The season has started! Well, apparently. The European Masters qualifiers and the Championship League has been chugging away in the background. I would much rather see the Riga Masters return next season because any ranking event is going to generate greater interest.
But this means that I have time to look forward to other aspects of this current season. Indeed, there are a few things I didn’t like last year that are still happening. Examples include the first round of the Home Nations events taking place separately from the rest of the tournament and BO4 matches. But there are plenty of talking points. So let’s get to it.
The Return Of Abroad Events
Hallelujah! Snooker players will be hopping onto the plane more regularly this season! The professionals emerged from the comforts of Milton Keynes two years ago to go to Germany, Turkey and Gibraltar last season. This season (at the time of writing) Germany, Thailand and Hong Kong are the overseas destinations this season. Considering Asia has been barred from the rest of the world, this is quite a leap. China seems to be off limits for obvious reasons and their ranking events will be hugely welcome for the rest of the tour.
But it’s not just the main tour either. The World Women’s Snooker Tour has knocked it out of the park despite a shorter calendar. It includes two Thai trips, one ranking event in Australia and an inaugural event in the United States of America of all places! Goodness knows how much impact the US Women’s Open will have on the country in the long term, but it’s nice to see some breakthroughs. Q Tour has a couple abroad events. Since none of the four Q Tour events was outside of Britain, that’s some progress.
However, there needs to be some improvement. Both events in Thailand and Hong Kong are invitational events. Those who are outside of the select few will still be largely UK-based unless they qualify for German-based events. Indeed, a lot of ground must be made after the coronavirus pandemic. But quality UK-based events are better than no events at all and gaps need to be filled somehow.
The Greyer Line Between Amateurs and Professionals
Some fans, writers and pundits had argued over which amateur players were more talented and deserving than current professionals. David Lilley was touted to be better than a few struggling player nearer the bottom of the rankings table before he became professional. Some previously believed that players even as amateurs would’ve coped better than some of the new rookies coming through in modern times. This led to a debate about whether many professionals were good enough at all.
We’ve all heard of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s infamous ‘losing an arm and a leg to be out of the Top 50’ rant. But I don’t think the players are as poor as O’Sullivan claimed. Rather the amateur scene has gotten better because of the greater quantity of seasoned professionals.
There was a lot of coverage when James Cahill, a former professional, became the first player to qualify for the World Championships as an amateur in 2019. Fast forward to when Michael White became the second to do so three years later and it was met with shrugs. Perhaps many believed that White was ‘far too good,’ to be an amateur since he fell off the tour in 2020. Furthermore, amateur players are causing many shocks this season already. Former professional Daniel Wells qualified in the first round of this season’s Championship League. Seven amateurs won their first-round matches in the 2022 European Masters including Andrew Higginson, Farakh Ajaib, Rory McLeod and Steven Hallworth.
The amateurs seem to be emerging. Indeed, we’ve seen plenty of them reaching the latter stages of the Shoot-Out. That’s a ranking tournament an amateur is more likely to win. It might not be too far away for an amateur to make the latter stages of other events too.
Which Hot Prospects Could Take The Tour By Storm?
When one looks at the players who qualified through this year’s Q School, they are right to wonder where young players are coming from. There is only one rookie and just five players out of 12 Q School qualifiers were under 30 years old. But there are some other bright sparks that could do some damage.
Belgian hot prospects Ben Mertens and Julien Leclercq were touted as the next big things for a long time now, especially Mertens. Oliver Brown has been banging on the door since he whitewashed Ding Junhui 5-0 in 2014. 17-year-old Anton Kazakov flies the flag as the sole Ukrainian player on tour. 25-year-old Andres Petrov becomes the first player from Estonia to grace the professional tour. I am learning about young Peng Yisong and Ryan Thomerson this season.
I don’t think the Belgian duo are the most likely to take the tour by storm the most. Bai Langning and Si Jiahui have some tour experience already and managed to qualify as professionals for the second time. Si has already qualified for the European Masters this season and won some high-profile scalps the last few years, with his victory over Shaun Murphy gaining attention for all the wrong reasons (and yes, Murphy did apologise!). We’ve seen young-uns Jamie Clarke, Yuan Sijun, Jackson Page Joe O’Connor and Fan Zhenyi make tremendous progress recently.
There just needs to be a greater belief among them and hopefully, they can reap more rewards.
Could Ronnie O’Sullivan win his EIGHTH World Championship title this season?
That is the question I never thought I would write ever, let alone whether he could this season.
I don’t want to be too repetitive here because I talked about this in my last blog post. Here’s the short version: though I thought conditions in 2020 were advantageous to Ronnie, his tournament victories in 2020 and 2022 were quite remarkable. It is amazing how he has adapted his game through the years and he keeps on winning. One could say the same with John Higgins and Mark Williams! This is so surprising considering they all had opportunities to retire, chose not to and still kept winning.
Back to the main question. Yes, he could! But he has to want to and I am sure he does, no matter how often he might deny it. Whether the motivation is there is another question. He won’t care about being heralded as the greatest player to ever play snooker. But he will be without question if he wins his eighth World title.
Dechawat Poomjaeng Is Back!
Now to the most important thing! The legend that is Dechawat Poomjaeng is back on tour after a 5-year absence. He defeated Narongdat Takantong 4-1 in Event 2 of the Asia & Oceania Q School.
Mr. Poombastic is famous for his heroics, calamities and eccentric behaviour during the 2013 World Championships. From causing one of the greatest first-round shocks in modern Crucible history to conceding a frame via the three-miss rule, there isn’t a dull moment with that Thai player. I sometimes watch the final-frame decider between Poomjaeng and Stephen Maguire every now and again! Aside from all that, he can play. He reached No. 37 in the world, made one maximum and made three Last 16 ranking appearances!
My expectations of him are quite low, but it’s nice of him to install some more character into snooker again. He is usually a hoot during the Shoot-Out and I would love to see him make another World Championship appearance. I’m still slightly annoyed that Mitchell Mann prevented him from doing that in 2016 in the decider. Can’t wait to see what he can do next!
