Sunday saw the start of the new Snooker season with the 1st round of the Northern Ireland Trophy from Belfast’s Waterfront Hall.
All of the top 16 are in attendance including reigning world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
In the Northern Ireland trophy the first round is actually the last qualifying round as the top 16 do not play until the second round of the tournament. This meant that fans on Sunday and Monday were able to see the likes of Steve Davis and Jimmy White play matches on the main tour and try to book a place in the 2nd round.
On this occasion though the fairytale story did not have a happy ending for both of these veteran snooker stars as Davis was defeated 5-3 by rising Chinese sensation Liang Wenbo (who reached the 1/4 finals of the 2008 World Championships only to be beaten 13-7 by the eventual champion). Wenbo, in my opinion is a player to watch out for this season and with a few decent results could be on the brink of a place in the top 16 (provisionally he is 40).
White also lost 5-3 to Barry Hawkins. If Jimmy White goes through this season as he did the last couple this could quite easily be his last World Ranking event appearance, until this tournament he hadn’t been seen in the final stages for 2 years. Qualifying for any turnament this year is going to be a tall order as he will need to win at least three matches to reach the main tournament, a difficult proposition for a new player to the tour let alone for someone past his best years.
Sundays 1st Round Results
Alan McManus (Sco) bt Matthew Stevens (Wal) 5-2
Dave Harold (Eng) bt Ricky Walden (Eng) 5-2
Ian McCulloch (Eng) bt Mike Dunn (Eng) 5-4
Mark Williams (Wal) bt Marcus Campbell (Sco) 5-3
Stephen Lee (Eng) bt Judd Trump (Eng) 5-3
Dominic Dale (Wal) bt Adrian Gunnell (Eng) 5-4
Liang Wenbo (Chi) bt Steve Davis (Eng) 5-3
Dave Gilbert (Eng) bt Michael Judge (Irl) 5-4
Mondays 1st Round Results
Mark Davis (Eng) bt Joe Swail (NIrl) 5-4
Stuart Pettman (Eng) bt Nigel Bond (Eng) 5-1
Barry Hawkins (Eng) bt Jimmy White (Eng) 5-3
Michael Holt (Eng) bt Fergal O’Brien (Irl) 5-3
Andrew Higginson (Eng) bt Anthony Hamilton (Eng) 5-3
Rory McLeod (Eng) bt Stuart Bingham (Eng) 5-4
Jamie Cope (Eng) bt David Gray (Eng) 5-4
Ken Doherty (Irl) bt Gerard Greene (NIrl) 5-2
The other tough thing for the organisers of this event and the Irish nation is that only Ken Doherty managed to make it through the first round and te only other Irish player left in the draw is Mark Allen (one of the newest recruits into the top 16 and a future star).
Ian McCulloch and Dave Harold have today proved that they still have some spirit and something to offer the tour as they both made it into the last 16 with decent wins over Graeme Dott and Neil Robertson. Dott and Robertson failed to impress ast season and will need to get some form and results if a long stay in the top 16 is on the cards.
Tuesdays 2nd Round Results
Stephen Maguire (Sco) bt Michael Holt (Eng) 5-1
Dave Harold (Eng) bt Graeme Dott (Sco) 5-3
Ian McCulloch (Eng) bt Neil Robertson (Aus) 5-2
Matches continue tonight in the second round and updates will be blogged periodically.
