Stephen Maguire described his 2013/14 campaign as a ‘season from hell’ for him, but the Scot has already ensured that the new season will be a better one as he came back from 6-3 and 7-5 down to defeat Ricky Walden and win the 2014 Sangsom Six Red World Championship in Thailand this evening.
As the dust settles on Mark Selby’s memorable World Championship victory at the Crucible Theatre, it’s time to look back on the best of my photos from this year’s tournament, including those of the venue, backstage and the people involved in the action…
Day four at the Crucible, and following yesterday’s shock win for Michael Wasley against Ding Junhui, the action continued as Alan McManus completed a terrific victory against John Higgins, while Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins also got their campaigns underway…
The three day gap between the conclusion of the final qualifying round for this year’s World Championship and the start of play tomorrow morning at the Crucible makes the job of previewing the tournament ever-more difficult.
But this year I am hopeful that I have been able to do the tournament justice, thanks to the help of former world number 3, turned highly respected snooker analyst Neal Foulds, who spoke with me this morning to help preview each of the 16 opening round matches and offer his thoughts as to who will be lifting the famous trophy on 5th May 2014…
The conclusion of the German Masters marks the fifth mid-season revision of the seeding list and although many eyes will now be on the latest provisional money list, which will determine tour places and come into force at the start of next season, there is one last, crucial cut-off to keep an eye on this year on the points list.
The final, sixth mid-season revision of 2013/14 comes at the end of March, following the Players Championship event currently scheduled to take place in Thailand and the final list following that event will be used to determine the seeding list for the 2014 World Championship at the Crucible.
While there remain five events still to be played between now and that cut-off, the new provisional list, on which all points set to drop between now and then have already been removed, throws up more than a few surprises, with Mark Williams, Matthew Stevens, Graeme Dott and Mark Allen among those who as it stands, would have to qualify to play at the Crucible this year…
Tuesday night at the Barbican Centre and it has been a day which has seen the battle for the remaining places at the Masters become clearer, with victories for Robert Milkins and Ricky Walden.
Click below for confirmation as to who remains in contention as we had into the second week of the UK Championship…
Hot on the heels of the Gloucester-Antwerp European Tour double-header, this week sees the start of the all-new Champion of Champions event, from the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Click below for my thoughts ahead of the event…
It might yet be five months away, but with the next two seedings cut-offs (ahead of the International and UK Championship), being of less importance, given the advent of the move to flat draws this season, the next big revision is that in December following the UK Championship, which will most notably, determine which 16 players will qualify for this season’s Masters.
Click below for an early look ahead, to see who is currently in the running for those places…