Following this week’s seedings revision following the International Championship, World Snooker have today issued the drawsheet for December’s UK Championship, confirming that Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Lee will not be present at the Barbican Centre this year…
- Click here to view the draw for the 2012 UK Championship
Following his return to the top 16 at this week’s seeding revision, Barry Hawkins had looked set to miss out upon an automatic place at next month’s UK Championship, with Ronnie O’Sullivan set to be seeded second as reigning world champion.
Following yesterday’s news that Ronnie will sit out the remainder of the 2012/13 season however, as well as confirmation that the suspended Stephen Lee will not be included in the draw, both Barry and 17th placed Mark Davis will be among the top 16 seeded players in York.
The knock-on effect further down the draw is that both Fergal O’Brien and Jamie Burnett are promoted to the top 32 seeds, meaning that they will start in the final qualifying round. Stephen Hendry’s retirement meanwhile means that there are three extra spots inside the top 48 seeds; David Gilbert, Steve Davis and Mark Joyce taking advantage.
When considering the top 64 meanwhile, there is a further spot still due to the suspension of Joe Jogia, meaning that Rod Lawler, Cao Yupeng, Aditya Mehta and Kurt Maflin are spared one qualifying round.
Finally, it is also worth noting that due to the various omissions, amateur players Fraser Patrick, Gareth Allen and Duane Jones will also be in action at the qualifiers, which begin on the 20th November 2012 at the EIS, Sheffield.