With the qualifying tournament for the Shanghai Masters due to get underway in early August, World Snooker have this week published the draw for both the qualifying rounds and last 32 stage, as well as the qualifying format.
The various documents can be accessed here at their official website, or alternatively at snookerorg here.
Congratulations to Stuart Bingham who has today defeated Mark Allen 10-3 to win the 2014 Shanghai Masters. Earning him the top prize of £85,000, the victory represents Stuart’s biggest tournament success so far, as he continues his impressive recent record in Asia.
Three days down at the Shanghai Masters and with the conclusion of the last 32 round, already we have seen nine seeded players exit the tournament, including Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump.
Click below for a round-up of the main stories so far…
A brief line from World Snooker yesterday, as they confirmed the updated draw for the venue stages of next month’s Shanghai Masters and which of the eight qualifiers will be required to face wildcards prior to the last 32 proper.
Most notably, former world champions Mark Williams and Ken Doherty have both been drawn to play wildcards Zhang Yong and Huang Jiahao respectively, while Ryan Day, Michael Holt and Michael White will also face wildcards early on.
The most recognisable and to my knowledge at least, the most dangerous wildcard is the talented Zhao Xintong, who has been paired against Matt Selt, while Chinese professional qualifiers Liang Wenbo and Li Hang have also found themselves drawn against wildcards in their home tournament.
Yesterday saw the conclusion of the qualifying tournament for the 2014 Shanghai Masters at the Barnsley Metrodome, as 16 players booked their places at the venue stages of the event next month. Click below for a round-up of all of the main stories, as well as my thoughts from the venue yesterday, as I took in my first live snooker since the World Championship in May…
Snooker returns to the Barnsley Metrodome tomorrow for the first of four days action from the 2014 Shanghai Masters qualifiers and tonight it has emerged on Twitter that the tournament will mark the return of partitions to snooker’s multi-table events, as you can see from the above photo.
Interestingly, the partitions are not quite full height, but enough to mean that when a player is down on a shot, they should not be disturbed by action from adjacent tables, or spectators walking past the front of the tables.
I will be there on Friday to check the set-up out for myself, but judging by the photos at least, I personally like the look of the venue, which will hopefully provide a popular compromise between the fully open plan halls of recent years and the enclosed booths of years gone by.
What do you think?
As we count down the days to return of professional snooker to our screens, World Snooker yesterday released the draw for the Shanghai Masters, which will be the third full ranking event to be staged during the 2014/15 season.
The best snooker players on the planet will be back at the Barnsley Metrodome in the coming months and fans can watch them play FOR FREE.