Sina Snooker
It was always going to be a tough ask to reach the last 16 here for David Gray and so it has proved as he has lost out 5-1 to former professional Tian Pengfei in the wildcard round. Not only has he crashed out of the China Open, but he has now lost his main tour place as a result…
This is because despite reaching the TV stages out in China, due to a poor couple of seasons he has slipped down from 49th position in the rankings to 65th – outside of the all-important top 64 places which guarantee survival. Furthermore due to his poor season, he is also outside of the top 8 players outside of that 64 on the one-year list, so fails to stay on the tour via that way too.
It is really an amazing turn of events for a player who back in 2004/5 was ranked inside the top 16 and in 2003 won his only ranking event title at the 2003 Scottish Open. I saw him recently at the World Championship qualifiers and in flashes you could still see some of that undoubted talent that took him to those heights, but they were few and far between as he missed a number of easy pots and allowed his opponent Jin Long in to take advantage.
His match today was not on television but his opponent Tian Pengfei appears to have played really well, knocking in breaks of 81, 60 and 36 on the way to a comfortable win. Although the livescores have crashed at 4-1, shortly afterwards Eurosport’s David Hendon has confirmed that Tian did indeed go on to win so I can only assume that it did finish 5-1. Edit: I can now confirm that it was indeed 5-1.
So what next for David? He could drop down to the PIOS and attempt to find his way back on to the tour that way, or who knows, because of his talent and stature in the game, perhaps he will be awarded one of the invitational spots that the WSA will have at the end of the season. Time will tell, but at just 30 years old surely he has something left to offer the game…
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Malcolm says:
March 30, 2009 at 4:46 pm (UTC 0 )
It certainly is a big fall from the days when he looked like he was going to be a potential challenger to the elite. He seemed to be affected by a couple of bad defeats (to Maguire in UK final when he lost the last eight frames and didn’t look interested and also in crucible) The same applied to some of the shorter frame matches when he fell a couple of frames behind, he lost the edge to battle. This is in itself a talent, where some players play better in adversity. I personally think with David Gray a sports psychologist could help get his focus and game back on track. Let’s not forget he beat Ronnie at the crucible when Ronnie was on ‘nearly’ top form knocking in five centuries (and Gray played brilliantly) and also is a ranking tournament winner and in his youth was a bit of a prodigy.
I would like to see him given a wildcard, as you say he is still youngish, but he needs to apply himself and make the most of his talent.
ddrIII says:
March 30, 2009 at 5:04 pm (UTC 0 )
I can just think of he has some personal problem or unknown illness that nobody knows. Otherwise cannot explain his fall.
His last hope will be receiving a WSA wildcard.
matt2745 says:
March 30, 2009 at 5:21 pm (UTC 0 )
That’s the funny thing, from what I have heard he has recently sorted himself out on a personal level, guess it came too late.
Nige says:
March 30, 2009 at 6:20 pm (UTC 0 )
Don’t know what personal issues you are referring to Matt. I remember after beating Jimmy White at the latter’s last (ever?) appearance in the WC’s at Sheffield in 2006, in the post match interview, Gray even then talked about not having spent enough time practising. What exactly a highly ranked professional snooker player does with his time if not honing his skills on the practise table is anybody’s guess. Unless there is something we don’t know about, it appears a travesty for someone of his ability that he should lose his tour place. In which case he DOES NOT deserve a wild card if it is due to an undedicated approach, and should be made to earn his place back on the tour.
matt2745 says:
March 30, 2009 at 6:30 pm (UTC 0 )
I think the reported lack of practice has been a big factor yeah, with a lot of the other players practising for 3-4 hours a day I guess it was always going to catch him out in the end.
I agree too that a wildcard place would be undeserved really, he’s had his chance and lost it, but then I guess he’s a relatively big name which might swing it. Not sure what the criteria is to be honest, though looking back at the previous wildcards, they seem to give them more to promising young players…
ddrIII says:
March 31, 2009 at 2:41 am (UTC 0 )
A few years ago a wildward was given to Alain Robidoux but he didn’t make use of it, absent in many ranking events.
michael says:
March 31, 2009 at 2:45 pm (UTC 0 )
up until recently david had a practise table in walton (surrey) people at the club tell me that he was rarely seen, its tough to motivate yourself as you get older in a sport that only really rewards the top 16, but i suppose you only get out what you put in, snooker in this country is litered with story s of wasted talent, this is a shame but the rewards just arent there to motivate players lower ranked.
david gray says:
December 22, 2009 at 1:21 am (UTC 0 )
your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.
Topics about Tv » Archive » David Gray loses tour place says:
March 30, 2009 at 4:58 pm (UTC 0 )
[...] Pro Snooker Blog placed an observative post today on David Gray loses tour placeHere’s a quick excerptIt was always going to be a tough ask to reach the last 16 here for David Gray and so it has proved as he has lost out 5-1 (exact score to be confirmed), to former professional Tian Pengfei in the wildcard round. Not only has he crashed out of the China Open, but he has now lost his main tour place as a result…This is because despite reaching the TV stages out in China, due to a poor couple of seasons he has slipped down from 49th position in the rankings to 65th – outside of the all-important t [...]
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[...] starting the season officially ranked up in 49th place and provisionally 52nd, has amazingly lost his place on the tour just four years after falling out of the top [...]
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[...] starting the season officially ranked up in 49th place and provisionally 52nd, has amazingly lost his place on the tour just four years after falling out of the top [...]