Whilst the action in Bendigo is currently taking centre stage, yesterday saw World Snooker publish the draw for the Shanghai Masters, which is now available here at PSB. Click below for a brief summary of the absentees from the draw…
Following this week’s Australian Goldfields Open tournament which saw seven members of the top 16 elect not to enter, the line-up for the Shanghai Masters takes a more familiar shape, with just three top 64 players absent.
The first of those players is of course Ronnie O’Sullivan, who not only is yet to sign the much-talked about players contract, but has apparently broken his foot recently as tweeted by management group Grove Snooker. While I am sure that will not have impacted his decision to enter a tournament which does not take place until September, it does confirm that it will be a while yet before we see O’Sullivan back at a snooker table.
Also absent are the recently retired Stephen Hendry and suspended Leicester man Joe Jogia, the latter with his hearing due to be held on 25th July 2012, actually during the qualifiers for this event.
Elsewhere, the only other absentees are Simon Bedford and Michael Wasley, meaning that amateur duo Fraser Patrick and Gareth Allen have been selected from the Q School Order of Merit to ensure that we will have a 96 man draw.
Turning to the draw itself, there are some fascinating sections in prospect, in particular that containing Jimmy White, Michael White and Jamie Jones, while form man Mark Davis could have to face the ever-dangerous David Gilbert to be sure of a place at the venue.