We have had to wait a little longer than usual this year but the World Championship will complete the snooker season later this month, and the qualifying competition to fill the remaining places in the draw at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield begins on Tuesday.
128 players will start off the qualifying tournament with the dream of being one of the 16 players to come through and compete at the home of snooker to finish their season. We have some really big names in the qualifying field this year so we’re in for a dramatic eight days. Before we get stuck into daily previews for the matches, we’ll attack the outright options.
The Format
It is a 128 player event but this competition should be thought of as 16 eight player tournaments with each tournament winner progressing to take their place in the main draw. The first round sees those ranked 81-128 in the world and the 16 invited players battling it out. The 32 winners then progress to take on players ranked 49-80. Those winners go through to meet someone ranked 17-48 in the third round and the 32 winners from that round meet in the final round with the winners going into the main draw. The first three rounds of the tournament are the best of 11 frames with the final round the traditional best of 19.
Group 1
Joe Perry is the highest ranked player who hasn’t qualified for the main draw automatically and as a result he sits in Group 1 and will be the man to beat. Tian Pengfei is seeded as the next highest player in this group but it remains to be seen how any of the Chinese players get on. The other six players in the field will all be looking to pull off big upsets with Jamie Clarke and Sunny Akani the two men to bypass the opening round. Mitchell Mann, Paul Davison, Lukas Kleckers and Sydney Wilson are the four players who will need to win four matches to progress.
Group 2
This is a very competitive group where Hossein Vafaei is the top seed although with the way that Ryan Day played in the Championship League he could be forgiven for thinking that he is the one to beat. Jordan Brown and Craig Steadman are the men who come in for the second round while Billy Joe Castle, Rory McLeod, Barry Pinches and Scottish amateur Dean Young are the four players who enter in round one.
Group 3
Tom Ford heads up the third group of the tournament. He has had a pretty good season and will be looking to cap it off with a run to the Crucible. If he is to get there he is going to have to come out of a very talented group with Stuart Carrington the other player seeded to come in during the third round. Luo Honghao and Oliver Lines come in a round before that while Peter Lines, Gerard Greene, Connor Benzey and Brian Ochoiski make up the group.
Group 4
The Shootout winner Michael Holt is the top seeded player in Group 4 of qualifying. It would be right if he makes it through but he’ll have to come past some seasoned veterans if he is to do so. One of those is Mark King who comes in during the third round, while Ken Doherty and Ian Burns are in a round prior to that. Fraser Patrick, Sean Maddocks, Thor Chuan Leong and youngster Iulian Boiko are the players who have to win four matches to qualify.
Group 5
Former champion Graeme Dott is the headline act in Group 5 of the competition. He will be expected to make it through to the main draw but Chris Wakelin has the credentials to give him plenty to do. David Grace can be capable on his day while Martin Gould comes in during the second round needing a good run to halt his slide down the rankings. Hammad Miah, Amine Amiri and Florian Nuble make up the group.
Group 6
Matthew Stevens has gone all the way to the final of the main draw of this event and tends to come alive in the longer format matches. He could have a final round clash with Ricky Walden which has all the makings of a cracker. John Astley and Mark Joyce are two of the men looking to deny them that battle. The four players who will come in during the first round in this group are Igor Figueiredo, Ian Preece, Simon Lichtenberg and Adam Duffy. This is a competitive group.
Group 7
Mark Davis is no stranger to the Crucible Theatre and he’ll be looking to justify being the top seed in Group 7 to come out of it successfully. If he is to get there he might need to overcome the challenge of Anthony McGill while Sam Baird and Jak Jones will be looking to use coming in a round earlier to their advantage. Brandon Sargeant, Jake Nicholson, Ben Mertens and the surprise package of last season James Cahill are the men looking for big runs from the first round.
Group 8
The exciting Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is the main seed in Group 8 of the qualifying competition and he will be a warm favourite to make it through to the final stages. His highest ranked opponent in the group is Lu Ning but while he is improving he looks a level below the Thai at the minute. Dominic Dale and Liam Highfield could prove to be the biggest obstacles for Un-Nooh. Alex Borg, Fan Zhengyi, Patrick Whelan and Dylan Emery will need to win four matches to make it to the Crucible.
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Group 9
Gary Wilson made it all the way to the last four at the Crucible Theatre last season and he’ll need to make it out of Group 9 for another shot at the title. If he is to do that he might need to overcome Daniel Wells in the final qualifying round. Alexander Ursenbacher, Andrew Higginson, Chen Feilong, Aaron Hill, Riley Parsons and Hayden Staniland are the other six players who are looking to make it out of this section.
Group 10
Martin O’Donnell has risen up the rankings over the last couple of seasons and he is the top seed in Group 10. Ben Woollaston showed his best form in the Championship League and on that evidence he could be the man to beat here. Elliot Slessor and Mike Dunn skip the opening round but will be looking to make their mark from round two. Kasper Filipiak, Andrew Pagett, David Lilley and Antoni Kowalski are the other men in the group.
Group 11
Lu Haotian didn’t have the best experience of the Crucible Theatre last season but he is the top seed in Group 11 to make it there again. Noppon Saengkham will fancy his chances of coming out of the group though. The two men who come in during the second round can’t be counted out in this section either. They are Michael White and Nigel Bond. Jamie O’Neill, Oliver Brown, Eden Sharav and Daniel Womersley will all have to win four matches if they are going to qualify for the main draw.
Group 12
Scott Donaldson qualified for the Crucible last season but if he’s going to do that again this term he is going to need to come out of one of the hardest looking groups on paper. That is because Anthony Hamilton is the other player seeded to come in during round three, while Sam Craigie and Harvey Chandler, two men who showed their abilities at the Championship League, enter in round two. The other four players in this section are Andy Hicks, Reanne Evans, Jackson Page and Chae Ross.
Group 13
Jimmy Robertson has a decent enough recent record in World Championship qualifying and he heads the rankings of the players who are in Group 13 of the draw. If he is to make it through he’ll need to overcome the challenge of Robert Milkins while Ashley Carty and Michael Georgiou will be hoping they can finish their seasons at the Crucible. Si Jiahui, Ross Muir, Jimmy White and Ivan Kaikovsky complete this group.
Group 14
Matthew Selt hasn’t had the best of seasons to date but he is ranked high enough to be the highest seed in Group 14 of the draw. I would imagine more judges will think Kurt Maflin is more likely to come through. Lee Walker and Joe O’Connor are the men from the second round who will be looking to give them most to do. The four players coming in from the first round are Soheil Vahedi, Allan Taylor, Christopher Keogan and Duane Jones.
Group 15
This is the section of the draw I’m most looking forward to seeing played out. Liang Wenbo is the top seed in it and based on what we saw from him in the Championship League that is fair enough but Luca Brecel made the final group of that competition so he rates as a major danger. Fergal O’Brien is no stranger to the final stages and it is he and Alfie Burden who will enter in the second round. Rod Lawler, Ross Bulman, Adam Stefanow and Tyler Rees are the outsiders in the section.
Group 16
The final group of the draw is the one where the former world finalist and Masters finalist of earlier in the season Ali Carter will look to make it through to the Crucible Theatre from. Alan McManus was a semi-finalist in Sheffield a few seasons ago and he’s seeded to meet Carter in the final qualifying round. Robbie Williams and Louis Heathcote come in during the second round while Kishan Hirani, Robin Hull, Ashley Hugill and Wu Yize will launch their campaigns from deep.
Betting
Usually I like a raft of bets in this market but given that we don’t know what sort of form 80% of the field are in I’ll stick with just three. The first of those comes in Group 4 where I think Ken Doherty could be the value to come out of a section where Michael Holt and Mark King are the main seeds. I’m not so sure either of those are massively unbeatable though and with the former winner of this tournament having a match on the tables before he would meet King that might be enough of an advantage for him to come through. You can get 5/1 on the ‘Darling of Dublin’ and that looks a smidgeon too big to me in a wide open section.
Another group which has an open look about it is Group 7 where Mark Davis and Anthony McGill are the favourites to come through. I get that but if they fail there really isn’t much in the group other than Sam Baird. Baird comes in during the second round where he will face either James Cahill or Ben Mertens. That might be his toughest match though and if he can come through that he will have the confidence of a match on the tables when he goes up against Mark Davis. We’ve seen in the past that anything can happen in the final qualifying round but I don’t think there is much to fear from McGill at the minute. At 16/1 Baird looks overpriced.
Down in Group 11 I think the Asian pair of Lu Haotian and Noppon Saengkham have to be taken on. We haven’t seen either of them since lockdown so it remains to be seen what form they are in, but either way they are going to be vulnerable to players who will have already played on the tables and adjusted to conditions. The man I think can take advantage is Michael White, a player who is far too low down the rankings for a player of his talent. He did play at the Championship League and looked ok for the most part. Talent could go a long way in this qualifying section and White has that in droves. He’s the pick for me at 6/1.
Tips
Back K.Doherty to win Group 4 for a 2/10 stake at 6.00 with Betfred
Back S.Baird to win Group 7 for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with 888sport
Back him here:
Back M.White to win Group 11 for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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