As noted in the comments section of my “Who will stay and who will go” article yesterday, the 72 players who will retain their main tour players as of right have now been decided, click below for confirmation.
Note that my Friday review will follow in due course but that my rankings pages are now up to date.
First things first, the links to my updated rankings pages:
- Provisional rankings
So as Andrew B pointed out, the 72 players to retain their tour status next season are in effect the top 72 on the one-year list. To confirm therefore:
Players relegated from the tour:
- John Parrott, (11,985 points)
- Jin Long, (11,898 points)
- Xiao Guodong, (10,640 points)
- Sam Baird, (10,560 points)
- Craig Steadman, (10,460 points)
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, (10,460 points)
- David Gray, (9,740 points)
- Lee Spick, (9,715 points)
- Li Hang, (9,660 points)
- Liu Song, (9,635 points)
- Daniel Wells, (9,620 points)
- Noppadol Sangnil, (9,490 points)
- David Hogan, (9,230 points)
- Atthasit Mahitthi, (9,180 points)
- Brendan O’Donoghue, (9,140 points)
- Mark Boyle, (8,940 points)
- Mei Xiwen, (8,860 points)
- Jordan Brown, (8,780 points)
- Stephen Rowlings, (8,690 points)
- Chris Norbury, (8,590 points)
- David Roe, (8,330 points)
- Lee Page, (8,060 points)
- Ian Preece, (8,035 points)
- Andrew Norman, (8,003 points)
Following the qualifying tournament I intend to post in more detail about the relegated players but a special mention should I feel be given to both John Parrott and David Roe, who between them have played an incredible 51 (ish) professional seasons between them but now find themselves relegated. For Roe the writing has been on the wall for a long time following a couple of dreadful seasons, and while Parrott has won few matches himself, it is always a strange feeling to see a former world champion be effectively forced into retirement.
Elsewhere there are some other talented players who barring wildcards will not be on the tour next season, notably the likes of Xiao Guodong and Craig Steadman who following good seasons have been made to suffer for round one exits in the World Championship.