Dafabet Northern Ireland Open

[the lone wolf]

Who would of predicted this last 16 line up?
Great to watch and great to see...

[JimMalone]

Round of last 16:

Yan (#37) - Day (#18)
Walden (#22) - Milkins (#34)
Tian (#62) - Wakelin (#63)
Highfield (#70) - Lyu (#105)

G. Wilson (#57) - Li Yuan (#101)
Craigie (#81) - Slessor (#82)
Dunn (#46) - Perry (#23)
M. Williams (#17) - Gilbert (#25)

I'm pretty sure we all predicted this correctly?

[ADR147]

good chance for dave gilbert to show what he can do. he might be the best player not to have won one.

[sealer]

Perry is the man!

[Caldas147]

I'm rooting for Yan Bingtao to win this tornament.
I think he have good chances against Day, pretty young and showing a awesome talent.

[JimMalone]

I'm rooting for Yan Bingtao to win this tornament.
I think he have good chances against Day, pretty young and showing a awesome talent.

I'd love this as well.

[throtts]

Yan the man for me too, bud....

[crocodile]

Round of last 16:

Yan (#37) - Day (#18)
Walden (#22) - Milkins (#34)
Tian (#62) - Wakelin (#63)
Highfield (#70) - Lyu (#105)

G. Wilson (#57) - Li Yuan (#101)
Craigie (#81) - Slessor (#82)
Dunn (#46) - Perry (#23)
M. Williams (#17) - Gilbert (#25)

I'm pretty sure we all predicted this correctly?

So Lyu and Li Yuan must be in a with a good chance of winning!

[crocodile]

Meanwhile Mark Williams is through to the round of 16. I'm beginning to think that he will win his first ranking title since the 2011 German Masters this week. At least this seems like a good opportunity. The only player left, where he would not be the favorite on paper is John Higgins.

No, he'll probably be the next "big" name to be booted out .... ! What a tournament!

[DeanH]

good chance for dave gilbert to show what he can do. he might be the best player not to have won one.

as said before, I have a small soft spot for David Gilbert as he was the first pro player I saw when I went to my first pro event , and would certainly like to see him show what he can do.

But the full list has so many players that I would not mind lifting the trophy - I am just going to sit back and enjoy the matches

[crocodile]

As far I remember it he didn't even enter the event. Along with Mark Selby and Ding Junhui.

And for a good reason too - they realised that they'd probably be kicked out within the first three rounds (see the last 16 lineup) ....

[JimMalone]

And for a good reason too - they realised that they'd probably be kicked out within the first three rounds (see the last 16 lineup) ....

I wasn't surprised by Ding and Selby choosing not to play. Ding seems only to play the top events and Selby also takes a tournament off from time to time and he didn't play at Belfast last year as well, so I guess this tournament doesn't really fit in his personal calendar, which makes kinda sense after China and before the UK Championship.

But I was a bit surprised by Gouldy not entering. Didn't see any report why he did so.

[DeanH]

Ding was medical was it not?
conjunctivitis IIRC

[JimMalone]

Ding was medical was it not?
conjunctivitis IIRC

Definitely at the Shanghai Masters. Don't know if this was the reason for Northern Ireland as well.
I wouldn't have been surprised if he had skipped Belfast regardless. But it's true that he has played here last year.

[OmaMiesta]

Great win for Slessor but not too surprised at the outcome. Bo7 are truly any mans game, how often do we see lower ranked players beating the top 16 regularly in bo7?