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There was quite a bit of chaos here last week, with the Northern Ireland Open playing a major role.
It is worth noting that the World Snooker Tour included the Belfast tournament between two Chinese tournaments. Encouraged, the Chinese wanted to hold two shows this week, one in Shanghai and the other in Macau. The former wasn’t a big deal and was arranged, but the latter crashed into the main draw of the Northern Irish Open, and the WST was very upset about that.
As a result of some muscle building and intimidation, the Macau show was moved to December. However, the invited players, “Macau Five”He says John Huggins, Mark SelbylOka Pressel, Ali Carter And Thepchaya un noh They won’t start in the Northern Ireland Championship either. That’s it “easier” It will be the field.
I’m putting it in parentheses, because it doesn’t belong here 100%, but it’s very sad and thought-provoking news: Hector NanzThe person who exposed the scandal between WST and the players announced a few days ago that he would retire from the profession of snooker journalism after twenty years. This cannot be called a positive development in any way.
Back to racing: there won’t be Ding Junhui No as Ronnie O’Sullivan Nor (for medical reasons, Nana!) who attended the Shanghai show. And besides them, he was there anyway Jack Lisowski, Mark Williams And Judd Trump Also…the final three players haven’t (yet?) canceled the Northern Ireland Open. It can be challenging and takes a relatively quick round trip. The Northern Ireland Open finishes in Belfast on October 29 (naturally, only two teams made it to the final day), and the international tournament begins on November 5. It can be solved after all.
| He will become the fifth player to win three consecutive points after Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui. |
According to the current situation, the lower and upper branches look like this:
Two-time defending champion Mark Allen We find him at the top of the table, which would benefit from some good results in a domestic environment, as his season so far has been very lackluster. First he was eliminated in the first and second rounds, then in the previous tournament in Wuhan, he already reached the quarterfinals, so he has hope that the bandwagon will take off with him. Jack LisowskiObsession Stuart Bingham He may be his toughest opponent until the quarterfinals. The 2015 world champion has a much bigger problem than Allen at the moment, falling out of the top 16, because he has not achieved anything worthwhile for a long time. The semi-finals of the 2021 World Grand Prix and the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Championship still keep him close to the top 16, but those spots are about to disappear. However, he’s got a pair of glasses, so if that’s going to take him a long way…
Two-time defending champion Mark Allen sits top of the standings and will benefit from some good results in a local environment.
Photo: World Snooker
On the lower branch Trump card, Williams, Barry Hawkins And Kyren Wilson The four distinct names. Of course, there are potential banana peels here, especially for any Chinese player, as they have become big lately. However, Trump heads into this race with good odds and a chance to triple his lead. His first opponent Jensen Kendrick It will be and Kyren Wilson His first opponent could be in the top 16, in the quarter-finals.
| All matches of the Northern Ireland Open can be enjoyed live and ad-free on eurosport.hu and in the Eurosport app. |
