LIVE BLOG: European Masters: Robin Hull Vs Zhang Yong and others

YUAN SIJUN 4-2 ALLAN TAYLOR - All over now. Allan Taylor did have another chance after knocking in a good long red but when attempting to split the final 5 reds from the blue he knocked one in the corner. This bit of luck handed Yuan the chance he needed to seal a first tour victory and three reds and blacks was enough to need Taylor needing several snookers on the last red.

TABLE 4 UPDATE - First chance in this frame went to Yuan Sijun but he lost position on 29 and played safe. Allan Taylor went for a long red from that safety and fluked it in the middle but faltered on 6. Yuan back in now for a match clinching opening.

TABLE 4 UPDATE - In a very scrappy frame, Yuan Sijun potted a good final red and black but missed frame ball yellow on the side cushion. Taylor got the youngster in a good snooker but he escaped well. Taylor then played a shot and called a foul on himself I believe, meaning he needed a snooker to win the frame. Should be 3-2 Yuan Sijun.

ZHANG YONG 4-2 ROBIN HULL - All over here as Zhang takes his second chance for the frame. Hull potted a decent red but missed a tricky yellow and Zhang was able to do the rest and fluking the final red to make sure Hull couldn't carry on. A very solid performance from Zhang Yong and unfortunate for Hull.

- Zhang Yong is in again here after Hull missed a red near the cushion to leave the chance. There's work to do though but he's knocked a fabulous mid range ball in keep it going. Not far away now.

Frame Zhang - Zhang hasn't looked back since winning the third on the pink, backing up a 90 clearance in the fourth with a run of 68 here to lead for the first time. Knocking everything in now like it's no problem and looking very confident. 3-2 Zhang

- Zhang Yong growing in confidence all the time here. Hull missed a black with the spider to give him this opening and he's taking full advantage. Reds aren't too badly situated, especially having now split them perfectly on 45. Would now expect this to go 3-2 to the Chinese player.

After leading 2-0, Hull now looks to hit back and regain the lead against Zhang

TABLE 4 UPDATE - 2-2 here now as well after both players had good chances. Taylor potting a nice yellow leads a clearance to the pink that gets him back on level terms.

Frame Zhang - Zhang Yong has capitalised on Hull's miss to level this match up in style and he's gotten into this game nicely now. A 90 clearance in very stylish fashion. 2-2

- Good chance for Zhang Yong to level the match up here after Hull misses a tricky red with the rest having gone out of position from a bad contact. Reds are open here and it should be 2-2.

TABLE 4 UPDATE - Brilliant and motoring 72 clearance from Yuan Sijun from a chance midway through the frame sees Yuan Sijun edge 2-1 ahead at lightning quick speed there.

Frame Zhang - Much needed frame for Zhang who pots the pink from range after Hull's thin safety leaves it near the corner. 2-1 Hull

- The frame has come down to the colours here. Zhang Yong couldn't quite kill the frame off from the last red and then after potting the yellow shortly after he played a poor safety on the green. Hull potted green, brown and blue before trying to double the pink and missing. Battle on the pink now.

- Decent chance goes astray for Zhang Yong as he misses on 25, 33 ahead with 7 reds left. Hull in now but plenty of work to do before he can win this frame.

TABLE 4 UPDATE - A miss on the green with two reds left could have been the vital moment in the second frame for Yuan Sijun but later on when Taylor missed the green looking to clear, he missed and left it for Yuan who did more than enough to level the game.

Frame Hull - Hull isn't messing about here. A nice little break with the reds already well placed and he clears to the last red to do more than enough to take the second frame. He's cueing pretty close to 

perfect. 2-0 Hull

- Another chance here for Hull. Into the twenties with the remaining reds open and already had a small lead when he came to the table. After the way he cued in frame one I fancy him to double his lead.

Robin Hull is off to an impressive start as he takes the opener against Zhang Yong

TABLE 4 UPDATE - Neat start for Allan Taylor as he secures the frame with a cross double on the penultimate red. Both players just warming up there you feel.

Frame Hull - Brilliant start from the Finn here. A good split as he entered the fifties allowed him to kill the frame in one visit eventually making 99 before missing the final red. Zhang Yong played on for a bit of potting practice. 1-0 Hull

- Robin Hull is in with the first chance here after being left in by Zhang Yong. Seems to be cueing pretty well so far as the break goes into the thirties and this is developing into a decent chance.

- About 15 minutes to go here until we get underway with the live blog. Robin Hull and Zhang Yong will be on table 3 and another match I was eyeing up between Yuan Sijun and Allan Taylor is on table 4 so I will have the odd update from there too.

Also on table 8 I'll have a view of Andrew Higginson and Gerard Greene so may provide the odd update from there too.

This afternoon's first live blog comes from the 1pm session and a match with Finland's Robin Hull taking on Zhang Yong. It should be another good game here. Hull was seen most recently in the World Cup, while Zhang played yesterday and lost out to Dominic Dale in the Indian Open qualifiers.

Once I see the order of play with table numbers I will be able to see if there are any other matches I can provide updates with on the side, depending of course on whether all matches start on time etc.

As well as this I am aiming to do another live match from the 4pm session. This match may be Gary Wilson Vs Hossein Vafei depending on again if all matches start on time. Peter Ebdon Vs Akani Songsermsawad and Yan Bingtao Vs David Grace are also possibilities but whatever match is chosen it will be brought in a separate post.

Indian Open Qualifiers: Day 2 Round-up

The line-up for the final stages of the Indian Open is complete after conclusion of the final day's qualifiers yesterday. Once again there were plenty of close contests and tight tussles, including for some of the top players.

Mark Allen had a big battle on his hands against Thor Chuan Leong. After taking 2-0 and 3-1 leads the Northern Irishman was pegged back to a decider by the Malaysian. It looked like a battle for Allen who did not find top scoring gear until a superb 88 got him over the line for a 4-3 victory. For the top players playing in these qualifiers it is not setting down a marker that is important, but simply getting the job done and Allen was able to do that here in the end.

Kyren Wilson though was not able to get the job done as he fell 4-2 to Boonyarit Kaettikun. The Thai held his own despite going 1-0 and 2-1 behind, making a couple of nice breaks in the match, and generally showing more form than he has done for much of his time on tour. Having been short of wins and playing his first match of the season, none of this came into the equation as he kept his cool against the World Games gold medallist.

There were much easier paths for Stephen Maguire who won 4-0 against Hu Hao, while John Higgins got through 4-1 against David John, though it seemed from the other side of the arena that David will be left frustrated by missed opportunities to make that one closer. Luca Brecel was given very little challenge in a comfortable 4-0 win over Christopher Keogan, and Brecel can now enjoy a rest as his European Masters qualifier is held over to the venue in Belgium.

One of the matches that I focused on yesterday was that of Robert Milkins against Yuan Sijun. This was a cracking tie that started in cracking fashion with Yuan coming straight out of the blocks with a superb break of 84 and generally seeming comfortable and confident amongst the balls at this early stage of the match. He had his chances at doubling that lead but looked less assured when it came to safety play, which is obviously something that can be said for a lot of young players. Milkins then hit the front with a good 66 and when amongst the balls he looked very fluent and dangerous as always.

There was perhaps a little rust in his game which festered in frame four when Yuan came back to steal a black ball frame, after being left two or three opportunities at the black before knocking it in from mid-range. After an earlier 58, Milkins will have been fuming when frame five then went to a re-spotted black, especially after missing on 58 when he was in to clinch the frame in one visit. Yuan showed a little of that safety inexperience on the black though as he tried to double the black up the table and onto the side cushion but instead caught it horribly and left it close to the corner, gifting Milkins the frame. That was the blow that knocked the wind from the teenager's sails as Milkins soon cleaned up a 4-2 victory. Yuan will continue to improve though and learn from his experiences and he has remained competitive in all three matches he has played on tour so far, and he will not be far away in the European Masters qualifier with Allan Taylor I would imagine.

From what I saw of Liam Highfield and Matthew Bolton, Bolton may take some time to acclimatise to the conditions at the top level as he did not really trouble Highfield in a 4-0 defeat. Equally it was a poor day at the office for Lee Walker who was well beaten 4-1 by Niu Zhuang. Walker had mulitple chances in most of the frames throughout the match but missed too many even against a new tour professional like Niu Zhuang. Niu did pretty well making a nice break in the opener to show that he was not going to be rolled over and then potting some big pressure balls in a couple of the later frames, including a marvellous yellow in the final frame.

Then there was Gary Wilson's victory over Lukas Kleckers, where Wilson found his feet at the back end of the game after a start that was a little scrappy in the opening couple of frames. Wilson's 114 in frame four was one of the highlights of the day from start to finish, getting in from a very confidently played long red, rolling it in for the black, especially as he had missed a few similar to that in the early stages. The only disappointment was that he missed on the colours when a high break was possible. The final frame did not look pretty with reds being pushed up the table, but the break that eventually clinched it for Wilson was assured and for Kleckers, he simply could not get going all day really and did not make enough when his chances came.

Cao Yupeng looked good for the most part in a 4-2 win over Mark Joyce. Cao has had a lean couple of years by all accounts, but it looks like he could be back in business this year and will perhaps begin climbing back up the rankings as he attempts to keep his tour card.

In the evening, Mike Dunn was very impressive against Jamie Clarke. He looked to be striking the ball very solidly and he pounced on every single mistake that Clarke made, to really pile the pressure on his opponent any time that he did get a chance. A lovely century break was added to by an 80 and a decent 65 in the final frame as well to clinch the match in quick time. If he keeps this form up, the match-up with Soheil Vahedi tomorrow afternoon is going to be a cracker, especially since Soheil saw to Martin Gould 4-1 on Tuesday.

In the matches of father and son, Oliver and Peter Lines, that were on adjoining tables in the evening it was a tale of two defeats. Oliver was playing Ian Preece and he never looked to settle in the match. Preece had beaten the younger Lines in the English Open last year and he repeated the dosage here as Oliver missed too many opportunities to remain competitive. Preece took his opportunities when they came along, making a couple of nice 50+ breaks and controlling the contest from start to finish. Oliver will have to up his game for this afternoon's match with Scott Donaldson, while Ian Preece will look to carry on strong against Sanderson Lam, with Preece already beating Ricky Walden in style this season, and running Thepchaiya Un-Nooh close in the Riga Masters qualifier.

As for Peter, he again had his chances against Michael Holt who seemed to be struggling. There was a lot of gesticulation from Holt after his mistakes to confirm the point that he did not ever really get comfortable in this match, though it was Lines who was left giving himself a talking to and pulling the faces as he let a 2-1 lead slip to a 4-2 loss. There were mistakes aplenty from both players, but when the crunch time came, Holt was up to the pressure producing the only notable contribution of the match in the final frame to secure the win.



So, onto the European Masters the players go with plenty of names in action over the next two days of qualifying so keep your eyes peeled for some more live blogs and round-ups in the next couple of days.

LIVE BLOG: INDIAN OPEN: Gary Wilson vs Lukas Kleckers

GARY WILSON 4-1 LUKAS KLECKERS - An additional 39 was good enough for Wilson to leave his German opponent needing a couple of snookers. Again Kleckers attempted the snookers but with no success and Wilson signs for a 4-1 win and books the trip to India.

- Perfect match clinching chance now for Wilson. After an earlier 29 he was then fortunate in the safety battle to leave a red over a corner and cover it. Kleckers attempted the swerve, missed and clattered into the reds and leaving them all on for Wilson. Should be all sealed in this visit.

Frame Wilson - In no time at all, Wilson notches up a brilliant and fluent 114 to move a frame away from victory. A great break to press home his advantage. 3-1 Wilson

- Frame four starts off with Gary Wilson dropping in a lovely long red to finish on the black and he quickly gets into the reds off a red and has a perfect scoring chance.

Frame Wilson - A break of 31 was all it was but with a number of reds and baulk colours it was enough to leave Kleckers needing snookers. After a valiant effort he couldn't quite get them and Gary takes the frame comfortably in the end. 2-1 Wilson

- A slow burner in the third here with reds largely being sent into the baulk half. Gary Wilson has chipped away and started building a reasonable lead but now has a chance to put the frame safe or very close to that.

Frame Kleckers - An assured run of 44 with a good lead in the bank was more than enough for the German to level. I think this could go right to the wire this afternoon. 1-1

- A couple of chances have come for Kleckers in the second frame. Now he's on his third with reds nicely placed and should level this match up.

Frame Wilson - After a long battle on the green, a poor safety from Kleckers left it on from range. Wilson duly potted it with brown and blue before failing to land on the pink. Another safety was off from Kleckers shortly after to leave the pink on again from range, and again Wilson was up to it. 1-0

- It took a few pendulum swings but eventually after a poor shot on the final red from Wilson, Kleckers earned a frame clinching chance but missed the yellow with a 16 point lead. Still plenty of life in this frame on the colours.

- Kleckers chance soon goes begging as he plays a thin red and doesn't land on a colour. Safety battle in play now.

- Best opening chance goes to Kleckers after Wilson went all out for a long pot with reds open and missed. Black and pink off their spots but that can be sorted soon down the line making this a nice opening.

In a new post as promised here is my second live blog of the afternoon, Gary Wilson vs Lukas Kleckers and we're about 10 minutes away from the start.

Wilson will just be happy not to have drawn Ken Doherty again after losing to him in the China Championship qualifier and at the venue in Riga.

New professional Kleckers meanwhile scored a notable victory in Riga over Neil Robertson, so the German will have plenty of confidence coming into this one.

I can't see much of any other non-stream matches that I'm overly interested in so will mostly feature this one only. Enjoy!

LIVE BLOG: Indian Open: Robert Milkins Vs Yuan Sijun and Others

TABLE 4 RESULT: NIU ZHUANG 4-1 LEE WALKER: Walker wasn't at his best today. Certainly had his fair share of chances but just couldn't find his range nor rhythm. Niu Zhuang knocked in some good balls at key times but wasn't the most consistent amongst the balls. The yellow and green to win from Niu though was pure class. Both difficult range pots.

ROBERT MILKINS 4-2 YUAN SIJUN - A closing break of 36 to the yellow was enough for Milkins to get the job done. A bit of inexperience and poor safety probably cost Yuan Sijun but seeing him today confirms the talent is there for sure. On the day it's Robert Milkins who will be making the trip to India.

- It's been a pretty disjointed start to frame six. Now though Milkins has been left a decent chance from a disappointing Yuan safety and one he should be looking to clinch the match from.

Frame Milkins - After missing on 58 leading by 35 with one red left Milkins had Yuan in a position where could only force a re-spot. However, he left the red over the yellow pocket with the black on its spot for Yuan, who negotiated it well enough but still had to make a thin cut on it. A tricky pink was also negotiated on the way to forcing a re-spot. Yuan made the vital error though getting a safety on the black too thick and leaving it over the corner with an easy pot for Milkins. 3-2 Milkins

CHANCE MILKINS - Another good chance here for Robert after an early effort for Yuan. Break goes to 50 with a delicate cut on the side cushion but with the final two reds on cushions too there's plenty of work left here.

Frame Yuan - Yuan won the battle on the pink by cutting it in from range. The black was on the cushion though and while he could have gone for it he wisely chose against. After some decent safety and a couple of missed attempts that he left safe, the Chinese player knocked the black in from mid range to square it up. 2-2

TABLE 4 UPDATE - Lee Walker 3-0 down and firmly on the back foot now. He had a chance at the start of the frame after Niu missed a long red and clattered into the bunch but only made 16. Another chance came to canter late in the frame and he got down to the green which had the pink next to it and was awkward. After some safety on the green Niu knocked it in from range and added a good mid range brown to make sure Walker didn't come back for snookers.

- Yuan gets himself back in the frame by clearing the last few reds. The blue was awkward though and he attempted it at a tight angle missing it but leaving it safe. Milkins pots the blue after some safety though but misses a tricky pink in the middle. He needs pink. Yuan both balls.

- Another good chance now for Milkins. The youngsters inexperience starting to show here and Milkins is continually growing in confidence in this match. Break into the thirties with all the reds he needs in the open. Should move 3-1 and one away from booking the India trip.... Until he makes a positional error leaving a tricky red with the rest which he misses. Still controlling the frame and match though.

Frame Milkins - Just after that post Milkins pots the final balls needed for the frame and makes a 66 to lead and looking more comfortable now. 2-1

- Nice little chance for Milkins in frame three. His opponent let him in with an easy starter and thus far he's taken advantage. Nice cannon has just got the black in play and he's not far from taking the frame now.

TABLE 4 UPDATE - 2-0 now to Niu. He looks comfortable and is being made more so by Walkers errors. The fatal one being a safety on the final red caught too thick.

Frame Milkins - After offering chances on the green and leaving it over the middle for Yuan, Milkins gets a reprieve as the youngster misses a sitter of a blue in the middle. A couple of safeties follow before Yuan leaves the blue on in the middle and Milkins clears. 1-1

- Both players have now had good chances. Milkins with a good lead saw Yuan get in and then play a nice safety come snooker when he lost position. From that Milkins was a little unlucky to leave him another opening and after potting a good final red and a good yellow he misses the green. Remaining colours in the open so almost a green ball frame.

MILKINS CHANCE - Milkins gets in with the opening chance and makes 30 before missing a red with the white near the side rail. Chance now for Yuan to get his arm going again, but misses a cutback black on 9. Milkins back in.

TABLE 4 UPDATE: Lee Walker looked to have the reds at his mercy in the opener but misses a pretty straightforward pink to middle only for Niu to pass up the chance. Walker then misses a red he took a long time over and Niu gets back in and makes it 1-0.

Frame Yuan Sijun - 84 is more than enough for Yuan Sijun in a quick and confident break. Milkins plays on purely for some table time but doesn't get much. 1-0 Yuan

- Yuan Sijun in first here and has got the reds open early. He looks even younger than 17 but the early sign is it won't show in his play. Seems a confident player and should make plenty from this opening chance.

- 10 minutes to go until the start here. Milkins and Yuan are on table 3, there is no match in this session on table 1, table 2 is the stream match, and Lee Walker vs Niu Zhuang is on table 4 so I will have the odd update from there. The other matches are on the other side and the only one I'll have any reasonable view at is Liam Highfield and new professional Matthew Bolton. I'm all set and raring to go.

It's time to introduce today's Live Blog. Starting at 1pm I will be featuring Robert Milkins match with 17-year-old new tour professional Yuan Sijun.

Yuan was one of my players to watch for this season, and even though he started with two defeats he will have something to take having lost 4-3 to Oliver Lines and 5-3 to Tom Ford both matches he kept very competitive.

Robert Milkins won his two Preston qualifiers beating Aditya Mehta to qualify for Riga, where he had a Last 64 walkover before losing 4-1 to eventual champion Ryan Day in the Last 32. He also overcame Zhao Xintong to make the upcoming China Championship.

The "and others" in the title of this blog refers to the fact that I will look to provide updates from other 1pm non-streamed matches depending on where the Milkins game is situated in the arena and what matches are near it. I also hope to cover a 4pm start which will be dependant on if the Milkins game runs over (which is unlikely given his pace) and again which matches are situated where in the arena and whether or not all matches start on time. That's the boring explanation over, updates will start from 1pm with the nearest update at the top of the page so you readers don't have to scroll to find the latest details. Enjoy!!!

Indian Open Qualifiers: Day 1 Round-up

The first day of Indian Open qualifying produced a mixture of results that certainly included a few surprises. One of these unexpected outcomes saw Jackson Page, who celebrates his 16th birthday next week, thrash Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-0.

Another slight surprise saw Martin Gould lose out 4-1 to recent World Games bronze medal winner Soheil Vahedi who had clearly taken a lot of confidence from that success in Poland. Ken Doherty continued his fine start to the season, backing up a run to the semi-finals at the Riga Masters in June by beating the World Games silver medal 4-2.

There were also four walkovers on the day, which included 2015 Indian Open champion Michael White withdrawing from his match with Gerard Greene through illness and recent Hong Kong Masters winner Neil Robertson handing Robin Hull a free ticket to India. Robertson's withdrawal was an interesting one as he later posted about being on the practice table with Joe Perry.

Anthony Hamilton and Hossein Vafei came through in deciding frames against Alex Borg and Sanderson Lam respectively. Zhang Anda made short work of Lyu Haotian thanks to breaks of 67, 75, 83 and 102 so he was clearly in top form.

Once I arrived at the venue for the late afternoon and evening games one man in particular impressed me. Jimmy Robertson saw off Jak Jones 4-2 and was in fine scoring form. He completed the match with a century clearance and could and should have had two before that missing simple shots on 92 on both occasions. As well as this he might have finished the match 4-1 but for some misfortune when attempting to bring the last four reds into play, going in-off in the process.

Graeme Dott really had to dig in against China's Fang Xiongman. Dott relinquished a 2-0 lead and soon found himself 3-2 behind. In the sixth he needed to produce a good clearance on the colours to keep himself in the contest, before again coming from behind in the decider to win it on the colours and scrape through to the final stages.

Jack Lisowski looked good in patches of a 4-1 win against Joe Swail after a pretty scrappy start to the match. He made a couple of good breaks in the last two frames but seemed to be missing top gear, but after a stop start season for many of these players with tournaments being sparse over the summer, many players will be clearing the rust in their opening qualifier of the week.

You could certainly forgive Ricky Walden for being rusty in his evening match with Jimmy White, but from what I saw of that one from the other side of the venue, he looked to be playing comfortably. The reason to bring this up is of course as Walden has had some back trouble over the course of the year and (without confirmation) this may have been the reason for 4-0 and 5-0 defeats in his opening qualifiers of the season two months ago to lower ranked players. He certainly did not look to have much trouble getting down on the shot and no winces in pain were noted on the way to a 4-2 victory that he completed with a good clearance in the final frame.

Josh Boileau's 4-3 win over David Grace was a match I had a good view of on table four. Boileau impressed with a century to come back and force the deciding frame after a big break from Grace to go 3-2 ahead. Both players took their time to get into the match, but once the Irishman was able to he actually seemed more comfortable in the final two frames here than he did in beating Shaun Murphy in Cardiff, one of his most notable wins on tour.

Sean O'Sullivan had to dig in against Xiao Guodong as he also came from 3-2 behind. Guodong lost the opener but certainly found his feet in winning the next two with a high break of 82. The twice Shoot-Out runner-up lost the fourth despite chances, and that was the lifeline that O'Sullivan needed. Despite losing the fifth, he controlled the sixth and looked confident as he entered the decider, having seen of everything that Xiao had thrown at him so far. The 56 he made in the decider to seal victory was very classy and the mark of a man that seems to have improved in the last year.

Finally, the match I focused on in the evening between Sam Craigie and Ben Woollaston turned into a tactical affair with a few errors from both players. Craigie had chances in the opener before Woollaston took that one on the colours, but it did not faze the young man who produced the biggest bit of quality in the match in the second frame. A marvellous 126 break was one of pure class that also featured a pot on the yellow from its spot that saw him screw back directly into the pack of reds and opening them all up to complete the break. Even after Woollaston went ahead again, Craigie still looked the stronger player as he squared once more at 2-2. The fifth frame was another case of what might have been though as Woollaston again took it on the colours after Craigie had a big chance to move 3-2 in front and one from victory. That appeared to take the wind from his sails and the higher seeded Woollaston was able to capitalise and get over the line fairly convincingly in frame six for a 4-2 victory.

However, if you have not had enough Sam Craigie for this week, you can still read our guest blog that I put up on Monday with Sam's thoughts on how the early season has gone for him:

http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/guest-blog-sam-craigie.html


As for me, I will be back in the venue at 1pm and will be doing a live blog of Robert Milkins Vs Yuan Sijun and a couple of other matches either in that session or the 4pm session depending on table situations and how long my initial match goes on for, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Otherwise it should be another intriguing day of qualifiers that features the likes of John Higgins, Stephen Maguire, Michael Holt and recent World Games gold medallist Kyren Wilson.

GUEST BLOG: Sam Craigie

Ahead of a week of important qualifiers in Preston for the Indian Open, European Masters and World Open tournaments, we've caught up with current world number 76 Sam Craigie, as he offers his thoughts on how things went last season, the start of the season in Riga as well as looking ahead to the weeks ahead.


Things started off for Craigie in Preston with qualifiers for the Riga Masters and China Championship and while he made it through to Latvia, he just fell short of the mark for China.

"I was delighted to win my first match as I came from behind against Soheil. I also made a good clearance in the decider which always feels good. I was disappointed after losing to Fergal as I started to feel in control, but I didn't really get a chance in the last 2 frames. Overall my safety let me down in both games so I have been working hard on that.

Soheil seemed very dangerous and fearless which will win him matches but will also lose him matches, no doubt he'll keep improving with that approach." 

Proof of the dangerous Soheil Vahedi, as Craigie describes, was shown as he took home the bronze medal in the recent World Games. However, as the season began there is a certain rustiness to remove after nearly two months without a competitive match.

"I started well in my first match, but when the pressure hit then you realise your not quite match sharp. I was just happy to scrape over the line in my first match to settle the nerves."

Onto Riga Craigie went and his Last 64 opponent was Jamie Jones where he enjoyed a 4-3 success before losing out 4-2 to Mark Davis. 

"I enjoyed Riga. I was obviously happy to beat Jamie from 3-1 down, but he struggled at the end of the match so I didn't really feel confident in my game going into the next match against Mark. I thought the venue was great as a whole, the tables weren't great but it seems there's no answer for that."

Last season certainly showed some promise for Craigie but with a few tight loses in the big money events, the Englishman (to use a Golfing term) feels as though he has left a couple of shots out on the course. 

"Last season could of been a lot more successful than it was, unfortunately a few things went against me at crucial times. I always believe there's lots of things to work on, which could possibly be my down fall, we'll see."

With the hard work very much in progress he will be looking to keep improving all the time, especially as he is still very much a young man at 23. Given his current ranking though Craigie is keeping his goals for this year very simple. 

"I don't really know what to expect this season, but my goal is just to remain on tour. If I reach the top 64 I'll be delighted, if I regain another 2 year card (via the one-year money list) I'll still be happy."

Onto the upcoming qualifiers, and one that Craigie will be looking forward to is the World Open having qualified last year before beating Marco Fu in the Last 64 at the venue. 

"I'd love to qualify for the World Open again and have another shot over there, it will be a tall order as I play Judd Trump in the qualifiers, who I believe will dominate the game in years to come. I can only try my best and see what happens." 

A draw against the home favourite means that Sam will not be in Preston on Thursday or Friday for European Masters qualifying. 

"I'm also looking forward to the European Masters where I'll play Luca Brecel in Belgium, another great player.

We've had a few good games in the past, it should be a good experience playing him in front of his home crowd."

So, with that bit of extra time away from the match table, Craigie opens the door on his perfect day at home. 

"My perfect day off would be, an early game of golf, a few drinks, go out for a nice meal, then a good film at night."


It looks like we have another keen Golfer amongst the professional snooker ranks, maybe in the future it would be fun to see a joint Golf and Snooker challenge. In the much nearer future though are the Preston qualifiers, where Sam Craigie will face Ben Woollaston on Tuesday August 1 in Indian Open qualifying, and Judd Trump on Monday August 7 in World Open qualifying. Following that will be a trip to Germany at the end of the month for the Paul Hunter Classic where Craigie already has a walkover into the Last 64.


Don't forget to keep an eye on the blog this week as I will be in Preston from Tuesday to Friday for the Indian Open and European Masters qualifiers producing day by day insights on all the snooker on show as well as doing a couple of LIVE BLOGS on some of the non-streamed matches. You will also be able to follow my updates on Twitter @CueActionBlog 

World Games: Snooker Event Preview

For the fifth time in it's history, snooker will be involved in the World Games, which takes place in Poland on this occasion with 16 players all bidding to become snooker's next gold medallist.

In Colombia four years ago Aditya Mehta beat Liang Wenbo to the gold, while Igor Figueiredo missed out on the bronze to Dechawat Poomjaeng. Nigel Bond stepped up to the podium in Taiwan as he picked up the 2009 gold, with David Grace taking silver and the bronze going to Mohammed Shehab as he edged out Soheil Vahedi.

2005 saw the World Games head to Germany where Gerard Greene picked up the gold against Ding Junhui. Bjorn Haneveer won the bronze against Mark Allen adding to the gold medal that the Belgian four years earlier in Japan.

This year there is an important change as snooker at the World Games becomes a mixed event. Women's world champion Ng On Yee is joined by Belgian Wendy Jans making up the two female players in the field. Defending gold medallist Aditya Mehta is also in the field along with English top 16 hopes Ali Carter and Kyren Wilson. 2016 world amateur champion and current tour player Soheil Vahedi is also in the field along with 2016 world under 21 champion Xu Si and runner-up Alexander Ursenbacher who are the two other tour players in the field.

2016 world amateur finalist Andrew Pagett and european men's runner-up Andres Petrov are two of the non-tour players in the field that also include Kacper Filipiak competing on home soil, the impressive Declan Brennan, former professionals Michael Judge and Peter Francisco while Australian Shaun Dalitz and Pakistan's Mohammad Bilal complete this global field.

World Games Main Event Draw: 

Ali Carter Vs Shaun Dalitz

Wendy Jans Vs Declan Brennan

Aditya Mehta Vs Kacper Filipiak 

Xu Si Vs Mohammad Bilal 

Soheil Vahedi Vs Peter Francisco

Andrew Pagett Vs Alexander Ursenbacher

Ng On Yee Vs Michael Judge 

Kyren Wilson Vs Andres Petrov

Ali Carter and Kyren Wilson will be two obvious favourites for this event but with the format being best-of-5 frame matches throughout the event, anything can happen and no results are guaranteed given such a short format.

Declan Brennan could do very well in this event and gain some valuable experience. From what I have seen and heard about him he is a quality player who can score very heavily and I expect him to make his way on to the tour inside of the next couple of years.

Defending champion Aditya Mehta will be determined to get another medal after his performance four years ago. The Indian has not necessarily had the best year or so on the table in terms of results but a good run here could give him a lot of confidence for the year ahead.

2016 world under 21 champion Xu Si is certainly a danger man. At the start of the season I picked him out as one of my players to watch for the coming season, and a medal in the World Games would be an early justification of that call and proof of his talents. Beating Mark Williams in a best-of-11 at the International Championship last year shows he can compete with the higher grade of players, so he could do very well on the big stage this week.

In the bottom half of the draw Alexander Ursenbacher is a certain dark horse. We have seen already this year that he is a heavy scorer and very talented having earned his place back on tour. In Andrew Pagett he faces an experienced ex-tour pro who could easily have a good run himself. Pagett nearly earned a place back on tour on a couple of occasions in the last year, losing in the final of the world amateur championships and the semi-finals of the european amateur championships.

Soheil Vahedi is the world amateur championships and has already made a bit of an impression as a tour pro, playing alongside Hossein Vafei in the Iranian world cup team that made the quarter-finals earlier this month. That run could inspire him to do his nation proud once again here in Poland and get himself onto the podium.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning Ng On Yee who should be inspired coming into this week straight from the Hong Kong Masters where she has played a big part. Playing exhibitions with against Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White in Hong Kong in front of a huge crowd will give her some good practice for the Games, and the motivation to make her huge crowds of supporters proud. 

All in all, it looks to me like a wide open tournament given the field and the short format. The winner will more than likely be someone who is up for the challenge and embraces everything that these games have to offer. Viewing it as a privilege rather than another week on tour could be the key to success and someone like Kyren Wilson is usually someone that fits that description, always embracing new challenges. For many others it is a great opportunity and I expect the likes of Ursenbacher and Xu to impress and potentially pick up a medal themselves, whilst Brennan could also provide an upset or two along the way.  

The tournament begins on Wednesday with first round matches taking place on Wednesday and Thursday before the quarter-finals on Friday, semi-finals and the bronze medal match on Saturday and the final on Sunday with the medal ceremony to follow later on the same day.