World Championship Qualifying

[Dubliner]

Can someone get a still of video of the original snooker?

It didnt look like brecel could make the shot he 1st tried, and if it was on there was barely enough room for the ball to squeeze thru.

When he did hit it, i missed him playing the shot, but i know the white came down the table and hit the red fullish, so it looked like he hit the top cush with side ,now at 1st it didnt look like this was on but obviously it was...

holts view is brecel played the wrong shot each time and thats why he put it back...regardless of that, even in some cases where the miss rule seems alittle unfair, its not really the players fault is it? I mean any player could be on the wrong side of one of these decisions so if it happens to be in your favour then you got to take it.

i dont agree with you jp1 that holt was unsporting....maby just used his expericence giving his opinion of where he thought the black was? i mean if the referee is incompetant then he could have put the black back in favour of brecel or holt...

i dont know holt or the ref personally, maby he is not the best ref going , i dont know, but jp why dont you back your arguement up with examples of the ref's incompetance instead of making references to how big he is?

[Dubliner]

I didn't see the match......why are people criticizing Holt's attitude? Did he have a meltdown or something?

Brecel was in a very tough snooker, when replacing the black holt had a word with the ref of where he thought the black was...some people thought he was trying to get an advantage..

in my opinion i dont think he was trying to get an advantage...i suppose he is more experience than brecel, maby brecel should have insisted on black being slight different, its very hard to say just from watching the stream of it..

bottom line was ...holt got a lucky snooker that was sh*t hard to get out of...he put it back as he was entitled to and like i believe all other pro's woudl have done as well

holt attitude seemed to be ok overall throughout the match..he defo let the pressure get to him in the last 2 frames..

all credit to the young man tho...after all that went on he kept his cool and wasnt afraid to win the game...and after all the drama in the match fair play to him...i hope it makes it thru now, i really enjoyed watching that match and he will be good for the game.

[FerruleFox]

Brecel was in a very tough snooker, when replacing the black holt had a word with the ref of where he thought the black was...some people thought he was trying to get an advantage..

in my opinion i dont think he was trying to get an advantage...i suppose he is more experience than brecel, maby brecel should have insisted on black being slight different, its very hard to say just from watching the stream of it..

bottom line was ...holt got a lucky snooker that was sh*t hard to get out of...he put it back as he was entitled to and like i believe all other pro's woudl have done as well

holt attitude seemed to be ok overall throughout the match..he defo let the pressure get to him in the last 2 frames..

all credit to the young man tho...after all that went on he kept his cool and wasnt afraid to win the game...and after all the drama in the match fair play to him...i hope it makes it thru now, i really enjoyed watching that match and he will be good for the game.

Thanks for the summary. Holt's always struggled with fulfilling his potential but I've never heard of him being unsportsmanlike. I was surprised to hear all the criticism.

It's nice to see Luca doing well. He's a very exciting young talent who could do well on the main tour.

[coomsey76]

It's good to see Luca get through and keep his head after a bit of controversy.......

I've watched him play a couple of times this week and I'm really impressed how much he has come on since I last saw him, he's a great talent!!

I wish him luck against King cause it would be ace to see him play at the crucible!!

[JP1]

That is not the point, it does not matter what Holt thinks, HE IS NOT THE REFEREE if you watched the match live you would have seen that Holt insisted/influenced the referee to come to a decision that benefited him by having the balls incorrectly replaced to make it more difficult for Luca Brecel, this shows either total gutlessness or bias on the referees part, in the situation with one red left and the frame and match at a knifes edge, no referee in the world would call a foul and a miss on a snooker such as this, what the rule requires is for the referee to be satisfied that player B did not make a serious attempt at striking the ball on, the snooker which was obtained by playing a push shot and was as you correctly point out a fluke, was in the bracket of "un-hitable" and hence should only have been called a foul, Holt could then have chosen to play the ball from where it finished or request Brecel to play the shot again.
Alan Chamberlain has a very similar situation in a match he refereed only a few weeks earlier, also only one red left with the frame delicately poised, Alan correctly called a foul but NO MISS This debacle with Pete Williamson who even struggles to get the balls back in position and to post the correct scores must not be allowed to be repeated, retire him he is obviously not up to it. And that really is the best anyone can say about him.

Can someone get a still of video of the original snooker?

It didnt look like brecel could make the shot he 1st tried, and if it was on there was barely enough room for the ball to squeeze thru.

When he did hit it, i missed him playing the shot, but i know the white came down the table and hit the red fullish, so it looked like he hit the top cush with side ,now at 1st it didnt look like this was on but obviously it was...

holts view is brecel played the wrong shot each time and thats why he put it back...regardless of that, even in some cases where the miss rule seems alittle unfair, its not really the players fault is it? I mean any player could be on the wrong side of one of these decisions so if it happens to be in your favour then you got to take it.

i dont agree with you jp1 that holt was unsporting....maby just used his expericence giving his opinion of where he thought the black was? i mean if the referee is incompetant then he could have put the black back in favour of brecel or holt...

i dont know holt or the ref personally, maby he is not the best ref going , i dont know, but jp why dont you back your arguement up with examples of the ref's incompetance instead of making references to how big he is?

[SnookerFan]

Wouldn't it be immense of Luca Brecel qualified for The Crucible? Partly because he's young, talented and Belgian. Also, because Mark King is a bit of a tit.

[JP1]

I agree, let's hope Luca Brecel get's a decent referee this time, hard enough to beat your opponent without having to beat the referee as well.
Justice prevailed this time, but that doe snot make it right what Pete Williamson did and Barry Heran will need tolook into this.
For those that have not seen the match here are two pictures, A - shows the situation Brecel found himself in, as you can see the red is impossible to hit even with the long stuff and tons of side, far to close to the black, the only shot left was the one he played raising the cue and attempting to get between black and cushion to reach the red, the distance of black from cushion was 1-1/2 balls width or about 75mm

Picture B - shows where Hold demanded that Pete Williamson places the balls, again it requires little to see that this completely closed the door to the shot Luca attempted, his subsequent round the table attempt hit first blue then green, both balls also totally incorrectly replaced by Williamson, which underlines his incompetence as he obviously had no idea where any of the balls where even seconds after they had been struck?? which is unbelievable.
Lucas eventual escape was only made possible by Williamson having replaced the green incorrectly to open the path to the red vis the bottom rail with check side, a freak shot really, and after 30+ penalty points awarded to Holt.

The mere fact that Williamson was unable to locate the original position is bad enough, but knowing this, how then can he justify calling a foul and a miss???

You are really only left with two possibilities, cheating or incompetence, and I ask you is either acceptable in the biggest tournament in snooker in the world? I don't001.jpg002.jpg think so.

[Capelito]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wABwCT2MyQ

Part of the Holt-Brecel incident, shame the whole thing isn't there..
I think it's quite bad descition to call a miss, but don't really think Holt is acting incorrect. And what about Brecel picking up a ball from pocket and using it to see how big gap there is? What does the rules say about that?

[Guy3103]

It was very ugly and I was sure this is going to have a bad impact on Luca going into the last and deciding frame... Holt definitely didn't deserve winning this and I'm very glad Luca ended up in the final qualifying round. The referee was a disaster that's for sure!!!!

[coomsey76]

The referee was a disaster that's for sure!!!!

It definitely wasn't the best refereeing in the world, I can't believe when the blue was hit and Holt asked for the balls to be replaced he then put back on its spot no were near it original position......Oops!!

[nrage]

You are really only left with two possibilities, cheating or incompetence, and I ask you is either acceptable in the biggest tournament in snooker in the world? I don't thinks [s]o.

Where did you get those images? From the live stream or.. (I'm just curious).

I too thought the balls were replaced incorrectly, with much less space below the black. It should have been obvious from Brecel's first choice of escape, which is reasonable (if hard) given situation A and a bit crazy given situation B. Once he was in situation B the only option was likely the one he eventually chose - which actually gave a better result than I believe he would have gotten, had his first attempt "worked". If he managed his first escape he was actually fairly likely to leave a pot on to the right corner.

It was obvious that the ref was having a hard time remembering where the balls needed to go back, just look at the blue later in that series of escapes - it was nowhere near where it needed to be.

Given that, he had to rely on the players and as it's not Holt's job to remember where the balls are, he could be forgiven for getting it wrong. I would not leap to accuse him of intentionally "cheating". As he is older and more experienced and likely has a more forceful personality than Luca (who by all accounts is fairly shy/quiet) it's no wonder the referee deferred to him. So, I don't think there was any cheating or corruption involved, but I do think Luca got the rough end of the stick in that situation.

Given that, it's a credit to Luca for the way he played the rest of the match. He didn't let his misfortune get the better of him, he just played his game and took the match.

So, I would be taking a hard look at the referee in terms of competence, but not corruption. Maybe he is no longer up to the job at hand, maybe it was a long day and he was tired, we are after all only human. As an aside, it's not like there are am surfeit of qualified referees just waiting to have a go.. so perhaps he is the best there is on offer.

[scapps42]

Just a quick question , will Luca Brecel be off the main tour next season as he is sure to finish outside the top 64 , or has he got a two year ticket?

[Capelito]

Where did you get those images? From the live stream or.. (I'm just curious).

Not really for me to answer, but by watching the youtube clip, wich not shows the first attempt, it is pretty obvious that the balls are not placed as in any of those pictures in the later attempts...

[tomw]

Just a quick question , will Luca Brecel be off the main tour next season as he is sure to finish outside the top 64 , or has he got a two year ticket?

No one has a two year ticket for the moment (yet).
If Luca finishes outside the top 64, he'll have to give Q School a go. I don't think he'll receive a wild card two years in a row...

But hey, he's still in the Worlds, he can still make the top 64! (although I don't know exactly how far he has to come...)

[eWil]

I think Brecel will need at least 5,000 points - which equals reaching the final... - to stand a chance of getting into the top 64.

However, if Brecel were to qualify for the Crucible as the youngest player ever this weekend, I see no reason why World Snooker would not offer him another wild card for next season.