Crucible First Round Draw

[PaulTheSoave]

It seems Worldsnooker is reading this forum as an announcement about the draw is made at 9.58 pm! does not say whether its live or just an announcement.

http://www.worldsnooker.com/tourname...8555%29-61.htm

[dannyd0g]

so the draw is defintaely going to be announced 24 hours after being made.

Looks like the bbc are being blamed for not wanting to show it live

http://www.snookerscene.blogspot.com/

I find that very pathetic and hard to believe. So the bbc are saying they cannot handle live events any more then.

[Valderie]

Seems ridiculous.
According to the Daily Mail yesterday it's because the Sports section doesn't have enough time! In the past few weeks they've been showing the presenters trying different sports taking at least 5-10minutes each day!
So whose decision is it - we'll never know!

[mcmanusrules]

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be an awful draw?
I can see the likes of O'Sullivan getting Delaney in the last 32, with Hamilton getting Ding...

[PaulTheSoave]

ROS will have to play Robertson second round if he will get that far, Dan!

[mcmanusrules]

Yeah, but everyone loves to see a crushing victory at Sheffield, and Delaney can't really put up a fight against Ronnie can he.

[davis_greatest]

I imagine that the reason for the one-day delay in announcing the draw is that it is logistically too complex to write 16 different names on different pieces of paper and draw them out in succession, in order to match them up with 16 seeds, without making an embarrassing balls-up. As last year's attempt proved, striving to extend the bounds of human endeavour on such a complex feat in front of live listeners / viewers is virtually certain to lead to the same name being drawn more than once.

[PaulTheSoave]

Davis greatest_man, You also have to consider they are still quite exhausted publishing the booking form in time, just 2 months ago. To organize a draw on such short notice is logistically compelling and cannot be expected from this well run organization.

[davis_greatest]

You speak wise words, PaulTheSoave. I have certainly not forgotten their formidable achievement in rushing out the booking form this year, barely 8 months after the 16 seeds were known, so quickly that I even received mine no more than 24 hours after the published deadline for priority applications. So for them to seek now to write down the names of the 16 qualifiers, or allocate them to the numbers 1-16 - in a mere five days following the end of the qualifying matches - sounds to me like sheer foolhardy madness. Impossible, I say!

[PaulTheSoave]

Not to speak of the tribulations this board has to deal with, concerning a certain Mr. Clive Everton. As I am a subscription member for only 2 months with snookerscene I was never aware of the continous battle this board has to fight with his biggest enemy. One has to put his priorities first, of course. A draw for The Worlds is nowhere near, upholding the impeckable reputation of the snookerboard!

Seems quite plausible why there are just a handful of ranking tournaments left. There is not simply time left to organize more. Fair to them, I would say!

[footygirl]

O.K here is the draw

Graeme Dott v Ian McCulloch
Anthony Hamilton v Marco Fu
Stephen Maguire v Joe Perry
Mark Williams v Joe Swail
John Higgins v Michael Holt
Barry Hawkins v Fergal O'Brien
Neil Robertson v Ryan Day
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ding Junhui
Ken Doherty v Mark Allen
Matthew Stevens v Joe Delaney
Steve Davis v John Parrott
Shaun Murphy v Judd Trump
Peter Ebdon v Nigel Bond
Stephen Lee v Mark Selby
Alistair Carter v Andy Hicks
Stephen Hendry v David Gilbert

O.K everyone stand by for the banter between Steve and John in the studio

[lagermike]

Anyone else smell a 'fix' with this year's draw?

Steve Davis v Parrott and Ronnie v Ding, come on people!!

O'Sullivan must think he is jinxed, he drew Stephen Maguire as well for 2 years running in 2004 and 2005.

I expect the Ding v Ronnie match could be the match of the tourney, shades of 2005 when Ronnie v Maguire was the match of the tourney that year.

[pat39]

I think this is one of the best first round draws I can remember. Hendry to beat Gilbert is the only match I would be confident of getting right (saying that Hendry lost to Bond last year). I honestly think the other 15 matches could go either way.

[davis_greatest]

Anyone else smell a 'fix' with this year's draw?

Steve Davis v Parrott and Ronnie v Ding, come on people!!

O'Sullivan must think he is jinxed, he drew Stephen Maguire as well for 2 years running in 2004 and 2005.

I expect the Ding v Ronnie match could be the match of the tourney, shades of 2005 when Ronnie v Maguire was the match of the tourney that year.

I agree that it's a shame that the "Final" that everyone wanted to see will instead happen in the first round. I was looking forward to seeing Davis humbling Parrott 18-2, 18-1, or perhaps even 18-0 in the Final this time around.

[footygirl]

O.K here is the draw

Graeme Dott v Ian McCulloch
Anthony Hamilton v Marco Fu
Stephen Maguire v Joe Perry
Mark Williams v Joe Swail
John Higgins v Michael Holt
Barry Hawkins v Fergal O'Brien
Neil Robertson v Ryan Day
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ding Junhui
Ken Doherty v Mark Allen
Matthew Stevens v Joe Delaney
Steve Davis v John Parrott
Shaun Murphy v Judd Trump
Peter Ebdon v Nigel Bond
Stephen Lee v Mark Selby
Alistair Carter v Andy Hicks
Stephen Hendry v David Gilbert

O.K everyone stand by for the banter between Steve and John in the studio

Right let's make some score predictions