2015/16 Season Preview
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Let's have a look:
New places for Snooker:
It's been incredible how good the work of Jason Ferguson has been for Snooker, the best sport of the world has been growing considerably, last season we had the First Tournament in Portugal and we also have events in Poland, Bulgaria, Belgium and many other countries, where they really know what they're watching.
The project Cue Zone Into Schools not only in the United Kingdom, but also in China and Europe brings many new kids into Snooker and the new increased prize money has been encouraging people from all around the World to play Snooker and dreaming of being a professional, with all those facts the new season seems to be very exciting and promising in all those events around the World with good crowds.
Women into Snooker:
Many has been talking about women entering Snooker, this season our Chairman Barry Hearn gave a long press at the Crucible press conference room saying the fault is on the Ladies Federation, but 10 Times World Ladies Champion Reanne Evans played the Qualifier for the Crucible this year and lost only 8-10 against 1997 Champion Ken Doherty. It caused a big buzz and many professional players like Ronnie O`Sullivan, Shaun Murphy and even Ken Doherty said she deserves a Tour Card as she played the Qualifiers receiving an invitation.
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| Reanne Evans |
I personally look back to the men who started playing in the 60's and 70's and there wasn't money in the game anyway they dedicated all their life to play Snooker without a financial motivation. And then I look to the women and think: If there's a lot of money and encouragement now and Snooker isn't a physical sport, why don't they just get up and play? It might be a sexist point, but not by World Snooker or fans, it's culture, girls doesn't win tables and cues for Christmas like the boys they just don't grow with it, it's the only line to go across, by the way a smaller line than the one crossed in the 60's and 70's.
But I also agree with Reanne in the argument that World Snooker doesn't do what they could, they should bring the last few days of the Ladies World Championship to the Crucible again, and support more the ladies events, but it's not easy although as the quality in the women's game isn't that high apart from Reanne.
World Cup:
As the traditional Wuxi Classic in China said Good Bye from the Tour, World Snooker announced the return of the World Cup, a tournament with 2 players representing their countries, these two being the two top ranked in the World from their respective nations.
The World Cup will be played in Wuxi, and host country China will be awarded with two teams, joining them there will be 22 nations, playing in a 4 group-system, with individual and doubles matches fighting for a £150.000,00 winner's prize.
England's team will enter as big favorite with their team being the World N°1 Mark Selby and World Champion & World N°2 Stuart Bingham, Scotland will also come strong with Stephen Maguire and John Higgins. Brazil will also be competing, what is a good news, but Ítaro Santos is now the only Brazilian on the Professional Tour as he just earned a two-year card. Igor Figueiredo should be the other name but unless he re-qualify for the tour somehow, there's no guarantee double for Santos.
It will be a biennial event what pretends to give it even more prestige, it's one of the first tournaments I remember watching when I became a Snooker fan and let's hope it gets the same success.
The World Cup will be played next month (June) from 15 to 21, I will surely comeback bringing you all the teams and my complete preview of it. I don't know if China will keep as host country for the World Cup or it will be transitory, but it should be good as transitory to attract attention from all around the World, like Football does with their World Cup. I also hope Ronnie O`Sullivan (who didn't qualify for it but had it decided before not to play the World Cup) plays it if he qualifies in the Future, it might not be ideal for him travelling to China but should be great for the game, a deserved "sacrifice" for the Sport which gave him everything he has.
Chinese Players:
Another of the big subjects this year has been how strong China has been storming into Snooker, with a big thirst from China's governing body to steal the World Championship from the Crucible, but as our loved president Barry Hearn have said: it won't go away while he's alive.
British people looks afraid of Snooker to be stole from UK, but I don't think this way, Snooker has been working on new zones and it's amazing the feedback we get from China and all the investments, but to be honest it's still only TV Audience, the Chinese crowds still doesn't seem to appear too much in the arenas apart from Junhui's and O`Sullivan's matches, and there isn't much ability players, despite there's a lot of professionals players from the far east.
Honestly I think there's too much tour places being given to China, there's a lot of Asian and Chinese championships that give places in the tour, if you take a look, most of the Chinese's coming along are under 16 years-old, they turn professional because the Chinese amateur game is poor and they want to improve and get experience by playing in a more competitive circuit, the professional tour.
When they get a proper sponsor, they go to the British amateur game before, because you don't take 2 steps at once, you go to the British Junior/Amateur game, play with better opponents and become professional when you're really ready, that's why even there's a lot of Chinese players on the tour, United Kingdom keeps dominating the game. Just look back at the last three years on the World Championship, three consecutive all-English finals, with China having a player beyond the Quarter Finals only once in history, in 2011.
I wonder if someone from this generation will emulate or make it better than Ding Junhui, but I'm sure the work being made in China is promising and good for the game, there's a billion of people, and consequently, money and investments. It's just a matter of getting their players encouraged to play the game, what seems to be tried with the Asian Tour's.
The World Champion:
For the last three years, our World Champions weren't good ambassadors for the game, Ronnie O`Sullivan didn't play on anything after winning the 2012 World Championship and rarely caught his cue up after winning the 2013 World Championship, but neither did Mark Selby, 2014 World Champion who played more events than Ronnie but didn't have good results and has never been loved for the fans.
But Stuart Bingham, who earlier this month conquered the Crucible, loves the sport, always played in every tournament he could and has said he will do it again for the next season. He also became a crowd's favorite with emotional happy wins over Graeme Dott, Ronnie O`Sullivan, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy on his way to lift the World Trophy, so it's gonna be a good year for the sport, as he will surely be a great ambassador, hope he doesn't get beat by the pressure of being introduced as "Champion of the World" and well represent our Sport.
Barry Hearn's new route:
Barry Hearn took the command of World Snooker (WS) in 2010, and has been working since then alongside Jason Ferguson, president of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) and since they got in, the Snooker's evolution has been going extremely nice, and at the Crucible this year, Hearn announced his new five-year plan, which you can see fully here.
For the 2015/16 season, the news are:
All these news are great for our sport, traditional things staying how they are, improving what has to be improved and bringing projects with the aim to add Snooker some even more attention. The prize money, which will further be even more increased, is a great news too, because it encourages new players to come along dreaming of building a professional career.
Ronnie O`Sullivan's situation:
After a Quarter-Final exit at the Crucible, much has been talked that Ronnie O`Sullivan - who turns 40 later this year - times are gone, I totally disagree with it, as I said in my previous post about the 2014/15 season he was one of the most consistent players of the season and he's proved he's able to hit his best form, the Champion of Champions, the UK Championship, the German Masters and some particular matches against Matthew Stevens at the Crucible and Barry Hawkins at the Paul Hunter Classic are examples.
What I think is that after dominating the game for three years, winning 2 World Championship's, 1 Masters, 1 UK Championship and 2 Champion of Champions from 2012 to 2014, he lost a bit of motivation (himself admitted it), but I am hopeful he will recover it, he always comeback strong when his game is under doubt as he did in 2012, and he always like to have a challenge, so I think he will be hungry for more wins, it's a very promising season for The Rocket, who will defend only 2 titles this time.
Well, my 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons compilation is over here, but I will be back here in the Blog with the World Cup Preview and maybe even earlier if there's some impact news on the Snooker World, anyway to have knowledge of them immediately, follow us on Facebook.
The World Cup will be played next month (June) from 15 to 21, I will surely comeback bringing you all the teams and my complete preview of it. I don't know if China will keep as host country for the World Cup or it will be transitory, but it should be good as transitory to attract attention from all around the World, like Football does with their World Cup. I also hope Ronnie O`Sullivan (who didn't qualify for it but had it decided before not to play the World Cup) plays it if he qualifies in the Future, it might not be ideal for him travelling to China but should be great for the game, a deserved "sacrifice" for the Sport which gave him everything he has.
Chinese Players:
Another of the big subjects this year has been how strong China has been storming into Snooker, with a big thirst from China's governing body to steal the World Championship from the Crucible, but as our loved president Barry Hearn have said: it won't go away while he's alive.
British people looks afraid of Snooker to be stole from UK, but I don't think this way, Snooker has been working on new zones and it's amazing the feedback we get from China and all the investments, but to be honest it's still only TV Audience, the Chinese crowds still doesn't seem to appear too much in the arenas apart from Junhui's and O`Sullivan's matches, and there isn't much ability players, despite there's a lot of professionals players from the far east.
Honestly I think there's too much tour places being given to China, there's a lot of Asian and Chinese championships that give places in the tour, if you take a look, most of the Chinese's coming along are under 16 years-old, they turn professional because the Chinese amateur game is poor and they want to improve and get experience by playing in a more competitive circuit, the professional tour.When they get a proper sponsor, they go to the British amateur game before, because you don't take 2 steps at once, you go to the British Junior/Amateur game, play with better opponents and become professional when you're really ready, that's why even there's a lot of Chinese players on the tour, United Kingdom keeps dominating the game. Just look back at the last three years on the World Championship, three consecutive all-English finals, with China having a player beyond the Quarter Finals only once in history, in 2011.
I wonder if someone from this generation will emulate or make it better than Ding Junhui, but I'm sure the work being made in China is promising and good for the game, there's a billion of people, and consequently, money and investments. It's just a matter of getting their players encouraged to play the game, what seems to be tried with the Asian Tour's.
The World Champion:
For the last three years, our World Champions weren't good ambassadors for the game, Ronnie O`Sullivan didn't play on anything after winning the 2012 World Championship and rarely caught his cue up after winning the 2013 World Championship, but neither did Mark Selby, 2014 World Champion who played more events than Ronnie but didn't have good results and has never been loved for the fans.But Stuart Bingham, who earlier this month conquered the Crucible, loves the sport, always played in every tournament he could and has said he will do it again for the next season. He also became a crowd's favorite with emotional happy wins over Graeme Dott, Ronnie O`Sullivan, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy on his way to lift the World Trophy, so it's gonna be a good year for the sport, as he will surely be a great ambassador, hope he doesn't get beat by the pressure of being introduced as "Champion of the World" and well represent our Sport.
Barry Hearn's new route:
Barry Hearn took the command of World Snooker (WS) in 2010, and has been working since then alongside Jason Ferguson, president of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) and since they got in, the Snooker's evolution has been going extremely nice, and at the Crucible this year, Hearn announced his new five-year plan, which you can see fully here.
For the 2015/16 season, the news are:
- Apart from the World Championship and invitational events, all the events on the Snooker calendar will be played under the 128-flat format but the ones with contracts to expire;
- The total prize money for the season will increase from £8 million to £8.5 million;
- The World Grand Prix, which became part of the WS calendar in 2015, will turn into a Ranking Event, with the 32 players in being the better ranked players for the season in progress at the time;
- WS will shortly begin a negotiation with Sheffield City Council and BBC to extend the contract with the Crucible as host place for Snooker's World Championship, which is currently valid until 2017.
All these news are great for our sport, traditional things staying how they are, improving what has to be improved and bringing projects with the aim to add Snooker some even more attention. The prize money, which will further be even more increased, is a great news too, because it encourages new players to come along dreaming of building a professional career.
Ronnie O`Sullivan's situation:
After a Quarter-Final exit at the Crucible, much has been talked that Ronnie O`Sullivan - who turns 40 later this year - times are gone, I totally disagree with it, as I said in my previous post about the 2014/15 season he was one of the most consistent players of the season and he's proved he's able to hit his best form, the Champion of Champions, the UK Championship, the German Masters and some particular matches against Matthew Stevens at the Crucible and Barry Hawkins at the Paul Hunter Classic are examples.
What I think is that after dominating the game for three years, winning 2 World Championship's, 1 Masters, 1 UK Championship and 2 Champion of Champions from 2012 to 2014, he lost a bit of motivation (himself admitted it), but I am hopeful he will recover it, he always comeback strong when his game is under doubt as he did in 2012, and he always like to have a challenge, so I think he will be hungry for more wins, it's a very promising season for The Rocket, who will defend only 2 titles this time.
Well, my 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons compilation is over here, but I will be back here in the Blog with the World Cup Preview and maybe even earlier if there's some impact news on the Snooker World, anyway to have knowledge of them immediately, follow us on Facebook.
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