China Open Draw & Schedule

zack01

The second last event of the season the China Open begins next Monday. The wild card round was announced yesterday and it saw Irelands only interest in the tournament Fergal O'Brien handed the worst possible draw when he was paired against Jin Long.
If Jimmy White wins his wild card match then he will set up a clash with Judd Trump in the first round proper.
Eurosport again will provide live coverage.

Heres the link for the draw and match schedule.....



http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/d1/a2/0,,13165~172753,00.pdf

ArmaniJeanss

How likely is Match 15 to go ahead?

zack01

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

How likely is Match 15 to go ahead?

Anyones guess really, i feel if he was'nt up to travelling to Galway from London then flying to China may be asking a bit too much.
As we know though O'Sullivan is always full of surprises so i gues it's a case of watch this space!

giant_midget

I'd say Marcus Campbell is rubbing his hands with joy, free pass to the 2nd round here...

caoty

Is Jin Long so good?

zack01 wrote: »

The second last event of the season the China Open begins next Monday. The wild card round was announced yesterday and it saw Irelands only interest in the tournament Fergal O'Brien handed the worst possible draw when he was paired against Jin Long.
If Jimmy White wins his wild card match then he will set up a clash with Judd Trump in the first round proper.
Eurosport again will provide live coverage.

Heres the link for the draw and match schedule.....



http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/d1/a2/0,,13165~172753,00.pdf

oneillMan999

Yea he IS that good, way too good to be a wild card, half or more of these Chinese "wild cards" are as good or better than a lot of main tour pros so it terribly unfair on those who`ve slogged their way thru qualifiers only to have to play another extremely competent opponent just to make the 1st round proper!!
:mad:

zack01

Jimmy White wins his wild card round and now plays Trump in the first round proper whilst Neil Roberston sporting a slightly buzzare hairdo beats Jamie Cope 5-4.
All results aside the big news is that Ronnie O'Sullivan has travelled to Beijing and will play Marcus Campbell in the first round.

cherryghost

Coverage starting on Eurosport

22 Martin Gould v Stephen Hendry
7 Peter Ebdon v Lu Haotian
5 Ben Woollaston v Chen Feilong
6 Jamie Jones v Lu Ning

Pighead

cherryghost wrote: »

Coverage starting on Eurosport

22 Martin Gould v Stephen Hendry
7 Peter Ebdon v Lu Haotian
5 Ben Woollaston v Chen Feilong
6 Jamie Jones v Lu Ning

Think I read somewhere yesterday that the guy Ebdon is playing is only 14 years of age.

cherryghost

Yep he's on table 2 (on Eurosport 2), the Gould vs Hendry match is on Eurosport 1. Think I'll have both on to see how Ebdon gets on with this teen!

cherryghost

Crazy final frame. Hendry wins 5-4!

bookshelf

cherryghost wrote: »

Crazy final frame. Hendry wins 5-4!

Gould made a right "balls" of it in that last frame. Interesting to see the Jimmy and Judd game. White was a bit annoyed at not getting a 147 after 10 reds and 10 blacks

zack01

Jin Long proved to be as expected a tough match for O'Brien by winning 5-4. O'Brien was 4-3 down levelled at 4-4 made a 53 only for Long to clear up with a 65 to win 5-4.
Pick of the games later has to be White v Trump.
White played well in his wild card match and I'm hoping he plays well today.

On another note: has anyone seen Robertson's hair !!!!

bookshelf

zack01 wrote: »

The second last event of the season the China Open begins next Monday. The wild card round was announced yesterday and it saw Irelands only interest in the tournament Fergal O'Brien handed the worst possible draw when he was paired against Jin Long.
If Jimmy White wins his wild card match then he will set up a clash with Judd Trump in the first round proper.
Eurosport again will provide live coverage.

Heres the link for the draw and match schedule.....



http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/d1/a2/0,,13165~172753,00.pdf

And O'Brien loses 5-4. Was 53-0 up in the last frame and Long came back to clear up with a break of 65. Does anyone know are there any really good young Irish snooker players coming through at all, some that we may see playing at major events in the future?

bookshelf

zack01 wrote: »

Jin Long proved to be as expected a tough match for O'Brien by winning 5-4. O'Brien was 4-3 down levelled at 4-4 made a 53 only for Long to clear up with a 65 to win 5-4.
Pick of the games later has to be White v Trump.
White played well in his wild card match and I'm hoping he plays well today.

On another note: has anyone seen Robertson's hair !!!!

you got there just before me! I don't know what Robertson is doing with his hair, he seems like a really genuine nice guy. I met him when he played in Galway

cherryghost

zack01 wrote: »

Jin Long proved to be as expected a tough match for O'Brien by winning 5-4. O'Brien was 4-3 down levelled at 4-4 made a 53 only for Long to clear up with a 65 to win 5-4.
Pick of the games later has to be White v Trump.
White played well in his wild card match and I'm hoping he plays well today.

On another note: has anyone seen Robertson's hair !!!!

God yes, can't wait for that match. Really hope White puts on a good show!

As for Robertson, I hope for his sake its the humidity

zack01

bookshelf wrote: »

And O'Brien loses 5-4.Does anyone know are there any really good young Irish snooker players coming through at all, some that we may see playing at major events in the future?

Honestly I don't think we will see any new Irish talent apart from the players currently on the tour, expect perhaps for John Sutton who in May will attempt to join the main tour by way of the Q School.
The reason I don't think we will see any other players is that only last week World Snooker decided to remove the tour card given to the number one ranked amateur at the end of each season in Ireland.
England, Scotland and Wales have also lost their place too, these places have been given to China, Thailand and India and to be honest I think these countries are more deserving.
Ireland, England etc have had their chance, players have been given tour cards but have failed to deliver the goods on the main tour. Even the current Irish number one Rodney Goggins, who has been the outstanding player in Ireland this season and was once before on the main tour had already decided before World Snookers decision that he would not go on the tour again.
The only other automatic way of gaining a tour card is by way of winning the world amateur or European championships and of course Q School.

There are some great players in Ireland such as Josh Boileau, Karl Fitzpatrick, Johnny Williams to name a few but few I believe have the pedigree to make an impression on the main tour.
Sutton however has the credentials and by winning his place in this years Q School by way of his runner up spot in the Snookerbacker Classic along the way beating ex pro and ranking event winner David Gray has the ability and temperment to last and hopefully make an impression in the paid ranks.

Add to that any players who qualify this way will win a two year exemption on the main tour.

I do hope I'm wrong but the standard is so high now I fear the days of a repeat Cruicble success such as Ken Doherty's in '97 is a long way away.

cherryghost

Trump through 5-3, although Jimmy put up a good fight. 1 frame could have gone either way and the other ones were some small mistakes from Jimmy.

Ding vs Wollaston is on now. 4-1 Wollaston, the crowd is getting behind Ding. Ding playing pretty terrible though.

wonderfullife

zack01 wrote: »

Honestly I don't think we will see any new Irish talent apart from the players currently on the tour, expect perhaps for John Sutton who in May will attempt to join the main tour by way of the Q School.
The reason I don't think we will see any other players is that only last week World Snooker decided to remove the tour card given to the number one ranked amateur at the end of each season in Ireland.
England, Scotland and Wales have also lost their place too, these places have been given to China, Thailand and India and to be honest I think these countries are more deserving.
Ireland, England etc have had their chance, players have been given tour cards but have failed to deliver the goods on the main tour. Even the current Irish number one Rodney Goggins, who has been the outstanding player in Ireland this season and was once before on the main tour had already decided before World Snookers decision that he would not go on the tour again.
The only other automatic way of gaining a tour card is by way of winning the world amateur or European championships and of course Q School.

There are some great players in Ireland such as Josh Boileau, Karl Fitzpatrick, Johnny Williams to name a few but few I believe have the pedigree to make an impression on the main tour.
Sutton however has the credentials and by winning his place in this years Q School by way of his runner up spot in the Snookerbacker Classic along the way beating ex pro and ranking event winner David Gray has the ability and temperment to last and hopefully make an impression in the paid ranks.

Add to that any players who qualify this way will win a two year exemption on the main tour.

I do hope I'm wrong but the standard is so high now I fear the days of a repeat Cruicble success such as Ken Doherty's in '97 is a long way away.

the standard is so high and the margins are so fine nowadays. We've a lot of brilliant irish players. Davy Morris used to destroy Mark Allen, they came thru at the same time at amateur level, Davy is doing ok whereas Mark Allen has blossomed. So many variables go into it, and skill/break building is just 1 small element. If it purely came down to skill we have plenty of players who could compete on the pro tour - Davy, Vinny Muldoon, Martin McCrudden, TJ Dowling, etc it's a long list of ex-national champions who are all proven at european and world amateur level, against the top european and chinese players.

At the end of the day, people need a slight bit of luck to go from good amateur to good pro. Martin Gould is a great example, he struggled for many years before getting 1 good run, it built his confidence and he's recorded some great results. Getting on the tour is a battle and half, but once there it's a combination of skill, practise and luck as to what you can do career wise.

People tend to forget Judd Trump, despite his age, has been a pro for many years. He lost his tour card initially, and has taken many years to fulfill his potential. Luca Brecel has been long touted as a future world champion but , like Trump, is struggling to make the initial breakthrough. As much as people rightly feel chinese snooker will be the future, that has been said for years now and only really Ding, Fu and Liang Wenbo have had any sort of impact at the top level.

It's hard to predict, but it may be a whole generation away before we see the next Irish world champion. I would not be surprised if in 30 years time , Ken remains our only World Champion.

wonderfullife

In fact, it probably is quite telling that 15 years after his world title, Ken remains our best, most realistic hope for another World Title.

cherryghost

What about Mark Allen? He has both an Irish and British Passport :pac:

cherryghost

Epic comeback from Ding. 5-4. Crowd practically going wild today!

zack01

wonderfullife wrote: »

the standard is so high and the margins are so fine nowadays. We've a lot of brilliant irish players. Davy Morris used to destroy Mark Allen, they came thru at the same time at amateur level, Davy is doing ok whereas Mark Allen has blossomed. So many variables go into it, and skill/break building is just 1 small element. If it purely came down to skill we have plenty of players who could compete on the pro tour - Davy, Vinny Muldoon, Martin McCrudden, TJ Dowling, etc it's a long list of ex-national champions who are all proven at european and world amateur level, against the top european and chinese players.

At the end of the day, people need a slight bit of luck to go from good amateur to good pro. Martin Gould is a great example, he struggled for many years before getting 1 good run, it built his confidence and he's recorded some great results. Getting on the tour is a battle and half, but once there it's a combination of skill, practise and luck as to what you can do career wise.

People tend to forget Judd Trump, despite his age, has been a pro for many years. He lost his tour card initially, and has taken many years to fulfill his potential. Luca Brecel has been long touted as a future world champion but , like Trump, is struggling to make the initial breakthrough. As much as people rightly feel chinese snooker will be the future, that has been said for years now and only really Ding, Fu and Liang Wenbo have had any sort of impact at the top level.

It's hard to predict, but it may be a whole generation away before we see the next Irish world champion. I would not be surprised if in 30 years time , Ken remains our only World Champion.

I agree 100% with you even Neil Robertson fell off the tour twice and now look at him, luck does play a big part but finance too has a big say. David Hogan and I'll be honest to say that I've only seen him play once but that was enough to convince me that he was a super player but he couldn't afford to play in every event when he was pro and has since returned to the amateur circuit.
It's a tough school out there and the same can be said about most sports but with the money available £7million stg on next seasons tour the rewards are great.
As you said though it could well be another generation or longer before we can cheer another player from the republic to Cruicble glory.

zack01

cherryghost wrote: »

What about Mark Allen? He has both an Irish and British Passport :pac:

You'll find he's more British than he lets people believe.

zack01

cherryghost wrote: »

Epic comeback from Ding. 5-4. Crowd practically going wild today!

That's a long flight back for Wolleston and plenty of time for him to think about the red he had for a 5-0 win!!

Omega28

Did Ronnie show up?

zack01

Dylanmc111 wrote: »

Did Ronnie show up?

He sure did, plays Marcus Campbell in the first round.

bradolf pittler

campbell will be kicking himself tonight,had loads of chances to finish ronnie off but couldnt take them.o sullivan looks totally disinterested,i'll be backing williams to beat him tomorrow

bradolf pittler

zack01 wrote: »

Honestly I don't think we will see any new Irish talent apart from the players currently on the tour, expect perhaps for John Sutton who in May will attempt to join the main tour by way of the Q School.
The reason I don't think we will see any other players is that only last week World Snooker decided to remove the tour card given to the number one ranked amateur at the end of each season in Ireland.
England, Scotland and Wales have also lost their place too, these places have been given to China, Thailand and India and to be honest I think these countries are more deserving.
Ireland, England etc have had their chance, players have been given tour cards but have failed to deliver the goods on the main tour. Even the current Irish number one Rodney Goggins, who has been the outstanding player in Ireland this season and was once before on the main tour had already decided before World Snookers decision that he would not go on the tour again.
The only other automatic way of gaining a tour card is by way of winning the world amateur or European championships and of course Q School.

There are some great players in Ireland such as Josh Boileau, Karl Fitzpatrick, Johnny Williams to name a few but few I believe have the pedigree to make an impression on the main tour.
Sutton however has the credentials and by winning his place in this years Q School by way of his runner up spot in the Snookerbacker Classic along the way beating ex pro and ranking event winner David Gray has the ability and temperment to last and hopefully make an impression in the paid ranks.

Add to that any players who qualify this way will win a two year exemption on the main tour.

I do hope I'm wrong but the standard is so high now I fear the days of a repeat Cruicble success such as Ken Doherty's in '97 is a long way away.

no disrespect to john sutton or any of the other names mentioned but its going to be a VERY long time before we see a new irish player in the televised stages of a major pro tournament.
our best players of the last decade ie.rodney goggins,davy morris,brendan o donoghue,david hogan and vinnie muldoon plus a few more have tried and failed to make it and i dont see anyone from the current crop of youngsters that will ever amount to anything outside of ireland.

zack01

bradolf pittler wrote: »

campbell will be kicking himself tonight,had loads of chances to finish ronnie off but couldnt take them.o sullivan looks totally disinterested,i'll be backing williams to beat him tomorrow

He'll be sick!! You get chances like that against Ronnie or for that fact any of the top boys and you don't take them they will come back and haunt you.
Ronnie did seem a bit uninterested alright but how many times has he shown up like that and won? Answer, quite a lot.

I would'nt run out and back Williams just yet though, he just can't beat Ronnie in a ranking event and has'nt done so in quite a long time.



Latest: Ronnie 2-0 up on Williams

zack01

O'Sullivan wins 5-1 and don't be surprised if he goes on to win the tournament now, he plays Maguire or Walden next.
Williams must hate running into O'Sullivan it's now 10 years since he beat him.

Latest results on the other morning matches:

Trump 4 Bingham 3
Lee 3 Dott 2
Maguire 3 walden 2

zack01

Mark Selby has pulled out of the tournament citing a neck injury and his opponent Ding Junhui will receive a bye to the quater finals.

cherryghost

Ali Carter looks great today. Ronnie looked pretty solid earlier too. Some very good play all round this week imo

oneillMan999

Love the China Open, everyone tryin soo hard to do well and carry some momentum into the Worlds.

Its lookin like an O Sullivan - Trump semi final and the winner of that the eventual winner of the China Open, but dont go runnin to the bookies just yet

zack01

What a weird match that was between O'Sullivan and Maguire, Maguire should have won it 5-3, instead he needed a fluked doubled respot black to win 5-4.
Stephen Lee meanwhile overcame defending champion Judd Trump 5-3 and continues his remarkable run of reaching his fourth semi final in the last five events.
So Maguire plays Lee in the first semi tomorrow.

The afternoon quaters are Ding Junhui v Ali Carter and Neil Robertson v Peter Endon.

oneillMan999

Jeez my predictions are gettin as bad as Zacks now This is why i never bet on snooker!

Gotta say Stephen Lee looks in super form and a real threat for the Worlds.

Ok one more prediction for this afternoons matches..

Robertson to hammer Ebdon 5-1

Ding to edge Carter 5-4

zack01

oneillMan999 wrote: »

Jeez my predictions are gettin as bad as Zacks now This is why i never bet on snooker!

Gotta say Stephen Lee looks in super form and a real threat for the Worlds.

Ok one more prediction for this afternoons matches..

Robertson to hammer Ebdon 5-1

Ding to edge Carter 5-4

Yes I think my record is awful although I did back Robertson for the Masters and Morgan for the World Seniors! The rest please don't mention !!!

Couple of funny ones this afternoon, saw Ebdon play yesterday and was up to his usual tricks, I expect that game to be a right old grind.
Carter played well and is at last showing a bit of form but I think Ding may have his name on the trophy already, he should have gone out 5-0 in the first round against Wollaston but somehow won 5-4.

Lee for the Worlds? Would love to see it but the best I can see him doing is possibly the semi's, it's a long 17 days and a lot of snooker to be played and you have to wonder would he have the stamina?
On the other hand in the last four weeks he's got to the final of the World Open in Hainan then flew back to the UK, then to Galway and won the PTC, then flies out to Hong Kong for two exhibitions before flying onto Beijing where he finds himself in the semi finals!
He's certainly shown plenty of stamina there!!

Pighead

Best of luck to Robbo today.

oneillMan999

Ebdon - Robertson match is a real slogfest , better put on another pot of coffee

zack01

oneillMan999 wrote: »

Ebdon - Robertson match is a real slogfest , better put on another pot of coffee

It's turning into what I thought it would , a right old grind.
I expect it to finish around 5pm!
Seriously though 2 hours for four frames????

oneillMan999

If you notice, Robertson can be every bit a grinder as Ebdon is when he wants to, bit of a shame really because hes at his best when he dosent overthink things, Ebdon on the other hand just overthinks everything!!

Edit: Even the commentators are gettin a bit fed up at this stage.. haha!

zack01

Well Ebdon wins 5-3 and what a slog that was! I was only joking when I said it might finish at 5pm but i was only 10 mons short!
To be fair I can't really fault Ebdon as he is now in the semi final and after wins against Stevens, Higgins and now Robertson he must fancy his chances.
So the semi finals are Ding v Ebdon and Maguire v Lee, current form would say its a Ding v Lee final but the other two will have as good a chance of winning the title too.

zack01

Maguire beats Lee 6-2 to end his recent fine run. I've been very impressed with Maguire during the second half of the season, he seems to be back to the form that saw him win the UK championship a few years back.

Ding v Ebdon coming up this afternoon. I fancy Ding to win here, it might not be pretty snooker from Ebdon at the moment but it sure is effective.

Volovo

Stephen Lee seems to be in really good form these days. Is he worth a pound at the bookies for the worlds do ye think?

zack01

Volovo wrote: »

Stephen Lee seems to be in really good form these days. Is he worth a pound at the bookies for the worlds do ye think?

At a push he may reach the semi's but that's about it IMO

oneillMan999

He defo has a chance the way hes playin but the problem is so does Osullivan, trump, higgins, selby, robertson, williams, maguire, ding and Allen!

Too open to call but if ur lookin for a good value bet, try the 147 been made with £165,000 up for grabs for anyone who gets one...im sure there will be a few attempts esp in the early rounds.

zack01

Ebdon wins 6-3 and reaches he first final in three years. He plays Maguire tomorrow over the best of 19 frames for the first prize of £75,000 and added to that the winner will also gain a spot in next seasons premier league.
It won't be pretty and it will be tough match snooker.
He is slow and dogged Ebdon but to beat Stevens, Higgins, Robertson and now Ding add to that he had to qualify for this event you really have to admire what he's done.

Omega28

I can't stand watching Ebdon and Maguire so for me I won't be watching this final but I will say something, as much as I hate watching Ebdon, I gotta give him credit, fair play to him, I hope he takes it down

cherryghost

Down with Ebdon and Robertson! ugh. Two of the most boring players in the sport.

Silvio.Dante

I find Ebdon fascinating. I love the turgid stuff. I find metronomic 100+ breaks to be the height of boredom. Am I weird?

Still plenty of empty seats in what we're told is a 'hotbed' of snooker...

zack01

5-1 to Ebdon and you just can't see a way back for Maguire now. It's not pretty but Ebdons style of play is effective. This final is really one for the true snooker fans out there, the safety play and all round match play albeit slow is actually quite brilliant by Ebdon. Some say it's boring but this is what snooker was like in the 70's and 80's the only time it quickened up was when Higgins and White were on show. In fact Higgins once conceded a world final to Readon once with Readon still needing a few frames to win such was the high standard of matchplay by Readon then.Higgins was himself a great match play player as well but he just couldn't handle the slow play Reardon produced during that final.
Even with today's high standards we are always going to see a proper slogfest every now and again, yes everyone wants to see balls going in at 100 miles and hour and maximum breaks being made but this is the other side of snooker and while boring to some it's fascinating to others.