Snooker: 2025 Halo World Championships

[Up the Junction]

Wow. Jackson Page has just hit two 147s - in the same match! First time that's ever been done.

Here's the first...

[Up the Junction]

If you're bored of backing the usual suspects at The Crucible, he's playing as well as anybody in qualifying.

[ironilunga]

Jackson Page made that look so easy.

Great effort!

[Up the Junction]

Here's the line-up for Judgement Day - QR4. The winners of these ties progress to the first round of the Worlds proper (at The Crucible) where they'll face the 16 seeded players.

Gary Wilson [17] v Daniel Wells [49]
Zhou Yuelong [32] v Yuan Sijun [33]
Ricky Walden [40] v Zak Surety [72]
Ross Muir [76] v Ben Woollaston [44]
Elliot Slessor [28] v Zhao Xintong (a)
Ryan Day [36] v Sunny Akani [93]
Martin O'Donnell [45] v Chris Wakelin [20]
David Gilbert [23] v Aaron Hill [55]
Wang Yuchen [105] v Hossein Vafaei [24]
Michael Holt [78] v Fan Zhengyi [46]
Joe O'Connor [30] v Jackson Page [35]
Jamie Jones [59] v Pang Junxu [27]
Matthew Stevens [54] v Wu Yize [22]
Gao Yang (a) v Lei Peifan [39]
Matthew Selt [34] v Jimmy Robertson [31]
He Guoqiang [50] v Ali Carter [18]

[Up the Junction]

In other news, Tom Ford, knocked out in QR3 on Monday not doing himself any favours.

Posted this on social media - then quickly removed it following a backlash led by Barry PInches.

[ironilunga]

In other news, Tom Ford, knocked out in QR3 on Monday not doing himself any favours.

Poor form indeed.

Slower players are part of the sports rich history - deal with it.

[Up the Junction]

Poor form indeed.

On the funny side - guess who's the star guest at our local club next month?

[Up the Junction]

Live coverage of QR4/Judgement Day - you need a (free to obtain) WST.tv account to access:

https://www.wst.tv/live/video/ae2dd651- ... e1cdcad66b

[ironilunga]

These qualifiers will be going to the Crucible in red hot form. I know it has always been thus, but the standard has never been higher and I think the likes of Xintong and Surety could cause an upset to the mainstay of the top 16 who have had a couple of weeks off.

As good as O’Sullivan is I’d have to back a red hot Xintong over a cold O’Sullivan if they a drawn togeather in round 1.

As UTJ mentioned, Xintong might be a decent bet.

[Late of the Boleyn]

Wow. Jackson Page has just hit two 147s - in the same match! First time that's ever been done.

That shot on the 15th (or 30th) black to get to on the yellow. Wow.

[ironilunga]

Some great final frame finishes to qualifying.

Got to feel for Jimmy Robertson - had it in his grasp.

Onwards to the Crucible. If the quality in qualifying is anything to go by there will be one or two upsets.

My winner? I’m going for Wilson to break the curse and retain his title.

[thamesideiron]

Ronnie O Against Ali Carter first round.....interesting...Ronnie evidently still not confirmed he is playing,Best Player ever imo,but does
bore me a little with the off table antics at times,makes the Comp way more exciting tho....the one I always watch and want to win.
Not sure he can beat likes of Trump and Wilson,but Williams to go deep into it is a good bet at 65/1 Betfair,half those odds elsewhere ATM..


Looking forward to it as always.....Gonna go Trump to win it,hardly sticking me neck out....

[Up the Junction]

Final qualifying round results - the winners face the top 16 seeds at The Crucible:

Matthew Selt [34] 10 - 9 Jimmy Robertson [31]
Wu Yize [22] 10 - 9 Matthew Stevens [54]
Lei Peifan [39] 10 - 9 Gao Yang (a)
Joe O'Connor [30] 10 - 7 Jackson Page [35]
Pang Junxu [27] 10 - 6 Jamie Jones [59]
Ali Carter [18] 10 - 5 He Guoqiang [50]
Hossein Vafaei [24] 10 - 4 Wang Yuchen [105]
Fan Zhengyi [46] 10 - 4 Michael Holt [78]
Daniel Wells [49] 10 - 9 Gary Wilson [17]
David Gilbert [23] 10 - 9 Aaron Hill [55]
Ben Woollaston [44] 10 - 4 Ross Muir [76]
Ryan Day [36] 10 - 5 Sunny Akani [93]
Zhou Yuelong [32] 10 - 5 Yuan Sijun [33]
Zhao Xintong (a) 10 - 8 Elliot Slessor [28]
Zak Surety [72] 10 - 3 Ricky Walden [40]
Chris Wakelin [20] 10 - 2 Martin O'Donnell [45]

First round proper draw - seedings in brackets:

Quarter 1
Kyren Wilson [1] v Lei Peifan [39]
Jak Jones [16] v Zhao Xintong [-]
Neil Robertson [9] v Chris Wakelin [20]
Mark Allen [8] v Fan Zhengyi [46]

Quarter 2
Ronnie O'Sullivan [5] v Ali Carter [18]
Zhang Anda [12] v Pang Junxu [27]
Si Jiahui [13] v David Gilbert [23]
Mark Selby [4] v Ben Woollaston [44]

Quarter 3
John Higgins [3] v Joe O'Connor [30]
Xiao Guodong [14] v Matt Selt [34]
Barry Hawkins [11] v Hossein Vafaei [24]
Mark Williams [6] v Wu Yize [22]

Quarter 4
Luca Brecel [7] v Ryan Day [36]
Ding Junhui [10] v Zak Surety [72]
Shaun Murphy [15] v Dan Wells [49]
Judd Trump [2] v Zhou Yuelong [32]

As you can see, the draw is dominated by English and Chinese players - the 10 Chinese qualifiers equates to the largest number of players to reach The Crucible from one nation outside of England.

And to highlight the likelihood of Chinese dominance in the next decade or so, this graph illustrates how every player under 30 reaching the Crucible this year is Chinese - bar Joe O'Connor, who's 30 in November.

[Up the Junction]

I'll drop this in a new post so as not to confuse, but here's how the second round draw will look:

Robertson/Wakelin v Allen/Zhengyi
Higgins/O'Connor v Guodong/Selt
Hawkins/Vafaei v Williams/Yize
Wilson/Peifan v Jones/Xintong
O'Sullivan/Carter v Anda/Junxu
Jiahui/Gilbert v Selby/Woollaston
Brecel/Day v Junhui/Surety
Murphy/Wells v Trump/Yuelong

Feel for my "dark horse" pick, Zhao Xintong; If he's going to upset the odds and become the first Chinese winner, he'll have to beat last year's semi-finalist and winner just to make the quarter finals!

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Live coverage of QR4/Judgement Day - you need a (free to obtain) WST.tv account to access:

https://www.wst.tv/live/video/ae2dd651- ... e1cdcad66b

Gutted Matthew Stevens last the last frame decider

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Feel for my "dark horse" pick, Zhao Xintong; If he's going to upset the odds and become the first Chinese winner, he'll have to beat last year's semi-finalist and winner just to make the quarter finals!

Question is whether he should be allowed to play given the match fixing

[ironilunga]

I’ll have a stab at predicting this lot:

Quarter 1
Kyren Wilson [1] v Lei Peifan [39] (Wilson)
Jak Jones [16] v Zhao Xintong [-]. (Xintong)
Neil Robertson [9] v Chris Wakelin [20] (Robertson)
Mark Allen [8] v Fan Zhengyi [46] (Allen)

Quarter 2
Ronnie O'Sullivan [5] v Ali Carter [18] (Carter).
Zhang Anda [12] v Pang Junxu [27]. (Junxu)
Si Jiahui [13] v David Gilbert [23]. (Jiahui)
Mark Selby [4] v Ben Woollaston [44]. (Selby)

Quarter 3
John Higgins [3] v Joe O'Connor [30]. (Higgins)
Xiao Guodong [14] v Matt Selt [34]. (Guodong)
Barry Hawkins [11] v Hossein Vafaei [24]. (Vafaei)
Mark Williams [6] v Wu Yize [22]. (Yize)

Quarter 4
Luca Brecel [7] v Ryan Day [36]. (Brecel)
Ding Junhui [10] v Zak Surety [72] (Surety)
Shaun Murphy [15] v Dan Wells [49]. (Murphy)
Judd Trump [2] v Zhou Yuelong [32]. (Trump)


I think Ronnie has had a nightmare draw and will be too rusty to beat Carter. An early exit for Ding and Williams also.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

I would be happy to see Kyren Wilson break the Crucible curse for defending first time champions but if he does trip up along the way, Mark Williams or Neil Robertson winning would please me. Williams has long been a favourite of mine and Robertson really should have added to his solitary title.
Not bothered in the slightest whether Ronnie O’Sullivan participates or not. Prodigiously talented and arguably the greatest player ever but an attitude that stinks.

[ironilunga]

Prodigiously talented and arguably the greatest player ever but an attitude that stinks.

I think O’Sullivan needs to create his own ‘Rocky’ narrative to get himself up for tournaments. The last time he won he had a documentary team following him. I feel sorry for him if he has mental health issues. However, I think the drama of delaying his decision to compete this year is fun and games from Ronnie.

I genuinely think that nobody in this world wants Ronnie to win an eighth more than Ronnie. However, I think he may have underestimated how age and lack of competitive table time will impact his performance. Add to that the new wave of brilliant players emerging.

He may have left his run too late.

[Up the Junction]