2018/2019 Season: Who to watch out for?

The new snooker season will start in a few weeks. That feels weird. Considering I went from holidaying in Sweden to being reduced to watching Love Island on a semi-regular basis, I feel I desperately need snooker back into my life.

Last year I did a similar article on who to watch last season and who I reckoned would make an impact. I struck gold on Yan Bingtao (though I think everyone was on the same wavelength, to be honest) and Xiao Goudong. My other picks Alexander Ursenbacher and Yuan Sijun had great moments but both fell away in the latter stages of the season. Stuart Carrington did reach the World Championships last season but he still dropped a few places. John Astley failed to reach the Top 64 but did well enough to win a new two-year card and my last pick Soheil Vahedi hasn’t quite hit the mark just yet. 

So I’m hoping to choose better this time around! Same rules still apply to me: no player from inside of the Top 32 at the start of the season. There are many I can come up with, to be honest, so who can storm up the rankings? Who will be the rookie that can throw the spanner in the works?

Zhou Yuelong – Last Season Rank: 33

Zhou Yuelong has been going from strength to strength since qualifying for the professional tour. The World Cup winner stormed up the rankings and reached a career high of No. 26 in the world. But he had a relatively ordinary season that saw him drop just outside of the Top 32. What is worse for him is that he is still searching for his first appearance in a ranking final. Yan Bingtao has already beaten him to it in the Northern Ireland Open and was close to winning that title himself.

However, we mustn’t forget that he is only 20 years of age. What’s more, he reached his first ranking semi-final last season in the European Masters, losing to Stuart Bingham 6-4. He also reached the final of the Championship League, which is not a bad achievement and will give a good amount of confidence.

Described by Neil Robertson as a future ranking-event winner, Zhou is one of the best players in the current crop of professional players to not win a ranking event. With the number of new players winning one last season (Ryan Day, Luca Brecel, Michael Georgiou), the chances should be greater for him!

Gary Wilson – Last Season Rank: 40

Gary Wilson has been under the radar since reaching the 2015 China Open. After that, he dropped down the table in the past few seasons and losing points from that final didn’t help. However, there was a glimmer of hope when he made his Crucible debut in 2017. He made an extremely good account of himself, despite losing 10-7 to Ronnie O’Sullivan.

In the 2017/2018 season, things are finally turning in his favour. He reached the quarter-final stages for the first time since the 2015 China Open final. In fact, he reached the Last 16 five times last season, with his best performances coming from the Welsh Open (semi-finalist) and the Paul Hunter Classic (quarter-finalist). When he loses points from the previous season, Gary Wilson should be moving up to the rankings again to his personal best (No. 32). Since he’s a regular fixture at the near-end of these tournaments, he could easily be a contender for the smaller ranking events!

Sunny Akani – Last Season Rank: 76

I reckon Akani Songsermsawad will reach the Top 64 next season. No, this isn’t simply because I still have his match against Ronnie O’Sullivan stuck in my head. He’s had a very good two seasons – so good in fact that if he finished his two-year card last season, he would’ve reached the Top 64 by now.

In the 2016/2017 season, he reached his first ranking quarter-final and reached the Last 32 twice and his performances that season was rewarded with a fresh two-year card. His results have improved dramatically last season as he reached another ranking quarter-final (yes, it was the Shoot-Out) two Last 16 finishes and reached the Last 32 five times. That is pretty impressive for someone who is always on the wrong end of the seedings list.

His mechanical and repetitive routine before playing the shot is working wonders for him. As shown against O’Sullivan, he is quite fearless in whoever he plays and isn’t afraid to show off his unorthodox way of gameplay around the table. He will likely have the crowd on his side too!

Sam Craigie – Last Season Rank: 80

Sam Craigie is a surprise to many that had to qualify again. Still, here we are. Despite moments of brilliance, Craigie didn’t do well enough in his second season by losing the majority of his matches. He went to qualifying school due to Lyu Haotian reaching the Top 64 by qualifying for the World Championships. Losing in the first round to Jimmy White certainly didn’t help his cause either.

However, he stormed back on tour. He defeated the likes of former Crucible semi-finalist Andy Hicks, 2016 Indian Open quarter-finalist David Lilley and all-time legend Dechawat Poomjaeng to win Event 1 in Q School. So in some ways, a clean slate that erases he quiet second season should be excellent for him.

I told him that after our game. His game is already top 16 standard he just needs to believe it👍🏻 https://t.co/tqvx5sXyMK

— Neil Robertson (@nr147) April 4, 2018

He has an attacking game and considering he defeated Martin Gould, Barry Hawkins and Kyren Wilson in his off-season. He has the potential to be huge this year. Also, he recently had a lovely interview with World Snooker – take a gander: http://www.worldsnooker.com/sam-craigie-qa/

Jamie Clarke – Last Season Rank: N/A

Jamie Clarke is touted as one of the most promising amateurs of the sport. He rose to prominence as a teenager when he whitewashed Darren Morgan and beat Lee Walker in the final of the Welsh Amateur Championship. Since then, he had been trying to qualify for the tour for years. Here is the full list of his attempts to qualify where he lost in the final hurdle:

• 2013 Q School – Event 2 (Lost 4-1 to Ahmed Saif)
• 2014 EBSA Qualifying Tour – Play-offs (Lost 4-2 to Ian Glover)
• 2014 Q School – Event 1 (Lost 4-3 to Zhang Anda)
• 2015 European Snooker Championship (Lost 7-4 to Michael Wild)
• 2015 IBSF World U-21 Snooker Championship (Lost 8-7 to Boonyarit Keattikun)
• 2015 EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-offs (Lost 4-3 to Martin O’Donnell)
• 2016 European Snooker Championship (Lost 7-4 to Jak Jones, as No. 1 seed)
• 2016 EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-offs (Lost 4-3 to Elliot Slessor)
• 2018 EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-offs (WON 4-3 against George Pragnall)

Professional Snooker player 😀#Phew

— Jamie Clarke (@Jamie_clarke140) April 18, 2018

So you can argue that unlike many rookies, the ‘Welsh Whirlwind’ (how very appropriate!) joined the tour with battle scars. His most notable victory in recent years was when he beat Jamie Burnett in the 2016 World Championship Qualifiers 10-9. Based on a few congratulatory comments alone, he is very high-rated among many professionals. I am very excited to see what he can do here – his time as a professional has been long overdue.

Luo Honghao – Last Season Rank: N/A

Luo Honghao is one of the many rising stars in the snooker world.

He was entered in the Chinese ranking events as a wildcard and lost in the first round of being the China Championship (vs. Mark Selby) and the World Open (vs. Jimmy Robertson). The 18-year-old entered World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship and finished the group stages as the first seed and reached the final with ease. He dropped only five frames in the knockout rounds. This was until he lost in the decider by compatriot Fan Zhengyi. This followed reaching the quarter-finals in the World Amateur Championship. Luo gained revenge on Fan on the way before losing to eventual winner Pankaj Advani.

He entered the first ever WSF Mixed Championships and ended up winning all of his group matches. He then whitewashed all of his opponents except one, including his 6-0 win in the final against Adam Stefanów. More than that, he  professionals Basem Eltahhan, Carrington, Anthony McGill and Duane Jones before losing to Tom Ford.  He is an unknown talent, so other players won’t know much about who they are up against. He made a 147 break as a 16-year-old, for god’s sake!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGDQnq53PAs

So the two-time All China Under-21 champion has all the accolades to be a great professional. But the snooker tour is unforgiving and doesn’t care if you have a successful amateur career. Zhao Xintong was lauded as someone who can sweep the tour aside for years, yet was forced to qualify again via Q School. This teenager is a supreme talent and we saw this in the China Open. Let’s see if he can do this in his first attempt!