The World Championship qualifying draw is finalised. The top sixteen players are in place at the Crucible. The gauntlet is now set. All of us are excited to see who will prevail in Judgement Day. Everyone is looking into who their #Crucbile16 will qualify for the main event.
Let’s cut to the chase and I will go through four talking points of the 2021 World Championship Qualifying rounds. Please bear in mind that the qualifying for the 2021 World Snooker Championship will take place from 5th to 14th April 2021 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Jimmy White vs. Stephen Hendry
This is obviously the tie of the entire World Championship Qualifiers. It is the dream draw. Stephen Hendry’s reaction to the draw says it all.
Pushing the theories whether it is a fixed draw or not aside, this is going to draw so many people in. One doesn’t have to be a snooker fan to learn the history between these legends of the sport we love. It is quite funny that they met each other in four World Championship finals, yet here they are, facing each other in the very first qualifying round.
But this isn’t an exhibition. Both players will want to win this and will be practicing hard. Hendry claims that when they do practice together, White has been taking him apart. While Hendry was putting his feet up after his initial retirement in 2012, White has been playing on the professional tour during that time. Hendry has played just one competitive fixture since the start of this season, so White has to be the favourite coming into this tie.
But White will feel a lot more pressure. No doubt he will be reminded of his crushing losses and excruciating mistakes against Stephen Hendry at the Crucible. Will those demons return? But it is not just a win and kudos that are at stake: it is Jimmy’s tour card too. White is in line to receive a fresh two-year card as he is in the Top 8 players who finish outside of the top 64 under the one-year rule. If he loses, his chances to stay on tour will be out of his hands.
The match is scheduled to be played on 7.30pm on Monday April 5th on presumably Eurosport. We should be looking forward to this!
Back to the BO11
In a normal world, every qualifier would be a BO19 match. Due to coronavirus fears, all matches except the final round of qualifying are shortened to a BO11. That was fine, as it was the early days of the pandemic and of course, the health and safety of all players and organisers involved were paramount. When questioned whether the format will be reverted to its original form, chairman Jason Ferguson said to the Metro:
Two days after that publication, World Snooker confirmed that the format will stay the same as last year.
It is a shame but we need to understand that sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry. BO11 are competitive matches and the final BO19 does a good job of separating the wheat from the chaff. I just hope all qualifying matches will be BO19 next year and I if worried this current format is here to stay. The matches have got shorter and shorter over the past decade. Examples include the shorting revamp of the UK Championship and having events such as the Paul Hunter Classic, Championship League and the WST Pro Series being fully-fledged ranking events.
I love variety in snooker matches, but it is a shame long matches are so scarce. It isn’t fair on players who are better suited to longer matches being forced to adapt to shorter ones. I just hope the BO11 matches in the qualifiers are a temporary measure.
The Fight For Survival
If you want extra detail on who is safe and who is at risk of relegation from the tour, there is no better than Matt Huart’s analysis. Please click here as it is well worth your time.
The World Championship Qualifiers are pressurising not just because everyone wants to qualify for the Crucible but because some are fighting for their professional careers. This is certainly the case for those who are in their final year of their initial tour card and those hovering near the end of the Top 64.
It is always surprising which kind of names are under threat every year. 2018 European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson is by far the biggest name who should be under extreme pressure. Others include young prospects Luo Honghao, Yuan Sijun, Joe O’Connor and Sam Craigie. Even Alan McManus and Andrew Higginson could be in the mix! Don’t forget, these players haven’t had their points from the 2019 World Championship removed yet.
The criteria to stay on tour is slightly more generous. The top eight players outside of the Top 64 instead of four can get a fresh two-year card via the one-year ranking list. This is probably because there are no international amateur tournaments to qualify from due to the bleeding obvious. Currently, Jamie O’Neill, Chris Wakelin and Chang Bingyu are leading the lucky eight. Others can get one by simply (!!!) reaching the Crucible, much like Jamie Clarke and Ashley Carty last season.
Now to the ones on the two-year who want to avoid Q School. Players like Jackson Page, Louis Heathcote, Nigel Bond, Dominic Dale, Ian Burns, Daniel Wells. Just to name a few! A player earns £5,000 if they win their first-round match and each round increases by £5,000 till the Crucible stage, which is £20,000. Every penny counts so it is worth keeping a very close eye on this.
The Attention on Stuart Bingham
The last time Stuart Bingham had to participate in the World Championship Qualifiers was in 2011. Since then, Bingham improved leaps and bounds, winning numerous ranking titles, reaching as high as No. 2 in the world and winning two Triple Crown events. The biggest achievement no doubt is winning the 2015 World Snooker Championship, despite having odds of 50–1 to win the event prior to that tournament.
Unfortunately, Bingham’s consistency has dipped over the past couple of years. Bingham only reached three ranking quarter-finals in the last two seasons. This, as well as losing points from winning two ranking events during the 2018/2019 season, are the reasons for his downfall. It is weird to see the 2020 Masters champion needing to qualify, but as we all know, the Masters is a non-ranking event and therefore doesn’t count to his seed.
When the qualifiers come round every year, I think of the “Big 3” that the Top 16 do not want to be drawn against in the opening round. For me, they are Ali Carter, Graeme Dott and Joe Perry. Absolutely NO-ONE will want to play Bull-run in the first round, especially because of his World Championship pedigree. But Bingham has to qualify first. The worst-case scenario would be that he faces Chen Zifan (BO11) in Round 3 and Luca Brecel (BO19) in Round 4. That match with Brecel, should it happen, will be brutal. If not, Mark King would be eager to pounce on him.
We saw Ali Carter lose his 17-year Crucible streak last year. This is just one reminder that just because you played at the Crucible long enough doesn’t mean that a place is simply going to be given to you. Bingham has to earn it like the rest!
Thanks for covering the battle for tour survival. There is a danger that the Hendry-White match would suck the life out of the rest of the competition – most correspondents are obsessed with it. There are many players (more than usual) who are on the edge, with their futures in serious doubt. This in meaningful snooker, not a circus. Some of the players set to be relegated are extremely talented young players who are needed by the sport. Some would appear to have had ‘a bad lockdown’, also Chinese players who lost vital ‘ranking points’ by missing the WC in 2020, or returning unprepared.
The inclusion of 8 players on the 1-year list helps, but obviously only rewards players who have done reasonably well this season, rather than players who have faced covid-related difficulties, as many have.
I would hope that the format for Q School is stronger than last season, which had best-of-5 matches and 3am finishes. Unfortunately, even the normal format is too unbalanced, with random draws and byes everywhere. It’s not as fair as it could be.
As for Bingham, yes unfortunately for him his best two tournaments were in the Masters, which doesn’t count – a silly anomaly caused by an inadequate ranking system. He’s just unlucky that Brecel is such a dangerous opponent, but at least he should have a chance to use his experience in a best-of-19 match.