Snooker’s New & Old Winners Last Weekend…
IT was a busy weekend of snooker in both the professional and amateur ranks over the weekend as this week sees the 16 man event in Preston kick off on Monday – the Players Championship.
But, over the weekend, the professional tour saw a new winner enter the winner’s enclosure in Matthew Selt, who becomes the 28th player to win just one ranking event – the Indian Open!
Selt, 33, from Romford, bagged 50K and defeated a young 23-year-old Chinese talent Lyu Haotian 5 – 3, who made his debut at the Crucible last year.
That was a tough fought match for Selt, who now shoots up the rankings from 50 plus to 35 in the World. He beat on route to his first ranking win the defending Champion John Higgins. Haotian moves three spaces ahead of Selt at 32!
A New Tour Player
Also over the weekend, the World Snooker Professional tour welcomed back a former pro, Poland’s Kacper Filipiak, 23, previously on to in 2011! Filipiak lifted the European Amateur Championship trophy in Israel, as he defeated another Englishman hoping to make it on to the tour for the first time – David Lilley. a former English Amateur Championship winner and runner-up! It was a dramatic end to it as it ended in a decider for Filipiak to clinch a tour place. Previously, Filipiak won the European Under-21 event to secure a card eight years ago.
Jimmy White Bags 20K in Fast and Furious Six Red Shootout
It was another win for the Whirlwind on the World Seniors tour as he breezed to a win in the fast and furious best of 7 six reds shootout where the winner bags 20K and the Dennis Taylor trophy in Belfast at the Waterfront – which holds a capacity of over 2000 people. He defeated the current World Seniors Champion Jersey’s Aaron Canavan, who wrote on Facebook:
“Wasn’t to be tonight, should really have won 4-1 bit missed a brown to go 3-1 up but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Next stop the Crucible for the World senior’s Masters on the 11th March…”
In the semi-finals, the Whirlwind clashed with his old rival the seven times World Champion Stephen Hendry, whom he had beat White four times in a World final! This time the Whirlwind took apart the King of the Crucible in a 4 – 1 win. There were glimpses of the old Hendry but it was the Whirlwind showing his touch in the balls well into his fifties where he even made a 70 in one of the frames.
The Six Reds format for the World Seniors consisted of a few rule changes:
- A spotted cue ball to allow fans to see what happens with the cue ball in motion when side and top and screw are applied
- Players weren’t allowed to just roll up to balls to snooker opponents
- Three fouls and a player could have cue ball in hand, or, get their opponent to play from where it landed, or, the player plays from the designated position.
Ken Doherty and Jimmy White are still on the pro tour. But we asked fans, is this fair? Here’s the results of a poll so far…
