The Championship League Snooker tournament has three more days before it breaks off for the European Masters and the first of those comes along on Friday when another pair of groups play out for spots in the second stage.
The competition is beginning to take shape now with almost half of the second stage draw completed and we move even closer to that being finalised on Friday when eight more men take to the green baize.
The Format
The whole tour were invited into the tournament with it now getting ranking event status. The 128 man field have been split into 32 groups of four in the first round. Each group is a round robin with everyone playing everyone else over the best of four frames with two points for a win and one for a draw. The player who tops the group goes through to the second stage where the 32 remaining players are split into four more groups of four over the same format. Those eight winners then go into two more groups where the winner of each will battle it out in a best of five frame final for the title. Two groups will be played on each day until the final day when the Championship group and final is played. The first stage of the tournament is on Free Sports.
Day 5 Recap
We thought that the two odds on shots heading into Thursday would come out on top of their groups and that is exactly how it proved to be. In the case of Dave Gilbert it wasn’t particularly convincing but he got over the line courtesy of having the highest break between himself and Lu Ning and that is enough to get us a second outright bet through to the next stage. It was a little more comfortable for Zhao Xintong in the other group as he came through with a fair bit in hand.
It was another day of going nowhere betting wise for us though as once again our match bet ended in a push. At least they are not losing but it would be nice if we can get the odd win now and again, particularly when Nigel Bond was 2-1 up and had a free hit to win us what would have been a nice profit given the price that we backed him at. It wasn’t to be though and we accept our money back.
Group 12
Fixtures
Stuart Bingham vs Junxu Pang
Yuan Sijun vs James Cahill
Yuan Sijun vs Junxu Pang
Stuart Bingham vs James Cahill
James Cahill vs Junxu Pang
Stuart Bingham vs Yuan Sijun
Preview
The action on table one will see one of the men from the final group of the previous Championship League looking to make progress this time around when Stuart Bingham heads up Group 12. It is fair to say he is in a group he should win although the Chinese ace Yuan Sijun is perfectly capable of performing well on his day. James Cahill knocked Ronnie O’Sullivan out of the World Championship last year but has done little to nothing since then which would be a concern. Pang Junxu makes his tour debut in this group.
Group 18
Fixtures
Hossein Vafaei vs Jak Jones
Xiao Guodong vs Farakh Ajaib
Xiao Guodong vs Jak Jones
Hossein Vafaei vs Farakh Ajaib
Xiao Guodong vs Hossein Vafaei
Jak Jones vs Farakh Ajaib
Preview
The more wide open group of the two on show on Friday is the one over on table two where Xiao Guodong is a rightful favourite but he feels like a vulnerable one to me. If he is going to be turned over you would think it would be by Hossein Vafaei. The classy Iranian might actually be a better player than Guodong regardless of what the rankings say so their match towards the end of the day will be very interesting indeed. Jak Jones is another player who is capable of delivering good things while Farakh Ajaib will be the one making his tour debut here having won his card at Q-School.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Group Betting
Having said that Xiao Guodong is a vulnerable favourite, Hossein Vafaei isn’t the most tempting price in the world it has to be said and with that in mind it is hard to get up for betting in the groups on Friday. I wouldn’t necessarily rule Jak Jones out at 9/2 but he didn’t offer a whole lot in the previous Championship League and I’m not wholly sure he’ll go much better here. Farakh Ajaib could be anything in truth so I have to say this group isn’t for me.
The other group has to be about Stuart Bingham really. If Yuan Sijun had played competitively since lockdown then I might have considered taking Bingham on as the Chinese player is talented and although you would expect Bingham to win the group, you never truly know what you are going to get from him. James Cahill could be the fly in the ointment here but he has no real form to speak of so I’m happy to sit the group out.
Match Betting
Given that Yuan Sijun hasn’t played competitively got more than six months it might be worth taking him on in his opening match when he goes up against James Cahill. You would expect Sijun to get better as he goes along but if he is a little rusty, and let’s be honest he hasn’t exactly had oceans of experience in front of the TV cameras and on these lightning fast tables anyway, and starts slowly the man who made shockwaves when he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan last year at Sheffield could take advantage.
Cahill had a terrible season last term but this is a new campaign and he’ll know this is the chance to get a few points on the board and he is going to have to pick up plenty of those as he goes along. If he can score early on in the match and get himself in front his confidence will quickly rise and Sijun will soon be under pressure. I wouldn’t want to take Sijun on later in the day but he might just be vulnerable enough in the opening one.
Tips
WON – Back J.Cahill to beat Y.Sijun (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
