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Snooker updates
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Another statement from the WPBSA, 2 more Chinese players have been suspended:
Zhao Xintong & Zhang Jianking
This is due to ongoing investigations into possible match fixing0 -
That is a great shame, Zhao comes across as a nice bloke and is supremely talented. But not a big surprise, I've seen footage of some of his matches from a few years ago that are highly suspect.1
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Agree, the last 6 months - year he has looked really off, most people said he was suffering from long Covid and just didn't seem himself/well. Still nothing confirm yet but it does make you question his recent form, clearly they need to find out the ring leader and do what they can to give credit back to the sport, i am not sure they will all get long bans but maybe a season off if they can proof they were pressured. A very sour taste in the mouth, the lot of it.LawrieAbrahams said:That is a great shame, Zhao comes across as a nice bloke and is supremely talented. But not a big surprise, I've seen footage of some of his matches from a few years ago that are highly suspect.0 -
Rumours are that Wenbo has retired, jumping before he's pushed, and he seems to be at the forefront of it.
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Weird to see this resurfacing again, saw a few people post this yesterday and i was tagged in it by someone else on twitterJohnBoyUK said:
This happened back in 2017 so hardly a new incident 🤣🤣 but suddenly found a bit of fame not sure why.
Remember it happening at the time thinking wtf is going on1 -
This is really tarnishing the sport. The main ring leader needs to be caught ASAP0
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Masters started this afternoon.
Robertson left his cue at the hotel and had to rush back to pick it up. Might of put him off a bit as Murphy went 5 - 1 in front. Robertson came back and made a match of it but Murphy got over the line to win 6-4.
Mark Selby v Hossein Vafaei this evening.1 -
Vafaei won 6-2 against Selby.
Selby never got going. Looked beaten early on.1 -
Hawkins blows Allen away 6 - 0 earlier.
Williams on at the moment against Gilbert. Williams playing some lovely snooker. 2 up so far.1 - Sponsored links:
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I went yesterday to both sessions, literally Allen didn't get a sniff and then could have snatched the 4th and it might have been different (also maybe won the first), Hawkins saftey was very good and in the last couple even when it wasn't he got away with it. Not much Allen can do there and a massive shock with Allen being the form player going into this.Karim_myBagheri said:Hawkins blows Allen away 6 - 0 earlier.
Williams on at the moment against Gilbert. Williams playing some lovely snooker. 2 up so far.
MJW was very good, a potential tricky game but he was on good form. The play did stop for about 1-2 mins with a bloody wasp which was funny but a good match and 6-2, but no shame to Gilbert who looked like he was going to claw back to 4-3 from 4-0.
Trump v Day
Bingham v K Wilson
today's games2 -
didn't see the trump game. looks as if it could of been a good one. 6 - 5 in the end against Day.
Been watching it on Eurosport mainly as i cant deal with John "Wheres the cue ball going" Virgo but eurosport have this completely unnecessary logo/advert for the Australian open taking up a quarter of the screen. why?1 -
I watched a lot of the Trump game, he didn't really get going but from 5-3 a nice come back but still not looking quite himself yet.Karim_myBagheri said:didn't see the trump game. looks as if it could of been a good one. 6 - 5 in the end against Day.
Been watching it on Eurosport mainly as i cant deal with John "Wheres the cue ball going" Virgo but eurosport have this completely unnecessary logo/advert for the Australian open taking up a quarter of the screen. why?
Another lower ranked player won last night Bingham beating Kyren Wilson 6-3, was5-0 up. So of the 8 matches 5 of them the higher seed has lost, Ronnie, Trump & Williams won as faves.
Quarters:
Ronnie v Mark Williams - Today 1pm
Hossain Vafaei v Lisowski - Today 7pm
Trump v Hawkins - Tomorrow 1pm
Murphy v Bingham- Tomorrow 7pm2 -
O'Sullivan/Williams looks like it could become a bit of a Masters classic1
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Mark Williams defeats Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 in decider, Ronnie came out quick and looked in good form but MJW knicked the last of the first mini session and then came out stronger, limited Ronnie and made less mistakes.
Great match!2 -
Lisowski won 6-4 to make the semi finals, todays matches:
Trump v Hawkins 1pm
Bingham v Murphy 7pm
Semi finals:
1pm: MJW v Jack Lisowski
7pm Winners of todays matches
Final on Sunday, best of 19 (2 sessions if required)
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Bingham whitewashed Murphy 6-0 .. Murphy deserved to get hammered simply for wearing that ridiculous sparkling, glittery suit3
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Final - Williams v Trump
Bingham just couldn't find the same form as he did against Murphy. lost 6-1 to trump. Trump still not that in form but has got better. However Williams looks well in form. already over a century break in the first frame to go 1 up.
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Judd Trump won 10-8 against Mark Williams in the final, probably his best performance all week but manage to get over the line. A bit of an ugly win, he didn't really play well early stages and even in the final you could argue it could have gone the other way. Although winning when not playing well is not a bad thing, reckon he could really pick up some serious form going into Worlds this year now as last time he won the masters he won the worlds then followed up with 5/6 ranking wins.Karim_myBagheri said:Final - Williams v Trump
Bingham just couldn't find the same form as he did against Murphy. lost 6-1 to trump. Trump still not that in form but has got better. However Williams looks well in form. already over a century break in the first frame to go 1 up.
World Grand Prix started yesterday:
Robertson out! 4-1 loss to Guodong
Lisowski fightback 3-1 down, won 4-3 against Milkins
Allen beat Gilbert 4-2
Yuelong beat Un nooh 4-3
Bingham / Ding during the day, Ronnie v Hawkins this eve, Not sure if all on eurosport but if not you will find on the betting sites.2 -
ITV4 just started MJW v Jamie Jones0
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Wasn't the best of finals but it weren't bad. Wanted Williams to win but that's more to do with growing up watching him and others of his era. Always liked Williams and his potting. Some he made in this masters was sublime. Just couldn't make it against Trump who got better and Williams unfortunately got poorer.2
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Ten Chinese players face match-fixing charges as snooker's governing body investigates the sport's biggest corruption scandal.
An independent hearing will now be convened to consider the evidence.
What are the charges?
Liang Wenbo - Age: 35 Ranking (Jan 2023): 56. Finalist in 2015 UK Championship
Charged with being concerned in fixing matches and approaching players to fix matches on the World Snooker Tour, seeking to obstruct the WPBSA investigation and failing to cooperate with the investigation.
Li Hang - Age: 32 Ranking: 64.
Charged with being concerned in fixing matches and approaching players to fix matches, seeking to obstruct the investigation and betting on snooker matches.
Lu Ning - Age: 29 Ranking: 46. Semi-finalist at the 2020 UK Championship.
Charged with fixing a match and being concerned in fixing matches and approaching a player to fix a match, seeking to obstruct the investigation and betting on snooker matches.
Yan Bingtao - Age: 22 Ranking: 16. First player born in year 2000 to turn professional, won 2021 Masters.
Charged with fixing matches and betting on snooker.
Zhao Xintong - Age: 25 Ranking: 9. Won 2021 UK Championship and 2022 German Masters.
Charged with being concerned in fixing matches and betting on snooker.
Zhang Jiankang - Age: 24. Ranking: 82.
Charged with fixing a match, failing to report approaches for him to fix matches and betting on snooker matches.
Chen Zifan - Age: 27. Ranking: 93.
Charged with fixing matches.
Chang Bingyu - Age: 20 Ranking: 77.
Charged with fixing a match.
Zhao Jianbo - Age: 19 Ranking: Amateur.
Charged with fixing a match.
Bai Langning - Age: 20. Ranking: 126.
Charged with being concerned in fixing a match.
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Not suggesting the masters final was rigged but it always amazes me how tight the finals are going all the way to a second session on TV yet there were regular 6-0 drubbings in the earlier rounds2
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It's bar impossible to actually be 100% sure, other than betting irregularities. Both by playing and seeing the best miss the easiest ball ever, even one i got told was fixed and saw the highights of the match and didn't necessarily think that was 100% fixed, for example they potted better balls before the final balls. It's clearly happened but maybe they have been clever in disguising it, or maybe as i am used to seeing the easiest balls missed in both pool and snooker who knows.eaststandmike said:Not suggesting the masters final was rigged but it always amazes me how tight the finals are going all the way to a second session on TV yet there were regular 6-0 drubbings in the earlier rounds
It's a sad day, i am interested to see what the punishments are. They have set very clearly where the rules have been broken from each player, you would assume a few lengthy bans should follow. This is irrespective of whether pressured or not, i think that creates even more grey areas so they will have to be harsh.0 -
Given the scandal, you have to wonder at the choice of last minute sponsors for the Grand Prix and two other tournaments: Duelbits Crypto Sports Betting and Casino.1
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Also, when one player has a big lead the pressure comes off the player who is losing and if they start to win a few frames, sometimes the player in front starts getting twitchy. It has happened so many times and it can look like they are throwing the match.johnnybev1987 said:
It's bar impossible to actually be 100% sure, other than betting irregularities. Both by playing and seeing the best miss the easiest ball ever, even one i got told was fixed and saw the highights of the match and didn't necessarily think that was 100% fixed, for example they potted better balls before the final balls. It's clearly happened but maybe they have been clever in disguising it, or maybe as i am used to seeing the easiest balls missed in both pool and snooker who knows.eaststandmike said:Not suggesting the masters final was rigged but it always amazes me how tight the finals are going all the way to a second session on TV yet there were regular 6-0 drubbings in the earlier rounds
It's a sad day, i am interested to see what the punishments are. They have set very clearly where the rules have been broken from each player, you would assume a few lengthy bans should follow. This is irrespective of whether pressured or not, i think that creates even more grey areas so they will have to be harsh.
By the same token it is easy to manipulate the score and it has happened in the past, Francisco, Hann, Lee were all banned, and it will happen in the future.0 -
So hard to be sure with the amount of games/tournaments.
Be a real shame if I start to really doubt snooker like I do with boxing. Not saying boxing is rigged but it has somewhat tarnished the sport for me.1 -
Ronnie 2-0 up against Noppon, lost 4-2 in the second round. I did watch bits but fell asleep too, not based on the game..
Allen and Williams both won, they are both due to play a pool series this weekend so interested to see if they do well or not. You would assume they only play the pool comp in the event they go out of snooker, its Ultimate pro series with a handful of snooker players, Maguire, Joe O'Connor:
Tom Ford due to play today (pool)
Tony Drago was the latest person to join Ultimate but he has withdrawn from event 1
Joe O' Connor playing John Roe today (tough one former world pool champ)
Mark Williams is due on 4pm, i am not sure if they will allow to see how he gets on or whether he will forfeit the game? as due to play tonight 7pm in the Grand Prix, Allen also due at 4pm so a similar boat
Ryan Day is also playing in the pool event
Sorry taking away from snooker, but i thought people might be keen on some of their results. Only way to watch the pool this weekend is by signing up (about £5.99 a month) they have regular tournaments and Mondays and Wednesday nights are regulars, champions league and then the masters
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Yeah it does make you question it, even if it's not just the chinese players. You always get these odd results, but now its natural to question any strange result.Karim_myBagheri said:So hard to be sure with the amount of games/tournaments.
Be a real shame if I start to really doubt snooker like I do with boxing. Not saying boxing is rigged but it has somewhat tarnished the sport for me.
I am sure the players will be more aware than ever, like you say boxing there is so many dodgy decisions, it really would take away from Snooker if they do not get past this smoothly, also appropriate action taken against those involved.1 -
So ignore the pool chat, just something i thought a few might be interested.
Todays snooker:
Luca Brecel v Judd Trump
Guodong v Day
Kyren Wilson v Shaun Murphy
Sam Craigie v Antony Mcgill
Quarter finals this evening, Allen v Lisowski + MJW v Noppon
There is a woman's belgium event starting tomorrow.0
