Snooker fanatics will be in utopia for the next month as the World Championship takes place later in the month. The tournament is preceded by the qualifying event, beginning on Wednesday, which is held in Ponds Forge in Sheffield, tantalisingly close to the Crucible Theatre itself where the main event will be held.
The Format
128 players make up the qualifying competition. They are the players ranked 17-128 in the world rankings with 16 invited players. The draw has been made and everyone goes into the event knowing they must win three best of 19 matches to line up at the Crucible later in the month. In terms of looking at the draw it can be split into 16 mini tournaments or groups to find out the path to success for each player.
Group 1
Top seed Mark Williams is in this section of the draw. He has to overcome the heartache of losing the China Open final which had he won he wouldn’t have needed to go through qualifying. The seven men looking to stop him are Zhao Xintong, Liam Highfield, Andres Petrov, Stuart Carrington, Alex Borg, Andrew Higginson and Michael Georgiou so while you would expect Williams to qualify this is a competitive group.
Group 2
Tom Ford is the main seed in this section but there are a number of capable opponents for him to battle past to make it to the Crucible. Matt Selt is the highest ranked opponent for him but Chris Wakelin has a win over Ronnie O’Sullivan to his name this season and Hossein Vafaei has just made the China Open semis. Jamie Bodle, Elliot Slessor, David John and Hatem Yassim make up the group.
Group 3
German Masters champion Anthony Hamilton is the top seed in this group but he also faces some tough tests to go all the way. Matthew Stevens’ pedigree in this tournament is strong while Robin Hull is no stranger to qualifying for this either. Noppon Saengkham, Jak Jones, Lee Walker, Reanne Evans and Craig Steadman will be looking to make a name for themselves and earn big cheques.
Group 4
This group is all about Stephen Maguire who sets out to qualify for the main event having come three wins from automatic qualification in China. Mike Dunn is ranked to be his toughest test but LI Hang, Nigel Bond, Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn, Fraser Patrick, Andy Hicks and Ng On Yee will have something to say about that.
Group 5
Northern Ireland Open winner Mark King will be expected to qualify from here but in Sam Baird, Xiao Guodong and Zhang Anda he could have had an easier route through. Ross Vallance, Tyler Rees, Fang Xiongman and Paul Davison will be out to win a few quid.
Group 6
Ben Woollaston heads the list of names in this section. He should come through this group but Ken Doherty is a former winner fighting for his tour life and Zhou Yuelong can beat anyone. Ian Burns, Ian Preece, Christopher Keogan, Jason Weston and Chris Totten are the others in this group.
Group 7
Former world champion Graeme Dott looks to make it through from this group. He is often better in the longer formats but he’ll have to be with Jamie Jones, Alfie Burden and Dechawat Poomjaeng around. Adam Duffy and Chen Zhe are lowly ranked players who are capable of upsetting a few while Jamie Barrett and Allan Taylor will dream of making it through too.
Group 8
Dave Gilbert is the man expected to come through this portion of the draw and he has been helped by his first round opponent Patrick Wallace withdrawing before the event. Fergal O’Brien looks to be the biggest danger but Tian Pengfei and Rhys Clark will look to dispute that. Zhang Yong, Gerard Greene and Wayne Townsend are hoping for big runs.
Group 9
It is a surprise to see Joe Perry having to qualify for the tournament but he does and this is the group he’ll have to do it from. Mei Xi Wen, Akani Songsermsawad, Zack Richardson, Mark Joyce, David Grace, Jordan Brown and Thor Chuan Leong are the men looking to deny ‘the Gent’ his Crucible spot.
Group 10
Luca Brecel hasn’t had the best of seasons but he can make up for that if he comes out of this section. Dominic Dale wasn’t a player the Belgian would have wanted to come up against though and neither would former semi-finalist Joe Swail have been. Daniel Wells is another danger too. Sean O’Sullivan, Sanderson Lam, Boonyarit Kaettikun and Adam Stefanow will be out to show they’re not making up numbers.
Group 11
This looks a talented group with Michael White the main expected to prevail but Thepchaiya Un-Nooh rates as a huge danger. Gary Wilson is another who knows his way around the table while Ross Muir will be looking for a big week. Josh Boileau, Peter Lines, Gareth Allen and Aditya Mehta will be out to cause upsets.
Group 12
Ricky Walden should be the man to come through this part of the draw but Kurt Maflin will certainly have something to say about that. Rory McLeod, Martin O’Donnell, Darryl Hill, Sydney Wilson, Jackson Page and Hammad Miah will all look to make names for themselves.
Group 13
It would be a surprise if Michael Holt doesn’t make it through to the main draw but in Jack Lisowski and Peter Ebdon he would have a couple of significant rivals to overcome. Jamie Cope, Eden Sharav, Hamza Akbar, Michael Wild and the Whirlwind himself Jimmy White will all be dreaming of a Crucible appearance.
Group 14
Last year’s semi-finalist Alan McManus will need to repeat his heroics of 12 months ago and win three matches in this group if he is to have another go at the world title. He’ll have to overcome the likes of Rod Lawler, Oliver Lines and Jimmy Robertson to do that. Xu Si, Cao Yupeng, Duane Jones and Kurt Dunham make up the group.
Group 15
This is a fiercely competitive group. Robert Milkins is the seeded player in it but it also contains Welsh Open semi-finalist Scott Donaldson, Chinese star Yan Bingtao and Championship League runner-up Mark Davis. Sam Craigie, Mitchell Mann, Wang Yuchen and Alexander Ursenbacher will be looking to enhance their reputations.
Group 16
The final group is headed by Martin Gould who will be eager for a Crucible return. If he is to get there then Robbie Williams, Yu Delu, John Astley, James Cahill, Itaro Santos, Igor Figueiredo and James Wattana are the men who will have to be disposed of.
Betting
There are three groups I like to attack here. One is a favourite and the other two bets are in groups where there are vulnerable favourites that are there to be taken on.
The favourite I like comes in the form of Michael White in group 11. White has found his feet in recent months and he needed to in fairness. In the China Open recently he banged in three centuries in a first round match before beating Ali Carter. He then lost to Shaun Murphy but there is no harm in that. Un-Nooh is a danger on his day but he’s not had many days this season whereas Gary Wilson’s form isn’t that strong. The 13/8 on White progressing looks good to me.
In group two Tom Ford looks vulnerable to me and I say that because both Matt Selt and Hossein Vafaei are competent players and the latter is the man I like at an overpriced 7/2. Had he not had visa issues earlier in the campaign he would be a lot better thought of than he is but we saw in his win over Judd Trump in the China Open how well he can play and with the relaxation of the longer format I expect his class to come to the fore here.
The other bet comes in group 15 where Rob Milkins is an easy man to take on. The top part of this group looks like a minefield in itself but Milkins will run into Scott Donaldson in the second round where I fancy the Scot will be too solid for him and he can then outlast whoever comes through the top bit to make it through to the Crucible. We’ve seen Donaldson trouble the best this season and the extended format should play into his hands here.
Tips
Back M.White to qualify for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Coral
Back H.Vafaei to qualify for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Coral
Back S.Donaldson to qualify for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Coral
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