The World Championship qualifying draw is finalised. The top sixteen players are in place at the Crucible. The gauntlet is now set.
Let’s cut to the chase and I will go through five talking points of the 2020 World Championship Qualifying rounds.
Here is the draw, in case if you missed it: https://clusterofreds.com/2020/07/10/preview-2020-world-championship-qualifying-draw/
The Change Of Qualifying Format
The World Championship Qualifying format has changed yet again. In 2015, Barry Hearn overhauled the system so that every player starts in Round 1, regardless of their ranking. Everyone had to win three matches, though one’s ranking will depend on the quality of opponents.
Now the number of matches will depend on a player’s ranking. Those seeded between No. 17 – No. 48 will play two matches and No. 49 – No. 80 will need to win three matches. All the rest of the professionals, top-ups and invitees start their journey in the first round, meaning there are four rounds of matches to get to the Crucible.
I applaud these changes. This format is more fair, is less random and there are fewer easy draws. Players feel rewarded for their season’s work by gaining an advantage to qualify for the greatest snooker tournament in the calendar. The lower-ranked players may play more matches but it is not impossible. It’s been done many times before so there is still a shock factor. Robbie Williams, Robin Hull and Michael Wasley won four matches to qualify in 2014 for example.
The previous format may be more entertaining but it is far from fair. Because the opponents of the seeded players is so random, the range of the quality and experience is huge. Last year, Mike Dunn lost 10-7 to ranking event winner and former world champion Nigel Bond in the first round. In the exact same round, Martin Gould whitewashed African amateur runner-up Mostafa Dorgham 10-0, who scored just 79 points the entire match.
Huge Number of Professional Absentees
Everyone has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in some way. Sport is no different. Despite enormous efforts from World Snooker Tour to help players from overseas to travel to the UK to compete in the Betfred World Championship, several players have indicated that they have decided not to travel to the UK.
It is completely understandable that some overseas players feel that traveling to Sheffield is too much of a risk for their health and well-being under these awful circumstances. Their families and their safety should be paramount. However, it is still a great shame to see so many absentees.
Many Asian players chose not to attend. They include last year’s Crucible opponents Zhou Yuelong, Li Hang and Zhao Xintong, No. 28 Xiao Guodong and hot prospects Yuan Sijun and Chang Bingyu. What is more tragic for some is by withdrawing from the event, they will also lose their tour status. This is relevant to Zhang Anda and Zhang Jiankang.
With so many absentees means there are more spaces to fill, which was a difficult task during a pandemic. In the end, 34 top-ups instead of the minimum of 16 wildcard amateur players. This means there will be at least one all-amateur tie. I’m sure wildcards Reanne Evans, Robin Hull, Iulian Boiko and Sean Maddocks would shake the draw up at bit. But the fact that they managed to fill in the entire field is an extraordinary feat.
The full list of players for the 2020 Betfred World Championship is now available here.
Reduced Number Of Frames
Usually, every qualifying match is a BO19. Due to the pandemic, the length of matches has changed. The first three rounds are all BO11 matches, with the fourth and final match being a BO19.
I can understand that as everyone must comply with social distancing measures and there are a lot of people moving about in a highly-sanitised environment. The operations during the Championship League and the Tour Championship proved this organisation to be hugely successful. But if everyone is tested negative, is shortening the length hugely necessary? Is it unfair for someone’s tour survival to rely on such a short match? It certainly won’t feel the same and will definitely lack the usual drama.
But I’m nitpicking. We are incredibly lucky to have this event on in the first place and we have to compromise during these troubled times.
The Fight For Tour Survival
This is the part for the number-crunchers, analysts and anoraks. Some players will be fighting for their careers as well as a spot at the World Championships. Some players will see the recent absenteeism as an easier and golden opportunity to get some valuable ranking points. Apparently, there is an extra spot available too. Peter Ebdon retired back in April. Since Ebdon has been removed from the ranking list since the Tour Championship update, everyone below him has moved up one place.
You can find the ranking list after 2020 Coral Tour Championship by clicking here. There are a number of surprising and talented players in danger of relegation from the main tour.
Michael Georgiou, Ken Doherty, Fergal O’Brien, Michael White, Luo Honghao, Joe O’Connor and Mark Joyce. Just to name a few. All of these players start in Round 2, with £10,000 to the winner and £20,000 if they win in Round 4. Judgement Day will certainly bring out the best.
There is another route. There are four two-year tour cards for the best four players on the one year ranking list, who are outside of the Top 64. The ones battling it out include White, O’Brien, Joyce, Elliot Slessor, Jak Jones and Jordan Brown. But this could all change if some of them manage to finish within the Top 64 instead. You can find all the information about this by going onto snooker.org.
You can read more analysis on tour survival by clicking here.
Will We See More Crucible Debutants?
Hopefully. It feels like a while since there was a World Championship without any debutants.
Martin O’Donnell (No. 33) is currently the highest ranked player who has never made it to the Crucible, closely followed by Hossein Vafaei (No. 35). Both players are among the top sixteen seeds in the qualifying rounds due to absenteeism, so this is their best chance to qualify for the Crucible.
Sometimes, there are lower-ranked players who pull through the gauntlet to make their debut. We have seen many go through over the past few years. We had Luo Honghao and amateur James Cahill (2019), Lyu Haotian (2018) and Noppon Saengkham (2017), all of whom were outside of the Top 64.
The gauntlet starts from 21 to 28 July 2020 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. It will also be on Eurosport and I cannot wait.
The info on snooker.org seems to contradict some of what you said. It looks like seeds 49-80 need to win 3 rounds and seeds 17-48 need to win 2 rounds.
Thank you for the correction. I have just amended it immediately.
With some promising young Chinese players stranded in China (‘snookered’?), we will probably see the oldest World Championship. Despite Yan Bingtao, the seeds are already the oldest (average 36.6).
You mentioned the two relegated Chinese players, who both had agonising times. Zhang Anda’s child was born during the Chinese lockdown (hospitals closed, etc.) and Zhang Jiankang had a nightmare getting home (he had to endure repeated quarantines each step of his complex journey). He missed several tournaments in his 2-year stint, including last year’s World Championship, due to travel problems of one kind or another. He now has to watch as several dubious amateurs play in his place, and judging by his recent tweets he’s finding it hard. Both Zhangs will of course miss Q School and possibly their careers are over.
In fact, if the other absent Chinese players miss much of the 2020-21 season, they will likely be relegated a year from now, except for Zhou Yuelong, who has enough points. Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong will probably scrape through if they can get back for a few tournaments. But Li Hang, Yuan Sijun, Mei Xiwen, etc. will most likely go down. With snooker’s primitive ranking system, it will take 3 years for these players to recover their true position if they ever do.
The WC Qualifiers is probably my favourite snooker event to follow live, despite the lack of top players. The drama is usually intense, as players battle to achieve their ambitions, whether it be a Crucible apprearance or tour survival. I did get a refund for my open ticket, but I will really miss being there.