amine Amiri, or Brian Ochoiski?
The world ranking event will run from January 27 to 31 in Milton Keynes. Judd Trump is defending the title and he faces Mark Davis in the last 32.
BildBet is a brand associated with BetVictor in Germany. So this event still forms part of the BetVictor European Series, with a £150,000 bonus available for the player who tops the ranking list which runs across six events.
The event will be televised live by Eurosport. Details of other broadcasters will be announced soon.
The world ranking event gets underway on Monday in Milton Keynes. Play will begin at 10am each day from January 18 to 25.
Players are split into 16 groups of eight for the initial round-robin phase. All matches are best of three frames, and the top two in each group will progress to the second group stage.
The second phase will feature 32 players split into four groups of eight. Once again the top two in each group will go forward.
The player who finishes top of the final group of eight players will be crowned the champion.
The dates for the event are:
January 18-25: First eight groups March 9-16: Eight more groups March 17-20: Second group stage March 21: Final group
No surprise for me here, especially after a tweet by Mark Williams last week, ironically stating “Hendry’s return going well then” or something along that line. Probably Hendry doesn’t want to embarrass himself and I wonder if he will play at all eventually.
Allan Taylor believes that the new WST Pro Series is an ideal opportunity for lower ranked players to gain experience and reach the later stages of a world ranking event.
World number 104 Taylor will be among the first players in action on Monday in Milton Keynes, in Group M alongside Joe Perry, Xiao Guodong, Matthew Stevens, Daniel Wells, Jak Jones, Rod Lawler and Haydon Pinhey. Click here for the group draw
Each of the eight players will play seven best-of-three frame matches in a round robin format over the day. The top two in the group will then go through to the second phase in March.
“The tournament is a godsend. I’m just relishing the chance to get my cue out of the box,” said Merseysider Taylor. “I’m lucky enough to have a practice unit I can use in lockdown. But I’m playing on my own, so just to compete against other humans will be a relief!
“In best-of-three matches, anyone can beat anyone. It’s a great chance for the lower ranked players to pit themselves against the top guys. At the least you get seven matches under your belt, which is important after the Christmas break when we’re all a bit rusty.
“It’s hard to know how many matches you’ll need to win to get into the top two, but there is sure to be some drama towards the end of the day. And if you achieve that it’s £3,000 or £4,000, plus another £1,000 guarantee in the second phase. We all have mortgages to pay and we’d much rather be playing in event like this than having a month off.”
Taylor dropped off the pro tour in 2019 but regained his place by winning the 2020 Challenge Tour Play-offs. He has made an impressive start to this season, reaching the last 32 of three ranking events.
“I have beaten some good players, and got a lot out of the matches I have lost against the likes of Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Liang Wenbo,” added the 36-year-old. “I feel comfortable out there on the main stage. I just have to keep trying to play to a high standard and the results will come.”
MASTERS 2021 EXCLUSIVE: WHO DOES RONNIE O’SULLIVAN THINK WILL DOMINATE SNOOKER IN 2021?
Ronnie O’Sullivan has told Eurosport he expects Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby to dominate snooker in 2021. The world champion feels there is a “massive gap” between the three leading table lights and the rest of the chasing pack due to consistency of technique, scoring power and desire to lift trophies.
Snooker is entering the era of the big three with Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby set to dominate the sport in 2021, according to world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Ahead of the 47th staging of the Masters involving the game’s top 16 players in Milton Keynes between January 10-17 – the first triple crown event of the year – O’Sullivan feels the green baize triple g-force are well clear of the chasing pack and perfectly placed to continue their trophy-winning exploits.
While O’Sullivan lifted a sixth world title at the Crucible last August, the rest of the potting pie in 2020 was snaffled up by a triumvirate with a real appetite for silver service.
Trump carried off a record six ranking events finishing his year with the World Grand Prix before Christmas, Robertson claimed three including a third UK Championship and Selby has started the 2020-21 season by picking up the European Masters and defending the Scottish Open.
Looking into the crystal snooker balls does not appear to bring a sense of overriding opportunity for the rest of the field.
“This is my prediction. I think the top three are playing to such a high standard, it will be one of those three that win the majority of the events,” said O’Sullivan, who begins his quest for an eighth Masters title against Ding Junhui on Wednesday 16 January.
“If there are 25 tournaments, I reckon 20 of them will go to them. Judd will win six, Neil will win five and Selby will win four. I just think it is that sort of level.
“Mark Allen might win one, Ding (Junhui) might win one, I might win one, someone will win the Shoot Out.
“I just think they are playing to such a high level and the players from 17 downwards in the rankings are all a bit hit and miss in comparison.”
Stuart Bingham was Masters champion last year, Stephen Maguire carried off the Tour Championship, Mark Allen won the Champion of Champions while Kyren Wilson, Luca Brecel and Scott Donaldson were Championship League winners in 2020, but O’Sullivan feels trophy-winning chances are becoming thinner on the ground than the thinnest of snicks on the table.
The record 37-times ranking event winner edged Selby 17-16 in the World Championship semi-finals, but lost to his fierce rival 9-3 in the Scottish Open final.
He also suffered a 9-7 defeat to Trump in the Northern Ireland final before being flattened by the world number one 6-1 in the World Grand Prix last four last month.
Trump has remarkably lifted 20 ranking events in only nine years, leaving him only two behind Mark Williams in the all-time list with the Welshman’s 22 coming over a 24-year period.
Robertson and Selby are both on 19 titles with Robertson winning a trophy in the sport every year since 2006.
“There’s a massive gap between those three and maybe the number 18 in the world,” explained the world number three.
“I’ve played those three now and you don’t get a lot off of them, but you seem to get away with quite a bit against the lower-ranked players.
THERE IS A MASSIVE GAP NOW BETWEEN THEM AND EVERYBODY ELSE.
“Allen slipped in and won one, Kyren Wilson won one. There will always be that chance for a player to maybe catch one of them on their off day in a final or a semi-final, but it is difficult.”
Desmond Kane
I like the non-commital “someone will win the Shoot Out” … 😎
Stephen Hendry says he will “probably” make his sensational return to professional snooker next month.
The seven-times world champion revealed he was looking at February’s Welsh Open as a possible tournament for which to mark his dramatic comeback into the sport.
The news was revealed when Hendry joined Eurosport snooker presenter Andy Goldstein in a live Instagram chat on Wednesday afternoon from his home.
The Welsh Open – one of snooker’s most established ranking events – is due to start on February 15 at a venue to be confirmed.
When asked by a fan when ‘Crucible King’ Hendry was planning to make a comeback, the snooker legend said: “Probably the Welsh Open.”
Hendry also said he was looking at playing the new Pro Series event in March, which World Snooker Tour announced at the end of 2020.
Last year Hendry took the snooker world by storm when he announced he would be coming out of retirement following an impressive semi-final run in the World Seniors Championship in August.
Stephen Hendry. Picture by Monique Limbos
Since then Hendry has been working closely with SightRight coach Stephen Feeney – a man who has coached recent world champions Stuart Bingham, Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan – to get his game back to a top standard.
However despite the headline announcement, Hendry has not yet featured in the 2020/21 snooker season.
He was planning a return for the UK Championship but announced a delay to his comeback in November because he wanted to play in front of a crowd and not behind closed doors and stated at the time his game was not yet ready.
But the likelihood of fans returning to live snooker events by the time the Welsh Open starts is almost impossible with both England and Wales in lockdown until mid-February at least.
Returning in a slightly lower profile event is probably the best option for Stephen Hendry who, despite a rather poor record on the WSS tour so far, will face huge exprectations from his faithful fanbase. I’m very surprised that he is considering the Pro Series, but, on second thoughts, it’s actually a good idea. Lots of snooker in a short time span, against seven different opponents. Why not?
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has today (Wednesday 23 December 2020) held its Annual General Meeting online.
The AGM saw the election of a further two current members to join the first Board of WPBSA Players, a new body which received formal approval as part of a governance review and wider constitutional changes passed at an Extraordinary General Meeting held on 25 November.
Eight members stood for election: Nigel Bond, Ding Junhui, Joe Perry, Mark Davis, Rod Lawler, Barry Pinches, Lee Walker and Tian Pengfei.
The result was that Nigel Bond and Ding Junhui were successfully elected by the membership and will join existing directors Ken Doherty, Mike Dunn and Peter Lines on the new WPBSA Players Board.
The AGM also saw the presentation of the Accounts and Directors Report, including the latest independently audited accounts, which were unanimously accepted by the meeting.
WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: “I am today pleased to welcome both Ding Junhui and Nigel Bond to the Board of WPBSA Players following their successful election.
“For over 15 years Ding has been a trailblazer for our sport in Asia following his landmark victory at the 2005 China Open and at last year’s UK Championship he reminded everybody of his class by claiming the title for a third time.
“Away from the baize he has also continues to play a significant role in our sport, having become almost a father figure to many of the young Chinese players competing on the World Snooker Tour. Already he has represented players in China on behalf of our colleagues at the China Billiards & Snooker Association. In this new formalised role, I am sure he will not only be a fantastic representative for Asian players, but for all players who travel great distances living away from home within our sport. Part of our vision to create WPBSA Players was to increase global representation within key roles and I am delighted to this is now becoming a reality.
“Like Ding, Nigel Bond is a former World Championship finalist who brings to the board a wealth of experience at all levels having maintained an unbroken spell on our tour dating back to 1989. A former World Seniors champion, he remains capable of competing at the highest level as he showed with his stunning victory against world number one Judd Trump last year in York.
“Alongside his playing career, he has also become a successful coach around the world and has become an integral part of the WPBSA Coaching Programme, sharing his experience to help train the next generation of qualified snooker coaches.
“I am confident that both will bring significant value to WPBSA Players and that the recently announced constitutional changes will achieve our goal of better serving our member players, as well as furthering the world class governance and development of our great sport.”
First of all congratulations to Ding Junhui and Nigel Bond!
I was surprised when I read that Ding was running for a seat on the board. He’s only 33 and it’s hard to combine a playing career at the top and the duties of a member of the board. Shaun Murphy found it difficult and eventually stepped down from the board to concentrate on his career. On the other hand, China has been investing a lot of money into the game in recent years. About one in six main tour player is from China, including 15 of the 27 players aged under 25. It’s obvious that they need a voice on the board, they need to be represented, and who would be better equipped than Ding for the role? He has the required status, both in the sport and in his country, his command of English is now excellent.
Plans to stage the Snooker World Cup in the city of Wuxi in China in 2021 are taking shape, with 24 national teams to battle for the coveted trophy.
WST is currently in discussion with partners in China, with the ambition to hold the event early in the 2021/22 season.
Scotland are the defending champions as the pair of John Higgins and Stephen Maguire beat China in the 2019 final. That ended a run of three consecutive World Cup victories for China.
Higgins names the moment of lifting the trophy as one of the proudest moments of his glittering career. He said: “The pressure is tenfold compared to playing for yourself. When I first played with Stephen (Maguire), I played a deciding frame against Mark Allen and lost. I’d never felt pressure like it in all of my life. World Championship finals, you name it.
“To win it was a brilliant feeling – the proudest feeling in the world. Scotland haven’t got many World Champions so we were delighted to win it for our country. I always feel that if I am lucky enough to get into the team, I’ll be with a very good partner and we’ll have a chance to win it again.”
The Snooker World Cup has a tremendous history having first been staged in 1979. Wuxi, in China’s Jiangsu Province, hosted the event in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Further details on the 2021 World Cup, including the teams and format, will be announced in due course.
The World Cup has been hosted in Wuxi before, including the last edition, so it’s maybe just coincidence that this announcement comes at the same time as Ding’s election as member of the board. However, Ding was born in Yixing, in Jiangsu province, and Wuxi is a major city in Jiangsu, only about 90 km from Yixing, Ding’s presence on the board can only help opening doors in his country, and in particular in his “home” region.
Hawkins – on the bubble in the Cazoo Tour Championship race
Ronnie O'Sullivan 