ROSB Catch Up #3

Kyren Wilson, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson heads victorious to the Shanghai Masters, Ronnie O´Sullivan returns and Snooker reaches America and Australia!

Since our last Catch Up, a few very good news came out in the snooker World.

The best of them, probably, was the creation of the PABSA (Pan American Billiards and Snooker Association), which will - with the support of the Brazilian, Canadian and USA’s snooker associations - take care of the sport in America. 

That is, of course, a very welcome news as we know that after World Snooker set that new deal with Eurosport in 2016, America was totally overlooked by World Snooker.

The PABSA will organise qualifiers for the World Seniors Championship, and in January 2019 New York will host the Pan American Championships. 

There’s a lot of talent and millions of fans in America. Nicolly Cristo, Brazilian World Champion at the age of 13, is one of these talents that have been noted by the WSF.

In another line, Australia had also been left without any Snooker after their Australian Open came to an end, unfortunately. However, Eurosport will start to show the World’s main events there, and it seems like the work that had been done magnificently up to 2016 to globalize the sport is slowly getting back on track.

It doesn’t mean though, that World Snooker stopped choosing money over popularity, regardless of what you think is better for the sport. 

The “new” millionaire Shanghai Masters will take place from Monday 10th, to Sunday 16th of September. The top 16 players in the World, plus 8 wildcards that China bought in the tournament (work that out) compete for a title that’s meant to be one of the most important in Snooker - that’s the marketing, whether or not you can give such an importance to a tournament that for many fans feels like the first of the season and has several unknown players in a field that’s supposed to have only the most famous ones.

The Shanghai Masters won’t be the first event of the season though, we’ve had plenty of Snooker going on already - and not just qualifiers.

Keeping his traditions of starting seasons well going, Neil Robertson won the first tournament of the campaign (as he always does), the Riga Masters. The Australian is slowly coming back to an acceptable distance of his best Snooker, and because of what I’ve already mentioned here, this might be a great time for him to build on this form, win some tournaments and help his sport grow back home.

Meanwhile, Mark Williams took a week off his so deserved vacations just to win yet another Ranking Tournament. The Welshman won the World Open in his own fashion, and is starting to look unstoppable on the table. 

Unstoppable though may be a word used for another man on the tour right now. The 6 Reds World Title, in an undefeated run that saw him beat the likes of Ding Junhui, Stuart Bingham and Grame Dott, was the second title in a row for Kyren Wilson - whom after three years finally won his second Ranking Title, the Paul Hunter Classic in Germany.

As good as it may sound to win the Paul Hunter Classic though, the event’s glory days are long gone: what once was one of most fans and players favourite tournaments, has become the smallest event on tour. 

In the past, it was one of the most wanted trophies, won by the likes of Mark Selby and Ronnie O`Sullivan. It was part of the European Tour events, and it looked like a matter of time until it became a Ranking Tournament.

But then World Snooker ended the ET events, the ones that remained finally gained full Ranking status, and all except for one raised their prize money.

The problem is that this one was the Paul Hunter Classic. Maybe they thought it’s tradition and tribute to the great Paul Hunter were enough, and it should’ve been, but then Eurosport got the monopoly of Snooker and decided it was not worth of TV time, and was to be shown exclusively on their online platform. The consequences were that this year only two top players were involved (Wilson and Murphy).
While I will not blame the ones who missed out, I can’t see if the Paul Hunter Classic will live to tell the tale in such a busy schedule. 

Talking about missing out, last season’s record equalizer Ronnie O`Sullivan will begin his 2018/19 term defending his Shanghai Masters title. The now invitational event was one of his 5 Ranking wins last season. 

The Rocket has, anyway, already been noted his season when he simply did not show up for his European Masters qualifier match against Eden Sharav last month, for no obvious or later clarified reasons.

The fact is that he most likely will not miss the Shangai Masters. Ronnie has been doing a lot of merchandising for it, and it’ll be the first we’ll see of the reigning UK Champion after he joined SightRight - a surprising move for someone that had just had his most victorious and lucrative season ever!

Not to lose track of this and the following events that move the World of snooker, please like Ronnie O`Sullivan Brasil on Facebook. Thanks for reading 😉