Don’t know about you, but I am rather excited about the World Championships. And the World Championship Qualifiers to – thankfully as a fan, we all seem to sadistically enjoy snooker professionals battling it out down this horrendous gauntlet Barry Hearn created. The qualifiers will start on Wednesday 11th April, with the draw coming very soon.
There are some who argue that the qualifiers are the second most important thing before the World Championship (though we all have a soft spot Vienna Snooker Open I’m sure). Now I must explain why being ranked being No.17 – No.80 is so important: those professionals that are ranked that way will play lower-ranked opposition in their first-round qualifiers. This should give them a huge advantage to get to the Crucible first, For example, I’m sure No. 80 Mitchell Mann would rather play against winless Matthew Bolton rather than five-time ranking winner Stephen Maguire every day of the week.
Or does it? Last year, 10 players who drew the short straw progressed past the first round. with two of them progressed to the final round and in 2016, 9 among the lower-ranked players made it past the first round and 11 made it past the first hurdle in 2015. In fact, Zhang Anda is the only player on the wrong side of the ranking line since 2015 to make it to the glorious Crucible in 2015, beating Anthony Hamilton, Mark Joyce and Liang Wenbo before being beaten by Joe Perry 10-4 in the televised stages.
Which makes me wonder – which players are the most dangerous to play against in the qualifiers such as this? You can think of those who are brilliant at best-of-19s; we are the most in-form players of the season or those who are completely unproven that you don’t know what to expect? This is especially the case when invited amateurs are introduced into the draw, when players such as the 2018 World Snooker Federation Championship semi-finals Luo Honghao, Adam Stefanów, Kristján Helgason and Kacper Filipiak enter the fray. This has happened before a few times, with Reanne Evans, Alexander Ursenbacher, and Jamie Rhys Clarke winning as invitees in previous years.
So who do we think? Of course, there are many others – Cao, Ng, Dott, Slessor, and O’Brien are examples (not because he is a good player – he has the ability to reduce people’s sanity – ask David Gilbert). I had previously put Luo Honghao on this list because of his pedigree as well as his fantastic run in the China Open, but unfortunately, the WSF Mixed Champion cannot attend due to visa issues. Here is the link to the full list of invitees: https://www.wpbsa.com/field-set-for-betfred-world-championship/
Who To Avoid From the High-Ranked Players?
Ryan Day (No. 17)
This has been Day’s best season to date. And despite winning two ranking titles and a non-ranking title this season, he has to qualify. This is unbelievably harsh since he has automatically qualified many times without winning any events, but that’s the weirdness of sport, I suppose. Considering he’s in the form of his life alone is enough to be intimidating to the rest of the field. He also has an extremely good record of reaching the Crucible, qualifying every year bar one since 2006. He’s the biggest threat for me.
Stephen Maguire (No. 18)
Considering last year’s qualifying run was enough to get his Crucible mojo back makes him a dangerous player in the qualifiers. He lost in the first round of the televised stage four times in the row until last year where he beat Lertsattayathorn, Bond and Li without feeling too under the cosh and went on to reach the quarter-finals. That’s enough to make him feel confident that he can easily do it again.
Yan Bingtao (No. 23)
What hasn’t been said about him that I haven’t said already? Taking account of his successes this year such as his first ranking semi-final and final that helped him leap up the rankings, he also qualified for the World Championships on his first attempt, beating Sam Craigie, Mark Davis, and Alexander Ursenbacher. Will he do it again? He has the form and the fear factor to, so I reckon it is a real possibility!
Jack Lisowski (No. 30)
Luca Brecel, a hot prodigy, first qualified for the Crucible in 2012. It took him five years to qualify for the second time. Could this happen to Lisowski? He’s had a very good season though to many viewers, it was long overdue. The last time Lisowski qualified was in 2013 when he beat James Wattana and Fergal O’Brien under the tiered qualifying format but failed to put up much of a fight against eventual finalist Barry Hawkins 10-3. He’s won the first round of qualifying since 2015 – it is now just the question if he can finally break the mould this time. Considering he put up some tremendous performances in the China Open by beating the likes of John Higgins and Gary Wilson to reach the quarter-finals, he’ll be coming in with a lot of confidence and with brilliant form.
Sunny Akani (No. 76)
Sunny has had a surprising and great season. He had a brilliant one last season and was awarded a two-year card. This year has been pretty down good: one quarter-final appearance; twice in the Last 16 and another in the Last 32. He also put himself on the map with his brilliant performance against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the UK Championship.
Looking back at his best-of-19 record, it isn’t too bad. In 2016, he took Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at his pomp to a decider in his first professional appearance but lost 10-9. Last year, he raised the bar by beating Mei Xiwen and Joe Perry before being thrashed by David Grace. He will throw a curved ball at anyone here and he will get a lot of support from mainstream fans because of his performance against the Rocket alone.
Zhao Xintong (No. 78)
Zhao Xintong was one of the most feared players to draw last year and unfortunately for him and his opponent, he was drawn against Mark Williams. Zhao has had some flashes of brilliance in his first rookie years, such as reaching the Last 16 of the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic and the 2017 German Masters but the No. 78 seed looks like he is heading towards relegation from the professional tour. But that doesn’t mean everyone has forgotten what a talent he is and I’m sure he will spring a few surprises this time around.
Who To Avoid From the Low-Ranked Players?
Aditya Mehta (No. 82)
You have to feel slightly sorry for the No. 82. The Sun Of Indian Snooker has had a respectable season by reaching the Last 16 once and the Last 32 twice this season but a poor season last year held him back a little. It’s amazing how so few ranking places can make a difference. Actually, ask Ryan Day. At the moment this great safety player is in line for another two-year card as he is one of the best eight players in the One Year Ranking List, so maybe he will be feeling the strain if results don’t go his way?
Alexander Ursenbacher (No. 86)
It will be very interesting to see if the difference between playing as an amateur and as a professional will make a difference to how he plays. He was invited to participate in the qualifiers last year as the 2017 EBSA European Under-21 winner and the Swiss ace was very close to qualifying for the Crucible. The then-amateur managed to overcome Robert Milkins 10-6 and Scott Donaldson in the deciding frame before being overcome by prodigy Yan Bingtao 10-4. Though this does look very good, he has only won one match since reaching the semi-final of the English Open and that was in the Snooker Shoot-Out. Maybe this seems like a good time to finish his season on a high?
Jimmy White (No. 101)
This is the person every man and his dog wants to be at the Crucible. Everyone wants to live in the fantasy that he will win the World Championship one day and I hope he will but realistically, it is very unlikely indeed. Since 2015, he has won only one qualifying tie, which is defeating veteran James Wattana 10-3 but you know he will have a lot of support and no-one likes to knock out a legend I bet, which means more added pressure.
Joe Swail (No. 120)
It’s amazing to see a player of his calibre be so low on the ranking list. A twice Crucible semi-finalist, he is one of the most experienced places the top boys could face and we know he is able to handle the heat. He has won three best-of-19s out of six in the past three years of qualifying and last year he really pushed Luca Brecel hard but unfortunately came up short at 10-8. The thing going against him was the unfortunate passing of his father during the Gibraltar Open, which I hope this hasn’t affected his game as much so that he can properly focus on this event.
Jackson Page (No. N/A)
We’ve heard all about the 16 year-old boy who looks ten years older. That upsets me. Anyway, he has filled his trophy cabinet with many things in recent years and has been invited to this event by being the 2018 EBSA European Under-18 Snooker Champion. Last qualifiers (by winning the 2017 event!) he lost out on a decider to Martin O’Donnell, despite being 4-0 and 8-5 down. This time around, he learned his craft by putting a good show in ranking events against Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stuart Bingham and capturing some victories over Sean O’Sullivan (twice) and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. It will be very interesting what he can do and with no pressure on him, while his opponent will need to win to get ranking points, this could be a very interesting match-up indeed.
Reanne Evans (No. N/A)
Can’t leave her out, can I?
Reanne is invited to the qualifiers as the WLBS World Ranking No.2. Overshadowed by Ng On-yee, she still had a brilliant season. This season on the women’s circuit, she has won 2 ranking titles, including the WLBS Paul Hunter Women’s Classic and the British Open. Though she only reached the semi-finals of the World Championship, she was invited to the Mixed Championships and won two matches to qualify for the knockouts before being beaten by Kishan Hirani 4-2. Though Ng is the top dog, Reanne will be most feared in the qualifiers. She came very close to beating Ken Doherty in 2015, she beat Robin Hull 10-8 last year losing to Lee Walker 10-4. It proves she can do it. Will she be able to this time?
