Paul Hunter Classic Preview

This week tournament snooker returns after a four week break, with the event held in the memory of the great Paul Hunter. One of the things that pleased a lot of people after the announcement of the calendar for this season and that the European Tour had been scrapped, was that this event had been kept on, such is how much it means to a lot of people on the circuit. That is also credit to how well the tournament is hosted in Furth, Germany.

Professional stages of this event may not start until Friday (being played in the traditional old European Tour format of one side in the draw playing Last 128 down to Last 32 on Friday and the other side doing so on Saturday until we play the Last 16 through to the Final all on Sunday), yet we do still have the amateur entries which is nice to see equally, and those stages will be played on Wednesday and Thursday to fill the 28 vacant spots in the draw.

Unfortunately, many of the top 16 have decided not to take part in the event this week. Those names missing include, Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins.

Each will pick there own reasons, such as Murphy who is expecting the birth of his first child in the very near future, and O'Sullivan who has announced that his season will start with the Shanghai Masters (and has also committed to playing in the four home nations events, the European Championship and the International Championship). However, there is one key thing to pick out for these members of the top 16 and that is that there last ranking event concluded on July 31st, and their next ranker will be the Shanghai Masters (for which the top 16 do not have to pre-qualify) which begins on September 15th.

The decision to take a school holiday like break, was likely aided too by the decision not to increase the prize money, like World Snooker did for the Riga Open, meaning that the Paul Hunter Classic and Gibraltar Open events have the lowest prize fund of the year, the winner taking home £18,750 and the weeks runner-up receiving £9,000.

Add to that the fact the draw for the week is unseeded and entirely random, then you get a week that is very much anyone's to win, so let's take a look at who is in with a chance this week.

Quarter 1 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Zhou Yuelong Vs Anthony Hamilton 

Ricky Walden Vs Josh Boileau 

Luca Brecel Vs Liam Highfield 

Ross Muir Vs Amateur Qualifier

Mark Davis Vs Gareth Allen

Sanderson Lam Vs Jason Weston

Hossein Vafei Ayouri Vs Lee Walker 

Adam Duffy Vs Amateur Qualifier 

James Cahill Vs Amateur Qualifier

Ryan Day W/O Peter Ebdon

Mark Selby Vs Amateur Qualifier

Martin O'Donnell Vs Elliot Slessor

Zhao Xintong Vs Amateur Qualifier 

Liang Wenbo Vs Amateur Qualifier 

Gary Wilson Vs Jak Jones

Sam Baird Vs Amateur Qualifier

Watch out for: This quarter is no different from the others in the draw with how open they all seem, down to the absence of many of the World's top 16 from competition this week. World Champion Mark Selby has always had a great record at the Paul Hunter Classic winning in Furth in 2011 and 2012, but it has been a slow start to the new season for Selby after his Crucible triumph, which is not too dissimilar to the story of 2014/2015 after winning his first World title. The presence of the young Chinese players Zhao Xintong and Zhou Yuelong could ruffle a few feathers in the draw if they're on top form, while the more experienced Liang Wenbo is becoming well established as a big player in the game, but with only one tournament and an earlier exit in that event under his belt he may be a way off from his peak period of the season.

Quarter Choice: This week I am going for Welshman Ryan Day in this top section. After a slow start to the season in his first two events, he beat Barry Hawkins on the way to the Last 16 at the World Open where he was eventually beaten by the star of the season so far in Neil Robertson. Day benefits from a walkover at the start of the week, and when your opponent was due to be Peter Ebdon that is always a relief. He reached a final last season on the European Tour and played pretty well throughout without ever kicking on and getting his hands on a trophy, so perhaps one of the game's great underachievers could get some wind in his sails this week. 

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Rod Lawler Vs Mitchell Mann

Stuart Carrington Vs Amateur Qualifier

Xiao Guodong Vs Amateur Qualifier

Jimmy White Vs Jamie Barrett 

Mei Xiwen Vs Amateur Qualifier

Alex Borg Vs Kurt Dunham 

Zhang Anda W/O Darryl Hill 

Michael White Vs Yu De Lu 

Mark Joyce W/O Noppon Saengkham 

Ali Carter Vs Amateur Qualifier

Scott Donaldson Vs Hammad Miah

Alfie Burden Vs Yan Bingtao 

Ben Woollaston Vs Dominic Dale 

Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn Vs Amateur Qualifier

Michael Holt Vs Amateur Qualifier

Boonyarit Kaettikun W/O Robert Milkins

Watch out for: Riga Masters finllist Michael Holt has a very good record at the Paul Hunter Classic, where he lost out in a tight semi-final last year and reached consecutive finals before it became a ranking event in 2005 and 2006. Holt's results have improved a lot in the last year, which was evident by reaching the final in Latvia at the start of the season and you have to feel that there is more of that to come for the Hitman. Meanwhile, Ali Carter is this week's defending champion and the winner of the last event to be staged over in China at the World Open. Carter is very much back where he belongs after a tough few years and it is very nice to come into a tournament as the most recent winner on tour and defending event champion, and to add to that he was a semi-finalist here in 2013 as well as being a previous winner of the German Masters, so clearly enjoys playing in this part of the world. 

Quarter Choice: I have gone outside of the box here in quarter two with my selection of Xiao Guodong. Xiao's season last year was nothing short of awful but already this season there are signs of him turning that around. It would be easy to forget his quality after the lack of it on display in 2015/2016 but he is a former ranking finalist from just three years ago. A last 8 appearance in Latvia is a good way to start the season, and he followed that with a Last 32 appearance in the Indian Open where he lost from 3-0 up to eventual runner-up Kyren Wilson. On top of that he saw to Stephen Maguire in the World Open in making the Last 32 once again, and I expect it to take some quality to beat him this week. 

Quarter 3 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Kurt Maflin Vs Oliver Lines

Anthony McGill Vs Amateur Qualifier

Martin Gould Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng 

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Amateur Qualifier 

Fergal O'Brien Vs Amateur Qualifier

Li Hang Vs Jamie Cope 

Mark Allen Vs Zhang Yong

Joe Swail Vs Amateur Qualifier 

Jack Lisowski Vs Amateur Qualifier

Kyren Wilson Vs Jimmy Robertson 

Matthew Stevens Vs Amateur Qualifier

David Grace Vs Sean O'Sullivan 

Andrew Higginson Vs Allan Taylor

Robin Hull Vs Rhys Clark

Joe Perry Vs Amateur Qualifier 

Robbie Williams Vs Amateur Qualifier

Watch out for: There is a lot of quality in this section of the draw that includes Indian Open winner Anthony McGill, a win that no-one was really surprised with after seeing the quality he has displayed over the last couple of years, while Martin Gould is another of the first time ranking winners from the last year, a run that was started by Kyren Wilson at the 2016 Shanghai Masters, and by reaching the final at the Indian Open and the World Championship quarter-finals this year. Wilson is now very much a threat in any tournament he plays in now, and that will continue for many many years to come. On top of that Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is very much growing in confidence as was evident in his recent run to the semi-finals of the World Open matching his International Championship semi-final from 2015. Keep an eye on Joe Swail who made the final of this tournament as an amateur in 2012, and came back the next year by reaching the quarter-finals, so he may be a tournament specialist. 

Quarter Choice: My quarter 3 selection though is Mark Allen who won this tournament in 2014, despite first round exits in both 2013 and 2015 sandwiching that. Allen is also one of the most prolific players from the European Tour era that ended last year winning 5 times overall, including back to back wins in 2013, showing just what he is capable. Allen should also come back here fresh and raring to go, with this being his first professional tournament since last season's World Championship and that is an important factor for Allen. 

Quarter 4 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

David Gilbert Vs Amateur Qualifier

Fraser Patrick Vs Michael Georgiou 

Stuart Bingham Vs Sydney Wilson 

Hatem Yassin Vs Amateur Qualifier

Cao Yupeng Vs Amateur Qualifier

Jamie Jones Vs Tian Pengfei 

Nigel Bond Vs Craig Steadman 

Michael Wild Vs Amateur Qualifier

Paul Davison Vs Amateur Qualifier

Rory McLeod Vs Amateur Qualifier

John Astley W/O Hamza Akbar 

Mark King Vs David John 

Thor Chuan Leong Vs Christopher Keogan 

Alan McManus Vs Amateur Qualifier

Tom Ford Vs Ian Burns 

Chris Wakelin Vs Chen Zhe 

Watch out for: Mark King was a semi-finalist in Furth last year, and reached two further European Tour quarter-final's out of the six events in total and finished the season as one of the top players on the European Order of Merit. 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham has still not one since that unlikely triumph, so you have to say he is overdue. The draws have not necessarily been kind to Ballrun this year, losing out in the Last 16 of the Riga Masters to eventual runner-up Michael Holt, the Last 16 of the Indian Open to eventual winner McGill and in the Last 32 of the World Open to Ali Carter who took the title that week. Alan McManus fired himself back into prominence with a run to the 2016 World Championship semi-finals. Starting the season at the World Open he reached the Last 16 there seeing off Wenbo on his way.

UPDATE: News has come through of a possible injury to Alan McManus that "may affect his performance". Make of it what you will, but without any specific details regarding the injury to go on it is tough to tell what difference it will have.

Quarter Choice: My choice for this fourth and final section is David Gilbert. Gilbert has improved a lot in the last year and gained a lot of confidence in his ability. A career best season that featured a semi-final on the European Tour and his first ranking event final has given him the taste for more, with one of his better performances coming in the World Championship where he lost out 10-7 to Ronnie O'Sullivan despite a barrage of big breaks from Gilbert to show what he is capable of on the biggest stage. This season has started in decent fashion for the 35 year old with a run to the quarter-finals of the World Open and the Last 16 of the Riga Masters and he will be looking to better those this week.  

Tournament Choice: Mark Allen

Unfortunately, this event will not be on TV at all this week, with those who have a Eurosport Player subscription being the only ones who will have access to any live coverage of the event from Friday to Sunday. 

Following this on the snooker tour comes the qualifying rounds for the Shanghai Masters (which uses the old tiered structure) and start next Tuesday, before the non-ranking 6 Reds World Championship in Thailand which is not one to pour too much interest in to. As for full ranking events, the Shanghai Masters final stages begin on Monday September 19th and that event will see the return of my old "Stat Attack" feature from last year and a debut for a couple of new features which will completely change the style of previews on Cue Action Blog. A new format for this seasons Fantasy Snooker will also be brought in for it's first event at the Shanghai Masters. 

World Open Preview

This week the snooker tour returns after a couple of weeks off since Anthony McGill's first ever ranking title which came in India. Yushan in China is the destination for the return of the World Open which was last on the calendar in March 2014 when Shaun Murphy walked away with the title.

 

A new venue always brings new sights to see, and while the children may be off for summer in the UK, the players are going back to school. Yushan Middle School to be exact. The prize is certainly not the school standard of a certificate and a pat on the back, with this weeks winner taking home £90,000 while the runner-up will take £40,000 home to show his family.

 

The format is not so much the child play of the best-of 7 matches we've seen in Riga and India, with best-of 9 matches from the Last 64 until the semi-finals which are best-of 11 frames prior to the first best-of 19 final in the 2016/2017 campaign.

 

As always with the Chinese events there are few heldover matches and wildcards so the draw takes more dissecting than usual.

 

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

 

Shaun Murphy/Sanderson Lam Vs Cao Yupeng
Jimmy Robertson Vs Wang Yuchen
Stephen Maguire Vs Xiao Guodong
Michael White Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Davis Vs Tom Ford
Joe Perry W/O Jamie Burnett
Ben Woollaston Vs Gary Wilson
Robin Hull Vs Ding Junhui/Michael Georgiou

 

Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui

 

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

 

Neil Robertson Vs Ian Burns
Luca Brecel Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Barry Hawkins Vs Robbie Williams
Ryan Day Vs Allan Taylor
David Gilbert Vs Rod Lawler
Zhou Yuelong Vs Hammad Miah/Huang Jiahao
Peter Ebdon Vs Zhang Anda/Hu Hao
Judd Trump Vs Yu DeLu

 

Predicted Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

 

Quarter 3:

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

 

Stuart Bingham Vs Stuart Carrington
Ali Carter Vs Mike Dunn
Kyren Wilson Vs Zhang Yong
Daniel Wells Vs James Wattana/Xu Si
Graeme Dott Vs Duane Jones
Mark Williams Vs Andrew Higginson
Michael Holt Vs Fergal O'Brien
John Higgins Vs Oliver Lines

 

Quarter Winner: John Higgins

 

Quarter 4:

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

 

Ricky Walden Vs David Grace
Anthony McGill Vs Lee Walker
Marco Fu Vs Sam Craigie
Matt Selt Vs Matthew Stevens/Liu Yiqi
Jamie Cope Vs Alan McManus
Liang Wenbo/Chris Wakelin Vs James Cahill
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Mark King
Mark Selby/Jimmy White Vs Alfie Burden

 

Quarter Winner: Liang Wenbo

 

Tournament Runner Up: Neil Robertson

 

Tournament Winner: John Higgins

 

 

These early season events are tough one's to call, but the reason I have gone with guys like Higgins and Robertson is because the Australian showed some good form in Latvia and is someone who seems to start recent seasons well (two Wuxi Classic victories will verify that) while Higgins is very similar in that regard in the last two or three years. Kyren Wilson has a decent section of the draw too as he looks to kick on from his recent runners-up finish in India.

 

From an outside point of view I could see someone like Xiao Guodong doing well this week. He was one of very few to qualify for all three of these early season events (this being the last of them) and he looked good in Riga and India without kicking on. Anything is better than the season that the 2013 Shanghai Masters runner-up had in 2015/2016.

 

Following the World Open there is another three week break until the Paul Hunter Classic and then the events start featuring with more regularity and it will really feel like the new season has begun and for the players their Golf clubs will go away until next summer.

Indian Open Preview

After Neil Robertson won the first event of the season over in Latvia at the Riga Masters, this week sees the return to the snooker calendar of the Indian Open which will be played for the first time since March 2015. Michael White is defending champion from what was a week in which he followed a win at the Shoot-out with his first ranking title by winning in India.

The format for the tournament is the same as the first two stagings and very similar to that of the recent Riga Masters. Each of the rounds from the Last 64 to the semi-finals are played over the best-of-7 frames with the final being a best-of-9 frames match.

When the tournament starts out on Tuesday there will be two held over matches which feature defending champion White and the sole Indian player on the professional tour in Aditya Mehta. Elsewhere, there are now five wildcard matches after the withdrawal of Fraser Patrick from the event saw Ishpreet Chadha get a bye into the Last 64. These wildcard matches do feature a couple of familiar faces to snooker fans with Pankaj Advani who had his time on tour before deciding to concentrate solely on his billiards again, while Lucky Vatnani is someone many will recognise and his most recent action saw him play in Q School in the off-season.

With £50,000 for the winner of this one on Saturday it is an opportunity for someone to get their season off to a perfect start and surge up the rankings given the absence of some of the top players. World Champion Mark Selby, John Higgins, Judd Trump, Riga Champion Neil Robertson, Mark Allen, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Joe Perry and former winner Ding Junhui all decided not to enter this one, while Riga runner-up Michael Holt failed to qualify when the Last 128 round was played in Preston at the end of May.

There are still plenty of big names in the draw, so let's take a look at who has a good chance at coming out on top over the 5 days in Hyderabad:

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Michael White or Anthony Hamilton Vs Eden Sharav
Gary Wilson Vs Zhao Xintong or Kamal Chawla
Mark Davis Vs Robin Hull
Jamie Burnett Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Xiao Guodong Vs Jimmy Robertson or Aditya Mehta
Kyren Wilson Vs Martin O'Donnell
Jamie Jones Vs James Wattana
Martin Gould Vs Allan Taylor

In this top quarter of the draw we not only have the defending champion Michael White but India's number one in Aditya Mehta. Kyren Wilson is back having withdrawn from Riga through illness but he has now been given the all clear to fly so will be appearing in Hyderabad this week and will be one of the main contenders. Martin Gould will be hoping for better after an early Riga exit, while Xiao Guodong will be hoping to continue a better start this season after initially qualifying for all of the first three events in the season, and then in the main stages of the Riga Masters, reaching the quarter-finals. Any time Zhao Xintong is in the draw he could certainly be a threat such is his talent. I've looked somewhat more outside of the box though for a quarter winner and that man is Mark Davis. His record in Asia suggests he generally has more success playing in this part of the world and with the lack of real top players in the draw, these events over short formats usually seem to open up for someone and I think Mark Davis fits the bill.

Quarter Winner: Mark Davis

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Marco Fu Vs Hamza Akbar or Dillip Kumar
Dominic Dale Vs Ishpreet Chadha
Liam Highfield Vs Duane Jones
Peter Ebdon Vs Zhou Yuelong
Robbie Williams W/O Luca Brecel
Ryan Day Vs John Astley
Jack Lisowski Vs Sam Baird
Ricky Walden Vs Nigel Bond

Quarter two also has a couple of top players as well as the room for surprises. Someone like Zhou Yuelong could go well this week because he seems to continue picking up results and steadily climbing the rankings, so perhaps he is not too far away from a breakthrough. Ryan Day is constantly mentioned as one of the best players never to have won a ranking event, but as time ticks by and events like this when a number of top players are absent come and go his chances of getting one on the board become a lot slimmer. Marco Fu will fancy his chances if he's been looking at the draw because he could go very deep into this draw if he finds his form. One player I fancy this week though is Ricky Walden. Walden made the final when this event was last staged and ended last season with some good form by reaching the Players Championship final and the China Open final. It is no secret by now that Walden plays some his best snooker in Asia having won three times in China as well as the finals that I have mentioned. As well as this Walden will be looking for a good start to the season after the poor start he had last season.

Quarter Winner: Ricky Walden

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Daniel Wells
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Michael Georgiou
Graeme Dott Vs Oliver Lines
Mitchell Mann Vs Andrew Higginson or Manan Chandra
Joe Swail Vs Jimmy White
Robert Milkins Vs Stuart Carrington
Mike Dunn Vs David Lilley
Mark Williams Vs Zhang Yong

In the bottom half of the draw we find a semi-finalist from Riga with Mark Williams who was very unlucky not to make the final there, so he will be looking now to kick on and go a couple better than his performance here in 2015 when he lost out to Michael White in the semi-finals. Mitchell Mann's impressive end to last season could make him a little bit of a dark horse this week if he can continue moving in the right direction while Graeme Dott played one of the better matches this tournament has seen in a 4-3 victory over Robin Hull in 2015 that had more twists and turns than one of Norfolk's country back roads. Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy plays in his first tournament of the season, as well as making his first trip to India. After a good end to last season that saw Murphy win the Grand Prix and make the semi-finals of the Players Championship, and he will now want to put that disappointing first round exit from the World Championship behind him. Newly married in the off-season, fatherhood is also on the horizon too for Murphy so he would dearly love to get a title under his belt before the baby arrives and get off to a better start than he has perhaps in more recent seasons.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Barry Hawkins Vs Ashley Hugill
Mark King Vs Rory McLeod
Stephen Maguire Vs Alfie Burden
Elliot Slessor Vs Fang Xiongman or Pankaj Advani
Anthony McGill Vs Oliver Brown
Matt Selt Vs David Grace or Lucky Vatnani
Matthew Stevens Vs Mark Joyce
Stuart Bingham Vs Steven Hallworth

It seems that a lot of the top players are hiding out in this bottom quarter of the draw. Barry Hawkins is here in his first event of the season, looking for a strong start to the season as he did last year when he won the 2015 Riga Open. Stephen Maguire also appears for the first time in a full event after his failure to qualify for the Riga Masters. Matt Selt will also feature this week having been banned from the Riga Masters and after that decision from the powers that be, Selt will be hoping to channel any anger into good results on the table this week. Matthew Stevens has had a nice start to the season by qualifying for all of the first three events, the first of which in Riga saw him lose out in the Last 16 to eventual champion Neil Robertson. He could be one of the surprise packages this week. However, my pick in this bottom section is Anthony McGill. McGill has of course impressed most in the last two World Championships where he reached the quarter-finals in 2015 after beating defending champion Mark Selby and then this year he reached the Last 16 after beating Shaun Murphy. Between those two Crucible efforts though, came a poor season where he failed to fire on the same cylinders so the next step for him is certainly to take that game into more tournaments and make the runs into quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals as well as getting that first title on the board that we all know he is capable of doing. An inviting start came in Riga when he made the quarter-finals before losing out to Michael Holt and I think he could carry that on and go one better this week.

Quarter Winner: Anthony McGill

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Shaun Murphy

Predicted Tournament Winner: Ricky Walden

While it does look like being an intriguing week of snooker it is a shame that it will only be able to be viewed by Eurosport Player and is not on TV for any of the five days. Quite frankly I still need convincing on whether the £60 a year subscription fee will be worth it to watch the smaller events on the calendar, especially on weeks like this when time differences mean matches will be taking place in the mornings and afternoons if you are living in the UK and Europe. Following the conclusion here in India the next snooker will come from the 25th - 31st of July in China for the World Open.

Riga Masters Preview

One of the survivors from the scrapping of the European Tour, the Riga Masters (formerly the Riga Open) in Latvia starting on Wednesday will see the first full event of the 2016/2017 snooker season. The early events in the season take on some importance as there is still decent money on offer with £37,500 for the winner of these three day event which concludes on Friday evening, though it is tough to get any early season momentum with just two more events (the Indian Open and World Open) coming before the end of August when the snooker starts to pile up a lot more.

Qualifying rounds for the Riga Masters were held some two and a half weeks ago and that shortened the field down from 128 to the round of 64 that is played throughout Wednesday. There were plenty of non-entries for this event amongst the top players which will see the likes of Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen, Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ricky Walden and last years Riga winner Barry Hawkins all staying at home. Meanwhile, Stephen Maguire failed to qualify after he lost out to Fang Xiongman, someone he had beaten comfortably days earlier in World Open qualifying, while fellow Scot Alan McManus lost out to Jamie Cope and Ben Woollaston was well beaten by Polish Adam Stefanow who competes as an amateur.

On a scheduling point, the Last 64 (and two heldover Last 128 matches) will be played on Wednesday with the Last 32 and Last 16 making up Thursday's play before the final three rounds take place throughout Friday.

Without further ado, here is how the draw looks for the opening act in the story of this new season.

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Luca Brecel Vs Sean O'Sullivan
David Gilbert Vs Sam Baird
Jamie Jones Vs Gary Wilson
Xiao Guodong Vs Gareth Allen
Ryan Day Vs Jack Lisowski
Ken Doherty Vs Noppon Saengkham
James Cahill Vs Zhao Xintong
Adam Stefanow Vs Bradley Jones or Darren Morgan

This quarter is certainly one in the draw that stands out as an opportunity for someone to really make their mark on the new season. Without a top 16 player in sight, but guys like Ryan Day, David Gilbert and Luca Brecel that are all just outside of there and well capable of a run. With a bit of reflection time after the World Championships I am sure that the Belgian Brecel would view last season as one that got away with decent that did not really convert in to what he was capable of achieving. That will surely inspire him to work harder and carry on his climb up the rankings starting here in Latvia.

The Chinese players could have a huge influence on this event with nine of them qualifying (not including Zhang Anda who has withdrawn) and the two in this quarter could have a big say. Xiao Guodong had a horrid season last season, when it would have been easy to forget that he was a ranking finalist in 2013. The early qualifiers he played show signs of a turn in fortunes that he certainly needs, or else his tour spot itself could be in danger. I can certainly see him having a strong week this week as I could equally with young Zhao Xintong who I and many others have been touting for years as something special. He is one of my three players to watch from the start of the season, though it is surely too early to be talking him up as a winner of this event.

Quarter Winner: Luca Brecel

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Matthew Stevens Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Tian Pengfei Vs Allan Taylor
Joe Swail Vs Stuart Carrington
Neil Robertson Vs Michael Georgiou
Zhou Yuelong Vs Christopher Keogan
Judd Trump Vs Chris Wakelin
Graeme Dott Vs Marco Fu or Tatiana Vasiljeva
John Higgins Vs Mark King

In contrast to quarter one, quarter two features four members of the world's top 16 who will be looking for stylish starts to the new campaign. Neil Robertson is one players who has started seasons well in previous years as a back to back winner of the Wuxi Classic (played as the first ranking event of the season on both occasions) and a serial runner-up of the Australian Open in the event that followed. Both men that have beaten Robertson in an Australian Open final are also in this quarter in Marco Fu and Judd Trump, while John Higgins has also had success at the start of the season in recent times. Going back to 2013 he defeated Robertson to win one of the early season European Tour events before losing to the same man in the Wuxi final. Last year meanwhile, he was a runner-up in the World Cup final with Stephen Maguire the week before winning the Australian Open.

Marco Fu has to play a held over Last 128 match, and assuming he has no trouble against a little known opponent that could be an advantage for him in settling into the tournament and getting used to conditions before playing a tough player like Graeme Dott as early as the Last 64. Of the four top 16er's in this section it is probably Trump who I fancy least to progress simply because I see him as a player who often has to warm into a season a lot more, being a form and rhythm player that he is.

The best of the rest could well be Matthew Stevens. He impressed in the early season qualifiers after a poor time in the last few months on the table. If he still has the hunger and the correct attitude then it is tough to keep a naturally gifted player like him down for long.

Quarter Winner: John Higgins

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Li Hang Vs Chen Zhe
Ali Carter Vs Zhang Yong
Jamie Cope Vs Jak Jones
Mark Williams Vs Mark Davis
Jimmy Robertson Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Martin O'Donnell Vs Sam Craigie
Fang Xiongman Vs Andy Hicks
Joe Perry Vs John Astley

Quarter number three still has plenty of quality with the likes of Ali Carter who was a winner on the European Tour last year, former Players champion Joe Perry and the man he overcame in that final, Mark Williams. As well as that we have one of my players to watch in Sam Craigie who could do some damage in his section of the draw.

It is a close call in this section but again I have tried to look at players who have played well early on in recent seasons, since the snooker seasons have begun starting much sooner. Carter was a winner last August in Furth which could show good signs and his form last season was good in patches last season, which many of us fans have welcomed. Perry lost out in many events at the beginning of the season to the overall champion including the Australian Open and Shanghai Masters while it is two years since he started the season with that narrow Wuxi Classic final loss. I often think the Gentleman's ability to get to the latter stages of competitions is underestimated and I think he can have a strong start to the season again here. 

Quarter Winner: Joe Perry

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Rory McLeod W/O Zhang Anda
Anthony McGill Vs Andrew Higginson
Martin Gould Vs Tom Ford
Fraser Patrick Vs Yan Bingtao
Stuart Bingham Vs Lee Walker
Fergal O'Brien Vs Adam Duffy
Mark Selby Vs Michael Holt
Kyren Wilson Vs Ian Burns

The bottom quarter of the draw contains the world champions of the last three years among some very strong names. Defending world champion after winning his first in 2014, Mark Selby also won the last ever event on the old European Tour, which was fitting in a way as he was the most successful player throughout the history of the tour events in Europe. One of his other ET victories came at this event in 2014 in his first full event as world champion. Even though by name this is now a fully fledged ranking event, I am sure Selby will come here with the same game plan that has proved successful in these events through the years and will once again be a strong contender.

At the start of last season Kyren Wilson was in the 50's in the rankings, but following victory in September's Shanghai Masters he ended it inside the world's top 16 and was suddenly a major contender for every time he stepped up to play. His skill and temperament combined, in my opinion, will soon see him become the type of player that wins at least one tournament a season and if the tournament odds are good, he is certainly a player to persist with on the betting front.

The man that I am picking out this week though is the 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham. With the pressures of being the reigning champion gone he can now reflect on a season that still saw him make a major ranking event final and lose some unfortunate matches. Prior to last season he was a player that was becoming a regular winner, particularly on the Asian Tour. With the change to make this an event played down from 64 to a winner over three days rather than the full 128 that sees it become closer to the more staggered format of those Asian Tour events and a hard worker like 'Ballrun' will take confidence from starting the season well in the qualifiers played at Preston a couple of weeks ago. In fact, after some of the criticism he received in the 2015/2016 campaign it would almost be ironic if he came out of the blocks quickly this year with a victory.

Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham

Tournament Runner-Up: John Higgins

Tournament Winner: Stuart Bingham


Those are my thoughts on the first event of the season, but at this stage it is very hard to tell who is going to get that fast start and who may have a poor run through the summer. Following these three days in Latvia is the Indian Open (another tournament with mostly best-of-7 matches) which begins on July 4th.

Qualifiers confirmed for Indian Open, World Open and Riga

The qualifiers have now been confirmed for the opening three events of the season after a week of snooker at the Preston Guildhall. Various players chose to pick and choose which events they would play in at the seasons very start here, with some of the world's top players choosing not to enter any of them.

However, it is also a very important week in setting the tone for the year for some of the lower ranked players who will be battling for survival and places in the top 64 at the seasons climax. Below I will be taking a look at some of the selected players and how they progressed or why we did not see them over the course of the last few weeks.

Qualified for all three events:

- Mark Williams
- Kyren Wilson
- Ryan Day
- Graeme Dott
- Luca Brecel
- Matthew Stevens
- Gary Wilson (Much needed ranking money already for Wilson who finished 75th on the one year money list for 2015/2016 season).
- Zhou Yuelong
- Xiao Guodong (A good start for Guodong who was 70th on the money list for 2015/2016)
- Stuart Carrington
- Allan Taylor (Money earned from these three matches nearly doubles Taylor's entire earnings last season of £3,500)
- Andrew Higginson
- Anthony McGill
- Mark King
- Mark Davis
- Stuart Bingham
- Zhang Yong (This has nearly match the money Zhang earned in the entire of last season)

Qualified for Two events:

World and Indian Opens:
- Alfie Burden
- Barry Hawkins (Did not enter the Riga Masters)
- Daniel Wells
- David Grace
- Duane Jones (For this Jones is already guaranteed £6,000 having earned only £775 from the 2015/2016 season)
- James Wattana
- Jamie Burnett
- Marco Fu (Match in the Riga Masters held over to the venue)
- Matt Selt (Was suspended for the Riga Masters)
- Mike Dunn
- Ricky Walden (Did not enter Riga)
- Robin Hull
- Stephen Maguire
- Oliver Lines
- Peter Ebdon
- Robbie Williams

World Open and Riga Masters:
- David Gilbert
- James Cahill
- John Higgins (Did not enter India)
- Neil Robertson (Did not enter India)
- Tom Ford
- Ali Carter
- Fergal O'Brien
- Ian Burns
- Joe Perry
- Jimmy Robertson (Match in the Indian Open against Aditya Mehta is held over to the venue)
- Lee Walker
- Michael Holt
- Zhang Anda
- Jamie Cope
- Judd Trump
- Sam Craigie (Pleasing stuff for one of my players to watch in the 2016/2017 season)

Indian Open and Riga Masters
- Jack Lisowski
- Jamie Jones
- Joe Swail
- Michael Georgiou (Match in the World Open against Ding Junhui is held over to the venue)
- Rory McLeod
- Sam Baird
- Zhao Xintong (Nice to see for Xintong who is one of my players to watch for this season)
- Fang Xiongman (Lost to Maguire in the World Open qualifiers before beating him in Riga Masters qualifying)
- Fraser Patrick
- Martin O'Donnell
- Martin Gould
- John Astley
- Dechawat Poomjaeng

Qualified for only one event:

World Open:
- Ben Woollaston
- Cao Yupeng
- Hammad Miah
- Kurt Maflin
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Thor Chuan Leong
- Michael White (Has had his match for the Indian Open held over as the defending champion)
- Rod Lawler
- Wang Yuchen
- Yu De Lu
- Alan McManus

Indian Open:
- Eden Sharav
- Elliot Slessor
- Hamza Akbar
- Jimmy White (Match in the World Open against Mark Selby is held over to the venue)
- Liam Highfield
- Mitchell Mann
- Robert Milkins
- Shaun Murphy (Did not enter the Riga Masters and has had his first round match of the World Open held over as the defending champion)
- Mark Joyce
- Akani Songsermsawad
- Dominic Dale
- Nigel Bond

Riga Masters:
- Chris Wakelin (Match in the World Open against Liang Wenbo is held over to the venue)
- Christopher Keogan
- Gareth Allen
- Hossein Vafei Ayouri
- Jak Jones
- Ken Doherty
- Noppon Saengkham
- Sean O'Sullivan
- Tian Pengfei
- Chen Zhe
- Yan Bingtao
- Mark Selby (Match held over in the World Open as World Champion and did not enter the Indian Open)
- Adam Duffy
- Li Hang

Failed to Qualify for any of the events:

- David John (Withdrew from the Riga Masters)
- Hatem Yassin
- Itaro Santos
- Paul Davison
- Alex Borg
- Boonyarit Kaettikun
- Ian Preece
- Jamie Barrett
- Josh Boileau
- Anthony Hamilton (Match in the Indian Open against Michael White is held over)
- Craig Steadman
- Darryl Hill
- Jason Weston
- Kurt Dunham
- Michael Wild
- Rhys Clark
- Sanderson Lam (Match in the World Open against Shaun Murphy is held over to the venue)
- Sydney Wilson


Special Notes:

- Ronnie O'Sullivan (Did not enter any of the events)

- Mark Allen (Did not enter the World or Indian Opens, but did originally enter the Riga Masters until withdrawing)

- Ding Junhui (Did not enter India or Riga but has entered the World Open and has had his match held over to the venue as one of the top two Chinese players)

- Liang Wenbo (Did not enter India or Riga but has entered the World Open and has had his match held over to the venue as one of the top two Chinese players)

- Aditya Mehta (Only entered the Indian Open and has had his first round match held over to the venue)

- Rouzi Maimaiti and Mei Xiwen (These two Chinese players were only given tour cards after the final qualifying draw for the three events had been fully finalised)



An interesting start to the season then for some and a poor one for others when exactly what they needed was a good one to boost their tour survival hopes early on.

Next up on the bill is the final stages of the Riga Masters from June 22nd - June 24th, followed by the Indian Open final stages from Tuesday July 5th - Saturday July 9th and then the World Open final stages from Monday July 25th - Sunday July 31st. Following that is roughly a months break in the calendar until the Paul Hunter Classic in August. I'm looking forward to covering all of that here and all the twists and turns of this new snooker season.

2016/2017 Snooker Season Preview

It does not feel like too much time at all since Mark Selby completed the season by winning his second world title and since then of course 12 players have earned two year professional tour cards during Qualifying School, but we're now all set to go again as qualifying for the first three events of next season gets underway.

There is plenty to talk about ahead of this new term. A couple of announcements came out today from the WPBSA about Leo Fernandez and Matt Selt. A lot of exciting players have earned their tour cards for the first time and we have a whole host of new events to look forward to.

Leo Fernandez and Matt Selt

Today we heard two major pieces of news from the tour regarding a couple of it's members. First I will deal with the news regarding Matt Selt. Selt was suspended from participating in the Riga Masters and the Paul Hunter Classic for bringing the game into disrepute after some his choice language on Twitter appears to be the thing that has gotten him into trouble.

Selt has been given the right to appeal.

Then there was the news about Leo Fernandez. Fernandez earned a two year tour card for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 via the Asian order of merit, but he was able to play in many events last season as a Q School Top up. In World Championship Qualifying he took on Gary Wilson and lost out 10-4. The match was reported to the WPBSA for suspicious betting patterns on the match and it has been decided that Fernandez has a case to answer in relation to a breach of the betting rules. The case will now go to hearing and Fernandez has been suspended until the conclusion of the hearing (date to be confirmed) and the conclusion of the case.

Indian Open, World Open and Riga Masters Qualifying

With that slightly sadder note out of the way, this weekend we have the start of the first three qualifying events of the new season and of course in this early season we have players that will have chosen their events wisely so certain top players will be missing.

Missing from the Indian Open: A lot of players decided not to enter the Indian Open when it was last played in March 2015, so Michael White will finally defend his title. However the likes of Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Mark Allen, Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Joe Perry and Liang Wenbo are the most notable absentees.

Missing from the World Open: Straight after that is the World Open qualifying, last won by Shaun Murphy in March 2014, so just the two and a bit years to wait to defend his title. As the event will be in China I understand that the matches of the top two Chinese players, defending champion and world champion will be held over to the main venue as is becoming the norm. There are many less absentees from this one but nonetheless Mark Allen and Ronnie O'Sullivan will not be in qualifying for this one.

Missing from the Riga Masters: The Riga Masters for 2016 is conducted on a random draw which is the main change to note, after the European Tour disbanded at the end of last season. Opting out of this one are Shaun Murphy, Ricky Walden, Ding Junhui, Barry Hawkins, Liang Wenbo, Michael White and yet again Ronnie O'Sullivan.


New events and changes for 2016/2017

We have plenty of new events for this season to keep us all excited with the tours development and to make sure we are all on our toes. The home series is the exciting one and my pick of the changes as in addition to the Welsh Open (which retains its usual place in the calendar) we will have the English Open (October), the Irish Open (November) and the Scottish Open (December).

The European Open has also been added to the calendar and this is all set to take place in Romania in October 2016.

The World Grand Prix has been moved to February but will still be for the top 32 on a one year money list up to the German Masters (the week before the Grand Prix). The Players Championship will then take place in March for the top 16 on the one year money list, so that after the Grand Prix there is the Welsh Open and Gibraltar Open to create ranking movement in between these events, along with the Snooker Shoot-Out which has been made into a ranking event for the first time. As I understand it the reason for this is as I mentioned, to create ranking movement in between the Grand Prix and Players Championship. In coming years I can see these sort of events building snookers own end of season series, prior to the World Championship.

For an example of what I mean, take 5 minutes out of your day to read up on the "Fed Ex Cup" in Golf which is hugely successful and adds a lot more excitement to the end of the season than in the years prior to its introduction to the PGA Tour.


Players to watch

As always we have plenty of new players to the tour and a lot of young players now on the tour. I'm going to go ahead and try to pick out players to watch or players that I believe have the most potential to light up the tour in the next year or two.

Yan Bingtao

After having his tour card deferred for a year World Cup winner Yan Bingtao is now on the tour an has at least two years to make his impression and get inside the world's top 64. Based on the rise of his world cup partner Zhou Yuelong it honestly should not be a problem for him, especially given the potential he has already shown. I witnessed live at the venue Yan's win against Shaun Murphy in the Champion of Champions and the feeling you got from watching him was that he could be something special. Later on against Neil Robertson he played well again over the longer format of best-of-11 (as opposed to the best-of-7 earlier in the day). I look forward to seeing this young man's progress.

Zhao Xintong

What is there to say about Zhao Xintong? Well he's proven himself in matches against professionals a number of times already. A year ago he just missed out on qualification for the tour through Q School and earned the "IBSF nomination" for this year after losing in the IBSF amateur final to Pankaj Advani who turned down the tour card that goes with that. In World Championship qualifying no less Zhao overcame Rod Lawler before narrowly losing out to Kurt Maflin. He also beat Stuart Carrington 6-0 in International Qualifying in 2015. In the 2014 Shanghai Masters he beat Matt Selt and then Marco Fu and he is renowned for his heavy scoring which could win him a lot of matches in the next couple of years.

Sam Craigie

Sam Craigie earned his tour card for the next two years during the EBSA play-offs. I like Craigie a lot as a player after watching his held over match in the International Championship against Ding Junhui on the TV. He handled himself well and could easily have gotten over the line there in that match. At a European Tour event earlier in the year he whitewashed Peter Lines before losing 4-2 to Shaun Murphy having taken the early lead. As well as all of this he won the SnookerBacker classic earlier in the year, just prior to competing in those EBSA play-offs, against some of the best amateurs in the country and his heavy scoring helped him out there. The first three qualifying matches coming up this week could really be big, particularly if he can get wins in a couple of them to boost his confidence early on in the season, and set up some good things to come.


I'm looking forward to seeing how plenty of other players go on in addition to this including rookie of the year last year Darryl Hill and my choice in that category Rhys Clark. Also there are another couple of new Chinese players like Wang Yuchen and Fang Xiongman who have earned their tour cards. Young Thai Boonyarit Keattikun could also be worth looking out for, earning his place after winning the World Under 21 title beating Zhao Xintong 6-2 on the way and Wang Yuchen 7-0, in addition to only dropping one frame in six best-of-7 frame matches in the group stages.


That's all for now and I have to say that if some of the new players live up to their billing and these new events capture the imagination then this could be one incredible season of snooker.

New Tour Players Confirmed

Qualifying School for the new tour professionals has come to a close today and we now have the 12 players that have come through.

Christopher Keogan and Chinese players Chen Zhe, Fang Xiongman and Cao Yupeng who fell off of the tour at the end of the 2015/2016 were able to earn two year tour cards from event one.

As for event two this saw another four players come through in the shape of Michael Georgiou, John Astley, David John and Alex Borg.

On top of that four players earned tour cards by a Q School order of merit which combined both event one and event two in terms of frames won. Jamie Barrett, Ian Preece and Adam Duffy earned theirs by getting to the penultimate round of both events before losing out. The final player to come through was Craig Steadman after he lost in the final round of event two to Michael Georgiou.

Some of these players that have come through have been on tour before while others have competed in professional competition before as a top-up or a wildcard, so here are a few thoughts and facts on each.

Chen Zhe - Zhe was on the tour in the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons after coming through Q School in 2012. His most notable result was making the semi-finals of the first Asian Tour event of his first season in June 2012 beating Tom Ford and Ben Woollaston along the way. He ended that first season ranked 78 but his second season did not live up to the same standards and he finished well outside of the top 64. Since then he has been unlucky, losing in the final round of Q School in 2015.

Cao Yupeng - Cao Yupeng was a regular on the tour and only dropped off at the end of the season so it is pleasing to see him come back on at the first attempt. It was only one poor season last season that saw him fall just outside of the top 64, having two seasons earlier made the Wuxi Classic quarter-finals as well as a quarter-final on the Asian Tour. It is always worth remembering that Yupeng has also competed at the Crucible where he beat Mark Allen in 2012 to make the Last 16.

Fang Xiongman - The final Chinese player to come through in Fang Xiongman is a 23 year old who is on the tour for the first time. Xiongman has had some victories against professionals previously, beating Jamie Jones as a wildcard in the 2015 Shanghai Masters. Other than that he has mostly completed on the Asian Tour with the odd victory against Chinese professionals like Zhang Anda and Tian Pengfei.

Christopher Keogan - Christopher Keogan has made it on to the tour for the first time having regularly competed in professional events over the last couple of seasons. Impressively he beat recently relegated pro's Joel Walker and Lu Chenwei on the way to earning his tour card in Q School event one. He has competed on TV before playing Shaun Murphy in one of the European Tour events at the back end of 2015, where he lost 4-1. In 2014 World Championship qualifying he beat professional of the time Michael Leslie 10-6 which is one of his rare victories in against a tour player in pro competition.

Adam Duffy - Adam Duffy is one of the more impressive players to have qualified. He has put behind him the disappointment of losing a final frame decider in the final round of the EBSA play-offs in April which saw Sam Craigie earn a tour card. Duffy earned a spot on the professional tour in 2011 and after a good season, was able to climb into the top 64 and stay on for the following season. Despite a poorer season in 2012/2013 he made it up to 60 in the world but dropped off of the tour after another poor year in 2014. He was impressive in the 2014/2015 season playing as an amateur where he reached the final round of World Championship qualifying before losing out 10-8 to Jamie Jones. Then having another go at Q School in 2015 he lost out in a final round decider to Eden Sharav.

Jamie Barrett - Barrett has competed a number of times in Q School and in European Tour events but easily the most impressive thing about his achievement in getting on the tour this year so soon after the death of his wife, which shows a great amount of mental strength and perseverance. Here's hoping that as a tour rookie he does everyone proud.

Ian Preece - Ian lost out in the penultimate round of both Q School events to former tour players in Chen Zhe and John Astley that went on to earn their tour cards back also. He has had stints on tour quite a while ago and is the IBSF Amateur Champion from 1999. His best result in his time on tour came in the 2009 Welsh Open where he qualified for the Last 32.

Craig Steadman - Craig Steadman fell off of the tour at the end of 2015/2016 by a small margin which will have disappointed him after he qualified for the World Championships at the Crucible in 2015. Making the penultimate round of event one and the final round of event two was enough for Steadman to get a place back on tour at the first attempt via the Q School order of merit. A good season in 2014/2015 also saw him make it into the quarter-finals of the Lisbon Open.

John Astley - John Astley made it back on to the tour after beating Peter Lines and Lu Chenwei amongst others in event two, both of whom had only just dropped off of the tour. Astley chose to take some time off after dropping off of the tour at the end of the 2014/2015 season. He even appeared in Comedy Drama 'The Nap' which was staged at the Crucible showing he had more than one string to his bow. Other than the odd good result Astley has not really reached the heights that he would hope to on tour and that could soon change over the next couple of years.

Michael Georgiou - Georgiou is back on the tour at the first attempt after dropping off at the end of last season. He will have been disappointed to fall off as results were very few and fair between after he won three qualifying rounds to make the Last 32 of the Australian Open at the start of the 2015/2016 season. He also made the Last 16 of the Welsh Open in 2015 and on both of these occasions he lost out to eventual champion John Higgins.

David John - On the way to victory in event two, John overcame two players in Tony Drago and Zak Surety who had just dropped off of the tour. The Welshman also had a go at Q School last season and off of the back of that entered Australian Open qualifying as a top-up player and got a 5-1 win against Alfie Burden.

Alex Borg - Malta's Alex Borg is back on tour having most recently fallen away at the end of the 2014/2015 season. He was very over the course of those last couple of seasons he had on tour and he did not come particularly close to staying on after his two years. He will certainly be hoping for a lot more in the next couple of years.


Those are the twelve from Q School then but there are plenty of other new and returning players to the tour who have come from all sorts of avenues and I will mention some of these in a piece I am hoping to do in the coming week previewing the new season, looking at some more of these newbies, players to watch, the new events on the calendar and who will need good runs in tournaments through the seasons to save their tour places.