PREVIEW: 2021 ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Championship

We have all heard the saying “when a door closes, another one opens.” It seems this is happening with World Snooker Championships! A few days after Mark Selby lifted his 4th World career crown by beating Shaun Murphy 18-15 in the final, a World Senior Snooker Championships commences at the Crucible!

It got a decent amount of coverage last year on the BBC and a lot of things happened because of that tournament. Stephen Hendry’s semi-final run with glimpses of great play convinced himself to persuade Barry Hearn to give him a tour card. Ken Doherty also received a fresh two-year card after reaching the final. But the biggest story was Jimmy White lifting the World Senior Championship title for the second time running by coming back from 4-0 down to beat Doherty 5-4. It was a heart-warming moment to see Jimmy lift a World title at the Crucible again! Jimmy is also the first player to retain the World Seniors title – can he do it yet again?

The Qualifiers

The field was set after a number of qualifying events. Both David Lilley and Barry Pinches, who are set to drop off the tour as it stands, qualified for the World Seniors Championship back in January. The final four places were earned by Lee Walker, Darren Morgan, Phil Williams and Patrick Wallace in April. Wallace reached the final in 2018 and Morgan made three finals in World Seniors history, winning once in 2011. This has proved to be quite a strong field, considering Alfie Burden, Rory McLeod and former champions Aaron Canavan and Peter Lines failed to make the cut.

Seniors Quartet Qualify for Crucible - WPBSA

Unfortunately, there needed to be some last-minute replacements. Bob Chaperon, Cliff Thorburn and Tony Drago had to withdraw because of travel difficulties during the pandemic. They are replaced by former World No.2 Tony Knowles, WSF Seniors champion Igor Figueiredo and 1977 UK Champion Patsy Fagan.

This tournament will be live on BBC platforms. Of course, the format is different to the World Championships. The Last 16 is a BO5, the next two rounds are BO7s and the final is a BO9. It should be a great event. The quality of snooker may not be as high-octane as the big one but it will a decent, entertaining and blinded by waves of nostalgia.

If you want to read a more in-depth preview of the World Seniors, check out Michael Day’s article on the Seniors Snooker website by clicking here.