The IBSF World Championships are one of the most highly regarded amateur tournaments. This includes the Men’s, the Masters and the Women’s too. They are all currently competing in Antalya, Turkey.
History of the IBSF World Championships
It was highly prized for the Men’s in particular as the reward did include a professional tour card. Until it all went belly-up.
To put this succinctly, the WPBSA and the IBSF boards had a fall-out parted ways within the past couple of years. This was due to IBSF’s alledged “inappropriate and unconstitutional attempt by some members of the International Billiards and Snooker Association (IBSF) to control seats within the World Confederation of Billiards Sports.” This has led to the creation of the World Snooker Federation Championships shortly after.
But this event has a long list of winners who have gone onto great things. Some achieved legendary status, such as Jimmy White (1980), James Wattana (1988) and Ken Doherty (1989).
The list of players who became multi-ranking victors include Stuart Bingham (1996), Marco Fu (1997), Stephen Maguire (2000), Mark Allen (2006) and Michael White (2007). Other current Top 64 professionals to hold the trophy are Kurt Maflin (2006), Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (2008) and Alfie Burden (2009).
There are hot prospects who are expected to challenge the greatest heights of the sport. The most notable names are Hossein Vafaei (2011), Zhou Yuelong (2013), Yan Bingtao (2014) and most recently, Chang Bingyu (2018).
What stage of the event are we now at?
Already, the group stages have finished in this year’s event. Now we are into the Last 66 of the Men’s, Last 45 of the Masters and Last 18 of the Women’s tournament. These fixtures will start on Wednesday 6th November, with all finals concluding on Saturday 9th November.
We have a very competitive field of former professionals and young prospects in Antalya. We have 2017 Snooker Shoot-Out winner Robin Hull, who dropped off the tour last season. Three-time IBSF champion and billiards legend Pankaj Advani, who was the first Indian to reach a ranking quarter-final in the 2013 Welsh Open. Then we have the youngest every professional to make a 147 in Thanawat Thirapongpiaboon. Lastly, 2013 Indian Open runner-up Aditya Mehta, who is also the first Indian to score a maximum, is among the crowd.
Of the younger contingent, there is plenty of talent. Regular attendee Mateusz Baranowski has made it to the knockout rounds. You might be familiar with Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka Wai, who won the first event of this season’s Challenge Tour. Aside from the Q School participants, such as Florian Nüßle and Ross Bulman, there is a bigger threat. 16-year-old Chinaman Pang Junxu hasn’t dropped a single from in his three matches. Because of this, he will sit pretty as the No. 1 seed of the knockout rounds.
Snippet of the draw
As previously mentioned, Pang Junxu is No. 1. This is followed by Pakistan’s Muhammad Asif as the second seed. No. 3 and No. 4 are held by former professionals Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn and Finland’s Hull. Other recognisable names include Passakorn Suwannawat, Wang Yuchen and Ahmed Saif. Saif became the first Qatari snooker player back in 2013 but had a torrid time as a professional. He registered just two victories with his two-year stint, only one of which was against a professional opponent. He whitewashed Anthony Hamilton 4-0 in the 2015 Welsh Open. Hmmm.
Links
For all of the information of the Men’s draw, you can find out by clicking here. Also, if you wish to find out the Masters, click here. Lastly, in the Women’s event, many top players such as Ng On-yee, Nutcharat Wongharuthai, Vidya Pillai, Wendy Jans and new wonderkid Bai Yulu are playing in the wonderful land of Antalya, Turkey. Click here for the women’s draw.
