Ssb - eight wildcards for china open

[Mr P]

He is a much more mature player though. Anyway, these wildcards are a joke if you ask me.

[ore]

He is a much more mature player though. Anyway, these wildcards are a joke if you ask me.

Don't you worry so much, they should fare way better than local players against pros in the world series . In recent China-based events wildcards did not cause much of shame for themselves/china/snooker, did they? So why should it be different this time? And if it's going to attract more local viewers, why not (maybe a bit of jimmy white argument, still why not ).
Besides, wildcards play ~top50-96 players not top8 at once.

What if in some 20-30 years main tour gonna be located in China mostly, with some 2/3 of top16 from Asia, and UK-based event gonna have 8 wildcards (1 welsh, 1 NIT, 2 scottish, 1 irish, rest english)

[missneworleans]

Don't you worry so much, they should fare way better than local players against pros in the world series . In recent China-based events wildcards did not cause much of shame for themselves/china/snooker, did they? So why should it be different this time? And if it's going to attract more local viewers, why not (maybe a bit of jimmy white argument, still why not ).
Besides, wildcards play ~top50-96 players not top8 at once.

What if in some 20-30 years main tour gonna be located in China mostly, with some 2/3 of top16 from Asia, and UK-based event gonna have 8 wildcards (1 welsh, 1 NIT, 2 scottish, 1 irish, rest english)

LOL
I hope that never happens though

[Odrl]

He is a much more mature player though. Anyway, these wildcards are a joke if you ask me.

I don't see any evidence that Trump is a better player now than he was last season. He was very impressive in the qualifiers last season, at least up to the WC, but it's been a bit of a struggle this year. He's also been nowhere near a SF appearance, which was his best result last season. The only positive for him recently is his play in shot-clock snooker, but that's hardly an improvement, if you consider that he already won the Championship League last year.

As for the wildcards being a joke... I couldn't disagree more. The wildcards in the Chinese events haven't been a joke for a long time.

The example in last year's China Open illustrates exactly why we need them. David Gray needed to beat Tian Pengfei in the wildcard round, and then Marco Fu in the 1st round proper to stay on the Main Tour. Tian beat him 5-1, and also beat Fu 5-2, before losing to John Higgins.

There is a bunch of cases where one of the Asian wildcards beat a lesser qualifier, and then held his own against a top16 player in the next round. Some of them manage to qualify for the Main Tour, like Xiao Guodong did through the PIOS tour. But the problem is that the main qualifying channel that awards the most MT places is completely based in the UK, and a lot of players don't have the luxury to compete on that. That's why it's essential to have these wildcard rounds in the non-UK events, to get a proper perspective of what the balance of talented players around the world is really like. Some of these players seem to be stuck at this wildcard status forever, like Yu Delu for example. And Tian Pengfei was there again for the Shanghai Masters, and yet again he won his match, against Andrew Higginson no less.

But when the time comes to award the wildcards for the Main Tour, these players seem to be overlooked in favour of the likes of Gray, or even lesser players whom you wouldn't normally see in the TV stages, but have had every chance of securing their places on merit.

So I would be very much against the idea of abandoning the wildcard rounds at the Chinese events. There are a couple of things that need to happen first... A PIOS-type competition needs to be established in Asia, to award a couple of MT places for the players who don't have the means to play as amateurs in the UK. And secondly, the Asian ranking events should have the qualifiers played in Asia, to give the Asian players the same advantage that the European players have now. Only then would there be no more reason to hold a wildcard round.

[wildJONESEYE]

No. But alot can change in a year you know. Trump is a miles better player now.

christ sake what evidence you got to say trump better player this year....

he has been useless with a capital U.

[superaussie]

christ sake what evidence you got to say trump better player this year....

he has been useless with a capital U.

spot on

[matoski]

I don't see Liu Chuang in the wildcard players. After droping off the main tour we've never heard from him again.
And i can see Jimmy White didn't take chinese passport as well

[Mr P]

Maybe if he isn't a better player, he has matured alot more now and if you look at the players he has had to play in the first round of major tournaments, then he could be forgiven for not being that successful this season. Thanks for the inputs into your replies Ore and the chap who posted above you.

Wwildeye or whatever, try to back your thoughts up huh?

[Looki]

Standard of Chinese wildcards has been pretty good. I remember one particular wildcard in 2005, he won the whole tournament. You never know what's going to happen..

[ore]

Thanks for the inputs into your replies Ore and the chap who posted above you.

But you posted above me?

@ Looki: good point
Got scared Drago might end up not meeting Perry, chinese got way more of discipline and can play with rest...

[missneworleans]

Mark Davis gets Tian Pengfei! Must be sweet

[superaussie]

Mark Davis gets Tian Pengfei! Must be sweet

for who that seems a tough one to call

[April madness]

Mark Davis gets Tian Pengfei! Must be sweet

Would you care to explain what do you mean by "sweet"? I am just confused by that, is it gay or what

[superaussie]

would you care to explain what do you mean by "sweet"? I am just confused by that, is it gay or what

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[khizzy]

tian goes to every amateur tournament as the favourite but messes uo somewhere in the group stages or early knockouts,i feel he is a bit over confident,but the chap is a class player.

supoj:not impressive at all.

manan chandra:fantastic player,ex pro,but i'd rather fancy having aditya mehta being given the wildcard