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Lads,
David Morris seems to be a up and coming Irish man in the snooker world - he's 93 in the world rankings at present but he in the last 32 of the UK's that on now. Doherty is out already (no surprise there) but O'Brien is through also and Mark Allen is playing today!
Morris and Allen in the last 16 now - its great to see Morris getting this far - could be up against it in his next match though!
Morris is having a great season so far - already a Quarter Finalist at the Wuxi Classic ranking event in China. Tough ask against Stuart Bingham this morning - seeded 10. They start at 9.30.Quote:
Originally Posted by swinfordfc
Edit - beaten 6-1, good week for him though. Bingham is a top player.
Bingham beat O'Suillivan today 6-4
Also great win for Allen yestarday over Trump - fair play
Morris, Greene and Allen through to German Masters proper - Swail is out.
Doherty and O'Brien playing now .....
Well done to Ken Doherty who has qualified for the Crucible in Sheffield for the World Championships which starts on Saturday. He beat the eccentric Dechawat Poomjaeng from Thailand 10-5 in his round 4 qualifier yesterday
Fergal O’Brien takes on Robbie Williams of England today in his round 4 match.
No fair play - his 19th appearance there - well done
O'brien is 6-2 up at present - should make it there as well!
O'Brien 9-9 against Williams . 1 frame shoot out for place at world championships just started.
Edit 58-58 now with just the black remaining - 1 ball shoot out!
Edit 2 - and O'Brien is out, beaten 10-9. Was 7-2 up at one stage. Tough loss.
I see Robin Hull, the Finnish guy, has qualified. Amazing achievement given he started (and was knocked out) in the first round of pre-qualifying last year. Seven more rounds between that and the stage he's now reached.
I think it is a massive achievement to make it through the 4 main rounds of qualifying. Only 3 players managed it this year - Hull, Williams and Michael Wasley. 16 qualifiers join the 16 seeds for today's 1st round draw.
Here is the first round draw for the Dafabet World Championship, made on April 17…
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Robin Hull (April 19 10am and 7pm)
Joe Perry v Jamie Burnett (April 20 10am and April 21 10am)
Shaun Murphy v Jamie Cope (April 19 2.30pm and April 20 7pm)
Marco Fu v Martin Gould (April 22 10am and April 23 2.30pm)
Barry Hawkins v Dave Gilbert (April 22 2.30pm and April 23 10am)
Ricky Walden v Kyren Wilson (April 21 7pm and April 22 7pm)
Mark Davis v Dominic Dale (April 23 7pm and April 24 1pm)
Ding Junhui v Michael Wasley (April 20 2.30pm and April 21 2.30pm)
Mark Selby v Michael White (April 21 10am and 7pm)
Ali Carter v Xiao Guodong (April 19 7pm and April 20 2.30pm)
John Higgins v Alan McManus (April 21 2.30pm and April 22 10am)
Stuart Bingham v Ken Doherty (April 19 10am and April 20 10am)
Judd Trump v Tom Ford (April 22 2.30pm and April 23 10am)
Stephen Maguire v Ryan Day (April 19 2.30pm and April 20 7pm)
Mark Allen v Michael Holt (April 22 7pm and April 23 7pm)
Neil Robertson v Robbie Williams (April 23 2.30pm and April 24 7pm)
Doherty played some good stuff this morning and is trailing Bingham 5-4 overnight . Thoroughly enjoyable and Doherty more than held his own even if his safety play was pretty poor throughout. He is potting really well though and if he can tidy up his safety play he's in with a chance now. 10am again tomorrow to a finish.
Talking to myself in here but just brilliant to see Ken Doherty roll back the years this morning and take advantage of an off colour Stuart Bingham in their first round match. Doherty has cleaned up his safety play a bit but Bingham has made a string of errors to hand the oldest man in the draw the initiative. Doherty leads 8-5 and needs 2 more to book his place in round 2. Magnificent stuff. Let's hope he can hold his nerve now!
Edit - no problems! Doherty through with ease! 10-5 . John Higgins or Alan McManus next!
It's a great win but his safety play needs to tighten up alot! - but a win is a win and fair play - its his first win here for 8 years! Alan McManus could beat Higgins as well!Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Was surprised to see it on the box this morning,good to see Ken back at the crucible. Bingham kind of gave up though, my god he hadn't the heart after losing the lead
Anyone else finding the standard a lot less clinical from the A list players in the early stages this year ? I mean, it's nice to see the odd underdog have a tilt at a top player and the odd one squirm through also, but it seems to be the rule so far rather than a pleasant occasional exception. I caught it in Hendry's voice in commentary also earlier, scarcely concealed disdain for the amount of chances needed to put a frame / match away and a lack of moral fortitude in the shot selection in the players fumbling attempts to do so. There was a guy yesterday (White Vs Selby maybe) who took the match the distance without making a break over 42 till the latter stages.
They say the standard had never been higher, with players from the top 32 and 64 more capable of taking out a top 16 player than ever before, but they seem to be somehow dragging the elite players down a level to do so, rather than rising above them in scoring and single visit frame wins. So far.
Am I being harsh ? Or entering that scary era of my life where the 90's can be viewed with rose tinted massive upside down spectacles ?
I would say it's a combination of both.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
I think the standard is down this year - Doherty / Bingham was the first match I sat down and watched properly and I thought the standard was ok. But there have been a few a good bit worse since then. Mark Allen played well, so did Ronnie of course and Neil Robertson seemed nice and clinical yesterday. But there have been some games I've had to switch off as well. Judd Trump / Tom Ford was brutal, Selby / White was poor - and even though I didn't watch apparently the Hawkins / Gilbert game was not good either.
Ken Doherty goes in round 2 tomorrow against Alan McManus. World ranked 28 v 29 for a place in the last 8. 2.30 for session 1 tomorrow, 10.00am and 7.00pm Saturday as well. Best of 25 Frames.
I think a general criticism of snooker in the past few years has been that the standard isn't higher; just the players are more evenly matched. So the newer players are only as good as the top 90s players when they're in their 40s. Snooker's one of the few sports where you can see players aged 40+ compete at the top level (golf, chess and...?), which shouldn't be knocked; it's fun to see Davis or Doherty or Jimmy White play every now and again. But it seems the reason for that is that there's no-one really coming through.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
I was at the UK championships in York a couple of years ago; Higgins v Maguire and there was I think one century break all match. Not a new thing really.
Used to watch the snooker in late 80s/90's but couldnt watch it now unless its Ronnie, or if an Irish player is on the box. The players are pretty dull, and no matter how much they try to jazz it up ("The jester from Leicester", feck off!), it will never catch the public's attention like the 80s/early 90s.