World Championship Qualifying

[tomw]

Let's hope so, that would be good (to use an understatement) for snooker in Belgium!

[nrage]

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...

I don't think that youtube clip shows the first attempt, but I can't be sure. My recollection, and the commentary make me think this is the 2nd attempt..

[Dubliner]

I don't think that youtube clip shows the first attempt, but I can't be sure. My recollection, and the commentary make me think this is the 2nd attempt..

yes ,i dont thinkn its the 1st attempt as there was less points difference between them on the 1st attempt.

[Dubliner]

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't[ATTACH=CONFIG]9944[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]9945[/ATTACH] thinks o.

Where you there watching the match live? The pictures you posted are of a club table so obviously you set the balls like this for an example.

If we could get a still from the video of the 1st attempt ,then we could make a better judgment on how the balls were to begin with, and i'm sure some player posters or even some pro's mights comment on if there was an actual route to get out of the snooker.

I know what your saying about the ref, he did make some mistakes with replacing the balls...

as another poster said, if brecel had escaped the 1st way he tried he would have left the red on...

possible escape (long shot still) play the white into the angle of left middle pocket to bring white into right side cussion and over to hit the red.

i suppose would be interesting to hear what the other pro ref's would have done here..?

[pottr]

I watched the game live.

There was enough room for the young lad to play the shot he attempted, but he made a mess of it on the first try.

The ref made an error in replacing the balls following the miss meaning the shot he'd settled on originally wasn't on. A human error, simple. Forgivable since Luca won though.

It should have been called a miss because he hit it within a few attempts of playing around the angles, which I was screaming at my laptop for him to do from the start.

Glad he won, Michael Holt was very disrespectful. Luca may have been fortunate with where he left his missed shots but you're not forced to leave your opponent anything. I think if Holt didn't act like such a colossal twat and maintained his composure, he would have won the tie comfortably,

I'd like to see Luca beat King but on that form he's got his work cut out for sure and will struggle to get 5 frames on the board. Hopefully he moves up the gears.

[nrage]

yes ,i dont thinkn its the 1st attempt as there was less points difference between them on the 1st attempt.

Dead right (why didn't I think to check the scores) IIRC the commentator said at one stage that Luca was in fact ahead before the first escape, but he might have been wrong about that. I think Holt was 1 point ahead, and if you take 7 points off Holt's score (1 foul on the black) that would make sense.

[Odrl]

I watched the game live.

Did you hear what was being said as they were replacing the balls? Did Holt oppose Brecel's suggestion to put the black further away from the cushion?

[pottr]

Yes, the ref was stuck in the middle.

Even the commentator alluded to the fact that he thought Luca was being hard done by.

[FOXMULDER]

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.

No, he would get the 5000 points he needs by reaching the Quarter Final.

Anyway, he will get the wildcard.

[jonplayer]

What struck me was that in the next frame when Luca fluked a snooker that was really easy to get out of Holt spent about 30 seconds smiling and shaking his head like he couldn't believe his bad luck!! He was only still in the match because of a fluke snooker!
In contrast the whole time Luca was trying to escape from that horrible snooker (and battling with the balls being miss-placed) he was calm and relaxed. He didn't bemoan the situation but simply tried to escape from it. Full respect to Luca, If I was his age in that position I would have smeared the balls all over the table and told the ref to "sort that lot out". Tragic that once again Holt has let his attitude get in the way.

[Rane]

No, he would get the 5000 points he needs by reaching the Quarter Final.

Anyway, he will get the wildcard.

He needs to go to the semifinal.

[JP1]

I disagree - if Luca gets a fair go and a competent referee he will go past King, his natural ability will take him over the line especially in a longer match like this 19f qualifier. One thing can be said about Michael Holt, he is a loser and he will always be a loser, you can be sure that at his age Luca Brecel wont have to hack around qualifiers to get into tournaments.

I watched the game live.

There was enough room for the young lad to play the shot he attempted, but he made a mess of it on the first try.

The ref made an error in replacing the balls following the miss meaning the shot he'd settled on originally wasn't on. A human error, simple. Forgivable since Luca won though.

It should have been called a miss because he hit it within a few attempts of playing around the angles, which I was screaming at my laptop for him to do from the start.

Glad he won, Michael Holt was very disrespectful. Luca may have been fortunate with where he left his missed shots but you're not forced to leave your opponent anything. I think if Holt didn't act like such a colossal twat and maintained his composure, he would have won the tie comfortably,

I'd like to see Luca beat King but on that form he's got his work cut out for sure and will struggle to get 5 frames on the board. Hopefully he moves up the gears.

[PatBlock]

Very good mini-session from Jamie Jones, he's 4 - 0 up on Walden and deservedly so.

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[PatBlock]

I disagree - if Luca gets a fair go and a competent referee he will go past King, his natural ability will take him over the line especially in a longer match like this 19f qualifier. One thing can be said about Michael Holt, he is a loser and he will always be a loser, you can be sure that at his age Luca Brecel wont have to hack around qualifiers to get into tournaments.

You haven't got a few quid on Luka by any chance have you JP1?

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[armstm]

Seems harsh. I wouldn't call him a loser, he played some very nice snooker and made a couple of pressure clearances. I did think he should have had a go at the pink in the final frame.