Shanghai Masters 2009 - Qualifyers and WC round discussions

[spike]

Jimmy White is one of a number of pros sat watching the awful Wattana v Sangnil match

Who are the others?

[Alex0paul]

Who are the others?

Only got a brief glimpse but recognised Jimmy and Simon Bedford. Presume the others were as they were youngish guys

[dannyd0g]

Jimmy White is one of a number of pros sat watching the awful Wattana v Sangnil match

Maybe Wattana is an old mate of Jimmys, and Jimmy's there to support him, or maybe theres just not much else to do at Pontins Prestatyn.

[Looki]

M. White beat Lee Page 5-2. Good job!

[João]

What happened on Tony Drago's match then? Did he really won 5-0 or Li Hang didn't show up at all?

[bongo]

What happened on Tony Drago's match then? Did he really won 5-0 or Li Hang didn't show up at all?

I think Li Hang had visa problems.

[rivercard]

I think Li Hang had visa problems.

Yes, probably visa problems as Mei Xiwen didn't show up either.

[wildJONESEYE]

Yes, probably visa problems as Mei Xiwen didn't show up either.

or they been held back as wild cards in shanghai....

[Matt_2745]

Janie said earlier in the thread that it's a visa issue.

[wildJONESEYE]

Janie said earlier in the thread that it's a visa issue.

yes i read it .....

its also Been mentioned That Wenbo is having visa troubles and his match will be played at the venue in shanghai....

question how the bloody hell are there visa troubles in 2009 ?????

suerly getting thoes through these days should be easier than ever....incompitance is rife in britain...

[Matt_2745]

Yeah and it's not as if it's the first time either. Don't know enough about the system to really criticise though I guess but it appears to be a strange thing to be happening these days.

[JanieWatkins]

Janie will confirm again that the Chinese lads have visas problems. We've still got same problems with Thailand, Mongolia and China players on the PIOS.

Over the last couple of years WSA, together with representatives from the Academy have met with British Home Office officials to try and get the visa problems sorted once and for all.

The PIOS is usually the difficult one because on the pro tour the players apply for a work permit, which backs up their visa applications.

But on the PIOS they're not professionals so it can't, strictly speaking, be described as work, and it's not a holiday either!

I am a tad confused about the Wenbo situation. The Chinese lads told me this morning Wenbo has no visa. Last week WSA told us categorically that no matches were being held over.

But then late this afternoon sometime their website was changed to say match held over to China.

Draw your own conclusions from that. It should always have been held over. It was last year and Wenbo was a round further back last year so had two matches held over.

I can't think of any easy solution to visa problems, which sometimes originate from the home country and sometimes from the country the players are hoping to visit.

We get it all the time in IBSF events. Although it's more rare that it would happen in a European or Asian event as there doesn't tend to be a problem within a region.

[wildhoney28]

Intreresting that Xiao,Tchepchayia,Anda and few more Asians did not have any visa problems.
Are more precaucious?

[JanieWatkins]

Originally I came on to mention today's play!

The match between Patrick Wallace and his NI "prodigy" Jordan Brown was a fantastic match. Very high quality, 3 centuries in the match. and Jordan lost the match by one point on the final black...

Michael White and Lee Spick both scored extremely well in their matches. Lee won the speed award of the day though.

As I mentioned in my news report on Global Snooker, Ian Preece hasn't been well all summer. He's got some stomach problem and the doctors can't make up their minds what it is. He's lost a lot of weight. He didn't look well today for sure and he's due to go to hospital soon to get it sorted.

Bjorn Haneveer went over the handlebars of his bike on a ride recently. Smashed his head against a log, knocked himself out, broke his shoulder.
He has three metal plates in his shoulder and pins to hold the whole lot together.
He played remarkably well today under those circumstances. There's a few shots he just can't play at the moment, like raising the cue up to strike down on a ball, or over an obstructing ball etc.

Apart from that everyone reported fit and well on day one.

[JanieWatkins]

Intreresting that Xiao,Tchepchayia,Anda and few more Asians did not have any visa problems.
Are more precaucious?

There doesn't seem to be any reason why some Chinese players are having a problem and others aren't having a problem.

Thepchaiya is from Thailand anyway and he and Noppadol and James Wattana have had no problem, whereas Suriya and Thaniwat haven't had their through for the PIOS.

For China, Liu chuang has missed two pios events because of no visa already.
It may be that some just left their visa applications too late to get them through, whereas Xiao and Anda have been in the country for a while I think.