We are now in a time of the season where tournaments are coming thick and fast! With the International Championship and the Champion of Champions behind us, there is another Home Nations event to look forward to – the Northern Ireland Open tomorrow! Or is it the Northern Island Open? I’ve got no idea.
Doh! 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Just realised I put Northern Island instead of Northern Ireland in my last tweet! Lol.
What a plonker Rodney! 😂😂😂— Stuart Bingham (@Stuart__Bingham) November 6, 2018
Preview
In my opinion, the Northern Ireland Open as a Home Nations event has the richest history. This is the event where Mark King won his first ranking title, beating Barry Hawkins 9-8 in the final, followed by an emotional speech (it is still worth watching – here is the link). This is also the place where Yan Bingtao reached his first ranking final. More importantly, this is where Mark Williams won his first ranking title since the 2011 German Masters. The Welsh Potting Machine then went on to win four ranking titles including the 2018 World Championship. You could say this event restarted his career at the very top again!
This has attracted more top players too. Mark Selby, Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan are participating, having missed this event at least once since the Northern Ireland Open started with Ding being the only omission from the Top 16. Of course, there is pressure on one man. Stuart Bingham is the only man on course to winning £1,000,000 by winning all four Home Nations events (to me it’s impossible but anyway. We saw him beat Mark Davis in the English Open final. No-one has managed to win even two Home Nations events in a season. Looking at the draw, it is quite kind to Bingham but as shown in the International Championship where he lost to Eden Sharav, he is vulnerable to a shock.
Draw
Here is the preview:
Section 1
Mark Williams vs. Alfie Burden
Paul Davison vs. Ali Carter
Fan Zhengyi vs. Sunny Akani
Xiao Guodong vs. Harvey Chandler
Joe Perry vs. Nigel Bond
Luke Simmonds (a) vs. Joe Swail
Mark Joyce vs. Michael White
Eden Sharav vs. Li Yuan
Section 1 Winner: Ali Carter vs. Joe Perry
Section 2
Adam Duffy (a) vs. Sam Craigie
Zhang Yong vs. Li Hang
Ashley Carty vs. Kurt Maflin
Neil Robertson vs. Ben Woollaston
Mark Davis vs. Noppon Saengkham
Luo Honghao vs. Lyu Haotian
Peter Ebdon vs. Patrick Wallace (a)
Kyren Wilson vs. Lee Walker
Section 2 Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Mark Davis
Section 3
Judd Trump vs. Matthew Selt
Stuart Carrington vs. Xu Si
Liam Highfield vs. James Wattana
Jack Lisowski vs. Hossein Vafaei
Luca Brecel vs. Raymond Fry (a)
Ian Burns vs. Farakh Ajaib (a)
Zhao Xintong vs. Daniel Wells
Gary Wilson vs. Adam Stefanow
Section 3 Winner: Jack Lisowski vs. Zhao Xintong
Section 4
Jordan Brown vs. Robin Hull
Tian Pengfei vs. Mike Dunn
Zhang Anda vs. Yan Bingtao
Ryan Day vs. Michael Georgiou
Jamie Clarke vs. Yuan Sijun
Andrew Higginson vs. Liang Wenbo
Graeme Dott vs. Billy Joe Castle
John Higgins vs. Rory McLeod
Section 4 Winner: Ryan Day vs. Graeme Dott
Section 5
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Soheil Vahedi
Mei Xiwen vs. Zhang Jiankang
Thor Chuan Leong vs. Chris Wakelin
Tom Ford vs. Rod Lawler
Stephen Maguire vs. Michael Holt
Mark King vs. John Astley
Zhou Yuelong vs. Lukas Kleckers
Kishan Hirani vs. Jak Jones
Section 5 Winner: Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Stephen Maguire
Section 6
Alan McManus vs. Allan Taylor
Craig Steadman vs. Lu Ning
Hammad Miah vs. Basem Eltahhan
Mark Allen vs. Niu Zhuang
Ricky Walden vs. Matthew Stevens
Gerard Greene vs. Oliver Lines
David Gilbert vs. Fergal O’Brien
Barry Hawkins vs. Chen Zifan
Section 6 Winner: Mark Allen vs. Barry Hawkins
Section 7
Shaun Murphy vs. Sam Baird
Dominic Dale vs. Chris Totten
Robert Milkins vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Elliot Slessor vs. Ross Muir
Stuart Bingham vs. Peter Lines
Simon Lichtenberg vs. Robbie Williams
Andy Lee vs. Sean O’Sullivan
Sanderson Lam vs. Joe O’Connor
Section 7 Winner: Elliot Slessor vs. Stuart Bingham
Section 8
David Lilley (a) vs. Duane Jones
Ken Doherty vs. Scott Donaldson
Jimmy White vs. Martin O’Donnell
Marco Fu vs. Chen Feilong
Anthony McGill vs. Alexander Ursenbacher
Ashley Hugill vs. Hamza Akbar
Jimmy Robertson vs. James Cahill (a)
Mark Selby vs. Anthony Hamilton
Section 8 Winner: Martin O’Donnell vs. Mark Selby
Winner of the Northern Ireland Open: Neil Robertson vs. Stuart Bingham (I think)!
The Northern Ireland Open will take place between 12th-18th November 2018 in Waterfront Hall, Belfast.
