World Snooker Championships 2009 - Draw
Well the final qualifiers have been completed and this morning at 9:45 the draw for the 2009 World Snooker Championships took place live on BBC Radio Sheffield.
The draw has thrown out some amazing 1st round ties but before I go into them in detail I will post the draw below (in brackets are the players current provisional ranking):
Ronnie O’Sullivan (1) v Stuart Bingham (19)
Mark Allen (11) v Martin Gould (53)
Peter Ebdon (17) v Nigel Bond (34)
Ryan Day (6) v Stephen Lee (27)
John Higgins (7) v Michael Holt (26)
Joe Perry (9) v Jamie Cope (21)
Graeme Dott (36) v Barry Hawkins (15)
Mark Selby (8) v Ricky Waldon (23)
Shaun Murphy (4) v Andrew Higginson (49)
Marco Fu (5) v Joe Swail (20)
Ding Junhui (13) v Liang Wenbo (25)
Stephen Hendry (12) v Mark Williams (14)
Ali Carter (3) v Gerard Greene (35)
Neil Robertson (10) v Steve Davis (24)
Mark King (18) v Rory McLeod (42)
Stephen Maguire (2) v Jamie Burnett (47)
I am quite excited by the prospect of some of these matches, my pick of the first round has to be the all-China affair between Ding and Wenbo. Liang Wenbo won a lot of fans last year on his way to the 1/4 finals with his Kamikaze, aggressive style of snooker. Ding has not had the best of seasons so it could well be a tough one.
I think the amount a matches any qualifier has won to get to this stage goes completely out of the window because we move to a different venue and it is akin to starting afresh.
After the controversy earlier in the season over ‘possible’ match fixing it is interesting to see that Burnett (provisionally world number 47) has been drawn against friend and countryman Stephen Maguire. I think this match may have a lot of scrutiny but in reality should be a relatively comfortable win for Maguire.
The lowest ranked player still in the tournament is World Number 53 Martin Gould, he plays Mark Allen and it is a tough one to call as Allen himself has not had the best of seasons.
Mark Williams against Stephen Hendry a few years ago would have been billed as a final, Williams has undergone a resurgence this season and will be hard for a struggling Hendry to beat. Williams is also spurred on by almost being assured of a top 16 place for next season.
The provisional rankings will change before the start of the tournament, as we have the China Open to come, but there should not be huge movement in the current list.
I will write a World Snooker Championship preview closer to the time until then please feel free to place your comments on the draw below.
I have looked at the World Championship draw and how about this for a first round shock, Ricky Walden to beat Mark Selby, any comments.
John Sparks
I don’t know whether that would be regarded as a shock, Ricky has had an excellent season. He won his first ranking event at the Shanghai Masters and has firmly established himself in the top 32.
The difference here though is experience over the longer matches. Other than the Shanghai final Walden has not played many two session encounters, whereas Selby is seasoned at this level.
Will be a good match to watch though, any other tasty matchups for you John?
Hi there,
my dad is wondering when the championships will be televised?
Thanks in Advance
Alfie AND Helen x
Hi Alfie & Helen
Thanks for your comment, the World Snooker Championships will be broadcast live by the BBC and Eurosport from Saturday 18th April until Monday 4th May 2009.
i feel a over seas player will win this years final , Marko fu will win this , i would like to see players give free stuff to young ones at sheffied , like the 9 ball players do, fu vs ronnie final
I believe Ronnie has given his cue away in the past. Fu certainly has the temperament but not sure he has the game over the longer distance.
Thanks for your comment though, keep them coming!
hello i would like to see rory mcloud do well in this comp because i have played against him and he is a very good player,also like to wish tom ford,mark selby.all the very best !