China Open 2014 - Discussion

[Odrl]

Quite a surprising morning so far, Jimmy White actually playing pretty well and leads 4-2 against Morris. Morris himself had a total clearance of 130 earlier, so it's not the scrap I expected. :smile:

The other match is exactly that unfortunately, Yu Delu and Chen Zifan have only just managed to complete the 3rd frame, going down to the colours like the previous one. Yu will have to play better to have a good run in this tournament, but of course he has a chance to do that, as long as he gets through this one. :smile:

I assume no one watched Xiao against Miah during the night? The commentators mentioned a couple of high breaks, so I wonder how Xiao is looking. He has a pretty tricky draw in any case though.

[scottley]

Its nice to turn the Snooker on and see Jimmy winning

[cyberheater]

Its nice to turn the Snooker on and see Jimmy winning

He's missing some relatively easy pots though.

[scottley]

Yeah, i only caught the tail end of the match, nice to see him win for once.

[cyberheater]

Yeah, i only caught the tail end of the match, nice to see him win for once.

Yes. First time I've seen him win for quite some while. He looked like he was giving the other guy some friendly advise after the match. Good on him.

[llyscy]

hello，new in here，i'v seen a few previews of yours, it's very impressive

[llyscy]

hello,new in here,i'v seen a few previews of yours,i very like it,it's very impressive.
odrl i mean~

[DeanH]

Allen vs Brecel - w/o for Brecel
Also see that B. Hawkins gives w/o to Fergal O'Brien
is it he could not be bothered after potting £100k on Saturday
or has there been troubles with travel due to the short time between (due to late change in venue)?

[Odrl]

Pretty good finish from Yu Delu, got his breakbuilding going after the interval. :smile:

Meanwhile, with Allen and Hawkins withdrawing, it puts the draw in a new perspective... Allen was in the same quarter as Maguire and Dott, and Dott is currently 4-3 down to McLeod, so that little section could see a real outsider coming through. Hawkins' absence has left Fu as the big favourite in his part of the draw, but we know he can be unreliable sometimes, so that section could open up as well. :smile:

I will have to miss the start of the next session unfortunately. Will record Robertson and Hamilton, but I was hoping to keep an eye on Zhao Xintong's match as well, which is also televised. I'll hopefully be back for the climax though. :smile:

hello,new in here,i'v seen a few previews of yours,i very like it,it's very impressive.
odrl i mean~

Thank you, that's nice to hear. Welcome to the forum. :smile:

[Odrl]

On another note, I think all these withdrawals are quite poor, to be honest. I suspect most of them are a tactical choice, to avoid that final travel before the WC, which is fair enough, but they should have thought about that before and not entered this event in the first place!

And now we are left with a couple of really weak sections of the draw, while others have the likes of Robertson and Williams possibly meeting in the 2nd round. It's not exactly fair, is it? If this becomes a pattern, they should consider swapping this event with the World Open on the calendar, because it certainly doesn't deserve this weakened field.

[gavpowell]

I like the idea around this, maybe someone like hugo boss

Yeah, why not have the players use the same tailor as the Nazis? Great idea!

[JIMO96]

On another note, I think all these withdrawals are quite poor, to be honest. I suspect most of them are a tactical choice, to avoid that final travel before the WC, which is fair enough, but they should have thought about that before and not entered this event in the first place!

And now we are left with a couple of really weak sections of the draw, while others have the likes of Robertson and Williams possibly meeting in the 2nd round. It's not exactly fair, is it? If this becomes a pattern, they should consider swapping this event with the World Open on the calendar, because it certainly doesn't deserve this weakened field.

It's a rotten situation for the organisers, the fact that there've been so many withdrawals. All of the following factors have come together to contribute to this:

- this event has no bearing on the seedings for the World Championship
- this event is sandwiched between 2 UK events, one of which replaced an Asian event at the last minute
- qualifying for this STILL takes place in the UK, several months before
- regarding the 3rd point above, the Indian Open set a precedent for the amount of withdrawals this week I feel: in India there were multiple withdrawals, yet all of them kept their prize money and ranking points, effectively inviting any player who wishes to withdraw from future tournaments, to do so unpunished.

Particularly unimpressed by the withdrawal of Barry Hawkins, a player who beat a Chinese player in the qualifiers (in the UK), yet for whatever reason, has failed to make the trip to China. The qualifying system is a joke, and overwhelmingly biased in favour of UK players. And people have the audacity to complain about wildcards......

[DeanH]

session just started, and I have to ask (and hope Eurosport and BBC people make note) why oh why are the commentators at different levels, one is always quieter than the other (or one is louder than the other )
I thought that is was just Eurosport but noticed BBC did the same as well during the Welsh where even in those ear-pieces, one was so low that often could not make out what they were saying without turning them up and getting the evil look from the ref!

[cyberheater]

Particularly unimpressed by the withdrawal of Barry Hawkins, a player who beat a Chinese player in the qualifiers (in the UK), yet for whatever reason

He is probably thinking I've just won £100,000. Doesn't need any prize money or ranking points from this event so didn't fancy traveling. I really can't blame him. Especially if he has family.

[JIMO96]

He is probably thinking I've just won £100,000. Doesn't need any prize money or ranking points from this event so didn't fancy traveling. I really can't blame him. Especially if he has family.

That's probably right, and I didn't say I didn't understand why he withdrew, but his withdrawal highlights so many issues that World Snooker have with their qualifying structure. If a UK player travelled all the way to China, and was beaten by a wildcard, who then immediately withdraws, there would be mass calls for Barry Hearn to be sacked.

I say hold the qualifying (or better still the whole event in one go) in China itself. Players would make up their minds a lot quicker whether to play or not!