World Championship 2009 [provisional discussion]

[Matt_2745]

Routine stuff for Li Hang, looking forward to seeing how he does in the first round proper. Had such a good season and it would be nice if he good win a few matches here too.

I'm going to head over to the EIS either tomorrow or Saturday, can't quite decide which yet...

[Matt_2745]

Knowles pulled back to 9-9...

[dannyd0g]

the 'old boy' has edged through now, 10-9 to Knowles.

[rivercard]

After the surprisingly big interest for the prelim stage (quite a few of us would even watch it on live stream if possible) and this win from Tony Knowles, I think it would be a good idea from the WSA to hold a proper 'wildcard event' for the WC. They could include the WSA coaches as usual and they could invite some former pros, who are still playing at a decent enough level, and want to play. The WSA could also invite lets say the top 3 of the PIOS, and perhaps even the women's world champion. I think they could fill 16 places easily, maybe even more. Then the "first four" (so the semi-finalists), or more could have a go against Main Tour players like this year.

So basically apart from the WSA coaches/Knowles we could have a field with players like these:

Kirk Stevens
Alex Higgins
Tony Drago
Darren Morgan
Mike Hallett
Dean Reynolds
James Wattana
Bjorn Haneveer
Craig Steadman
Shokat Ali
Reanne Evans
etc.

I think there would be some interest for an event like that, and the winners might stand a chance against some of the lower ranked pros and would draw some audience for the qualifying rounds as well.

[Jules_USA]

9-6 now.

TBH im very surprised. Even if TK still does have his good days which im sure he must do as he was a major talent after all, but his best years are almost 30 years behind him. He hasnt even competed on the PIOS for a few years. I find it surprising he is playing well enough to be leading a main tour player. Unless the standard lower down on the main tour really isnt that high.

Ofcourse I may be reading too much into this though. Its just one match after all. And you cant assume too much about relative standards from that.

I wouldn't say 30 years behind him. Perhaps, if you're being kind, 20-25. (He seemed to disappear around the time Hendry appeared and was still a great player in the late 1980s, though his best years were 1982-87).

I've been following Knowlesy's opening three matches on live scoring. (Yes, I had nothing better to do.) And I notice a marked improvement.

In his first match, his best break was a mighty 23.

Then in his second match, he played Phil Heaton (who he?) and after losing the first two frames, came back very strongly, particularly in one of the frames where he scored a 31 and a 49 (clearance).

Today though against a better opponent than he'd faced yesterday, the cobwebs were really shaken off. He hit a 52 early on then followed that up with five 40s and an 84.

The more table time he gets, the better he will get. Yesterday, he could barely make four balls in a row. Today, much more like old times.

This is a bloke who only plays pro snooker once a year now and probably doesn't practise very often. Not sure who Goggins is, but over 19 frames, Knowlesy (even at 53) should be a match for most of the journeymen.

Like Jimmy's draw too. He won't have any problems tomorrow. Potential minefields with McLeod and Hicks but, again, over 19 frames, too classy a player for these people.

[Alex0paul]

The bizarre thing is Knowles will gain no ranking points for this event. He could in theory win the whole thing and have to rely on a wildcard to even play on the main tour next season. Maybe there is a hollywood script in there somewhere.

[Jules_USA]

The bizarre thing is Knowles will gain no ranking points for this event. He could in theory win the whole thing and have to rely on a wildcard to even play on the main tour next season. Maybe there is a hollywood script in there somewhere.

Haha. That's funny. The last I heard of TK was that he was running a pub somewhere and playing in his local pool league. He was a very fluent player back in the day, with a smooth cue action.

Great in among the balls. I remember he used to hate playing Silvino Francisco for some reason - complained that SF was lucky and had no cue ball control whatsoever. True, of course.

[spike]

Nice to see Tony Knowles run into some kind of form today and scrape through. Well done Tony!

[jw147]

well done tony!

imagine if he went on and qualified for the world!



and

best of luck to the whirlwind tomorrow...:snooker:

[spike]

Yes it would be great to see them both qualify for the Crucible, but that's asking a bit much i feel. Yeah good luck Jimmy give it your best!

[Forman]

All looks to be normal to me, the schedule is like this.

maybe it was live scoring that wasnt working, it was showing bill kelly vs david singh and phil seaton vs philip minchin in progress, the scores were ticking over.
no sign of any of thursdays matches

[Forman]

first win of the season for chris mcbreen

[spike]

Yeah very well Done Chris.

[JiangYu]

I'm just curious. Do you guys know these players and what they're like playing? I've never seen a qualifier match before - don't think they show them - and most of those people I don't even know at all but you guys seem to know what they're like just like the regular tour players.

[JohnPizzapan]

Well JiangYu I've never heard of Phil Seaton, McLeod before this very topic. I believe they're basing their judgment off the rankings and off previous performances. Might be wrong though...

Yeah you're right Qualifiers aren't broadcasted anywhere.