The last drama of World Snooker this season - the 2022 World Snooker Championship, which lasted for nearly a month, was won by Ronny O'Sullivan for the seventh time. It was already held on May 3rd, Beijing time. It ended successfully in the early morning. Looking back on this World Championships, there are many things worth summarizing and recalling. This article will talk about my immature thoughts and share them with you.
O'Sullivan and Trump who reached the final
1. Overview of the overall situation of the 2022 Snooker World Championship
A total of 144 players participated in this World Championship, of which 128 players participated in the qualifying round. The top 16 players will directly participate in the main draw as seed players. The players who participated in the qualifying round competed in 112 games over 10 days, 4 rounds, Ding Junhui, Lu Haotian, Stephen Maguire, Jamie Jones, Scott Donaldson, Michael White, Tachaya Uno, Ashley Hugill, Liam Highfield, Hussein Wafi, David Gilbert, Chris Walkerlin, Nopon Sankan 16 players including Tom, Matthew Stevens, Jackson Page and Jamie Clark broke through the qualifying rounds and advanced to the main draw.
In the first round of the top 32 competition, except for Barry Hawkins, 7-10 lost to Jackson Page, Sean Murphy lost 8-10 to Stephen Maguire, Luca Breche In addition to being swept by Norpon Sancam 25-10, the other 13 seeded players all advanced to the top 16. Among the three unseeded players who reached the top 16, except for Jackson Page, who is ranked 90th in the world, Nopon Sancam is ranked 38th, and Stephen Maguire is ranked 40th. Within the top 40 in the world. In the 1/8 finals, except for the unseeded player Stephen Maguire, who defeated Zhao Xintong 13-9 to advance to the quarterfinals, the other seven seeded players Yan Bingtao , Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump , Stewart Bingham , Jack Lisovsky and John Higgins all advanced to the quarterfinals. In the quarter-finals, Williams, O'Sullivan, Trump and Higgins defeated their respective opponents and advanced to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, O'Sullivan and Trump defeated Higgins and Williams respectively and met in the final. In the final, O'Sullivan defeated Trump 18-13 and won the championship.
Looking at this World Championships, the top 16 players in the world dominating the world stage have not changed, and it is still difficult for rising stars to shake their dominance. In particular, the three heroes 75 O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams performed outstandingly. They worked together to reach the semi-finals again after 23 years since 1999. The performance of the 80 Tigers in this World Championship was unsatisfactory. Only Trump reached the semi-finals, Robertson and Selby stopped in the top 16, and Ding Junhui and Murphy stopped in the top 32. It is worth mentioning that Jackson Page, a 20-year-old Welsh player ranked 90th in the world, performed well at this World Championships. Starting from the first round of qualifying, he won four games in a row and entered the main draw. In the first round of the main draw, he hit three hundred shots and defeated Barry Hawkins, the ninth seeded player in the world, 2013 World Championship runner-up and three-time ranking tournament champion , 10-7, and advanced to the top 16.
It can be seen from this World Championship that both big-name players and unknown players have made some simple mistakes in the game, but overall, the qualifying players are better in terms of shot speed, accuracy of positioning, offense and defense. Technical, on-the-spot adaptability, psychological quality, etc., and appreciation of the game are generally not as good as those of the seeded players. Most of them have slow shot speed, inaccurate positioning, few consecutive attacks, few high scores on a single shot, more mistakes, poor offensive and defensive skills, etc. Insufficiencies such as incomplete end technology. Compared with the qualifying players, the seeded players generally show the following: 1. Excellent psychological quality: not happy with victory and not depressed by failure; 2. Comprehensive skills: sharp offense, solid defense, and accurate positioning; 3. Basic skills Solid: Whether it is long billiards, safety balls, or the ability to control the position of the cue ball, the ability to correct mistakes is very strong. When playing one shot, I think of three. Every shot is played very methodically and there are very few mistakes.4. Strong ability to break up difficult situations: Whenever the game reaches a stalemate, they can seize the opportunity in time to break the deadlock and win.
Ronny O'Sullivan, seven-time world champion,
2. Over 100 in a single stroke
A century in a single stroke is a sign of measuring the technical level of snooker athletes, especially in a heavyweight competition like the World Championships. It is even more difficult to score a hundred in a single shot. Neil Robertson In the 19th inning of the second round of the main draw against Jack Lisowski , he scored a single stroke of 147 points, became the first player after Cliff Thorburn (1983) and Jimmy White (1992), Stephen Hendry (199 5 years, 2009, 2012), Ronnie O'Sullivan (1997, 2003, 2008), Mark Williams (2005), Ali Carter (2008) and After John Higgins (2020), the eighth player to score a perfect score at the World Championships.
In the qualifying stage, a total of 49 people scored 89 single strokes to score 100 points. Among them, the top three single stroke scores were Graeme Dot 147 points and Tachaya Uno 1 45 points, Pang Junxu144 points; Thachaiya Uno, Zhang Anda and Yuan Sijun tied for the top of the list of single-shot century players with 5 shots, Matthew Stevens and Stephen Maguire with 4 shots Ranked second, Graeme Dot, Chris Walkerlin, Andrew Padgett, Norpon Sancam, Jackson Page and Ray Peifan all scored three centuries and tied for third place; they hit two Players who have scored over 100 strokes include Scott Donaldson, Liam- Highfield, Lu Haotian, James Cahill, Ashley Hugill, Julian Boyke, Gao Yang, David Gilbert, Ding Junhui and Andy Hicks.
There are 28 players who have scored a century, including: Pang Junxu, Ian Burns, Ali Carter, Rich Walton, David Grace, Jamie Robertson, Barry Pinky Si, Zhang Health , Jordan Brown , Liam Davis, Tom Ford Germany, Marco Marco , Chang Bingyu, Jamie Clark, Mark Davis , Xu Si, David Leary, Jamie Wilson, Zhou Yuelong , Dominic Dell, Joe O'Connor , Si Jiahui, Matthew Selter, Daniel Wells, Lee Walker, Michael White, Jamie Jones, Elliott Slesser.
In the main stage of the World Championships, a total of 24 people scored 109 single strokes to score 100 points. Among them, the top three single stroke scores were Neil Robertson 147 points, Stuart Bingham 140 points, and Mark William. James scored 138 points; the top three in single-stroke centuries were Mark Williams with 16 strokes, Ronnie O'Sullivan with 15 strokes, and Judd Trump with 11 strokes; approx. John Higgins and Yan Bingtao both scored 8 strokes, tied for fourth; Neil Robertson had 7 strokes, Mark Selby had 26 strokes, and Jack Lisovsky had 5 strokes, ranking 5-7 respectively; Zhao Xintong, Jackson Page, Anthony McGill, Norpon Sancam, Karen Wilson , Ding Junhui, Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham all scored 3, and Stephen Maguire 2 Rod. Players who have scored a hundred or so include Sean Murphy, Chris Walklin, Hussein Wafi, Thachaiya Uno, Luca Brecher, Matthew Stevens and Lu Haotian.
Judd Trump, the runner-up of this World Championships
3. The record set by this World Championships
Olympic Sullivan is still the most dazzling star of this World Championship. Not only did he win the World Championship for the seventh time, he also set many new records: he completely surpassed Stephen Hendry and won the World Championship seven times. The champion tied Hendry's record and reached the quarter-finals for the 20th time, surpassing Hendry's record of 19 games. Reaching the semi-finals for the 13th time surpassed Hendry's record of 12 games, and his 74th victory at the Crucible Theater surpassed Hendry's record of 70 wins; the 46-year-old O'Sullivan became the first player to win 50 games since 1982. The oldest player to reach the World Championship final since the 45-year-old Ray Reardon in 1978 · Reardon became the oldest player to win the World Championship after winning his sixth World Championship; became the player to win seven times in the Masters, British Championship and World Championship; ranked 39th Champion and world number one, he has become the undisputed dominant player on the snooker stage in the world today.
In the 1/8 finals, the 22nd game between Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao lasted 85 minutes and 22 seconds, creating the longest single game in the World Championships in 45 years, breaking Lu The record of 79 minutes and 31 seconds set by Ka Brecher and Gary Wilson in 2019. The record for the longest single round at the World Championships is 123 minutes and 41 seconds, set by Fergal O'Brien and David Gilbert in the final round of qualifying for the 2017 World Championships.
The 47-year-old Mark Williams has become the oldest player to reach the semi-finals of the World Championships since 50-year-old Ray Reardon in 1982. He hit 16 single-stroke centuries in the main game. Tying Stephen Hendry's record of 16 strokes set in 2002, he also scored six centuries in a match with Jackson Page. In addition, 27-year-old Hussein Wafi, ranked 18th in the world, became the first Iranian player to enter the main draw of the World Championships. The 109 single-stroke hundreds scored in the main draw of this World Championship surpassed the record of 108 single-stroke centuries in the previous World Championship.
Yan Bingtao who reached the quarterfinals
4. Performance of Chinese players at the World Championships
China has a total of 27 players participating in this World Championships, 25 of whom participated in the qualifying rounds. Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao directly participated in the main match as seed players. Among the 25 people participating in the qualifying round, Zhao Jianbo, Xu Si, Zhang Jiankang, Zhang Anda, Chen Zifan, Wu Anyi, Fu Jiajun, Chang Bingyu, Yuan Sijun, Si Jiahui, Lei Peifan, Wu Yize and Browning 13 people participated from the first round, 7 people including Xu Si, Zhang Jiankang, Zhang Anda, Yuan Sijun, Lei Peifan, Wu Yize and Si Jiahui advanced to the second round; Lu Haotian, Tian Pengfei , Cao Yupeng. Five players, Gao Yang and Pang Junxu, advanced from the second round, while nine players, Lu Haotian, Zhang Jiankang, Zhang Anda, Tian Pengfei, Cao Yupeng, Yuan Sijun, Lei Peifan, Gao Yang and Pang Junxu, advanced to the third round; Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo, Lu Seven people, including Ning , Zhou Yuelong, , Li Xing, Fan Zhengyi and Xiao Guodong, entered the competition from the third round. Ding Junhui, Zhou Yuelong, Lu Haotian, Yuan Sijun and Lei Peifan advanced to the fourth round. In the end, only Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian made it to the main draw. .
In the first round of the main competition, Zhao Xintong defeated Jamie Clark 10-2, and Yan Bingtao defeated Chris Walkerlin 10-6, advancing to the top 16 together. Ding Junhui lost to Kellen Wilson 8-10, and Lu Haotian lost to Stuart Bingham 5-10 and missed the top 16. Zhao Xintong lost to Stephen Maguire 9-13 in the 1/8 finals and missed the quarterfinals. The young player Yan Bingtao performed well and defeated the defending champion Mark Selby 13-10 in the 1/8 finals. He entered the quarterfinals of the World Championships for the first time in his career and became the only post-2000 player to reach the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, It was in the quarter-finals that he failed to seize the opportunity and mishandled the key ball. He lost to Mark Williams 11-13 and missed the semi-finals.
Although the overall performance of Chinese players in this World Championship was not satisfactory, it also gave us hope.Although Ding Junhui, China's number one billiards player, has regained his form and is getting better, he is far from reaching his peak state. His accuracy has dropped significantly and his mistakes have increased significantly. He still needs to work hard to regain his former kingly demeanor. Chinese whirlwind Zhao Xintong is becoming more mature and more comprehensive in technical skills, but still needs experience in key ball control and competition experience. The young and mature Yan Bingtao can be said to be the most eye-catching Chinese player in this World Championship. His super psychological quality, stable performance, and balanced offensive and defensive skills have enabled him to create his own historical record in this tournament. A group of young players represented by Lu Haotian also performed well, allowing fans to see the hope of Chinese snooker.
Ding Junhui, who was stopped in the top 32,
The long-game World Championship is a great test for every player's psychological quality, physical strength, technical and tactical level, and on-the-spot adaptability. Looking at the performance of Chinese players, we have reason to believe that in the near future, the level of Chinese billiards will make a qualitative leap, and more and more Chinese players will shine on the world snooker stage. As Ding Junhui said on his 35th birthday not long ago: "I have always believed that the future of snooker lies in China." I hope that Chinese players can achieve a breakthrough in the World Championships as soon as possible and win the championship!
#2022 Snooker World Championship#
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