Category: World Championship

Crucible Format Released

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CruciblefrontrowFollowing the publication of the draw for the qualifying rounds yesterday, World Snooker have now released the format for the last 32 stage of the event at the Crucible when of course the top 16 seeds will come into play.

You can view the format here at World Snooker, while the numbers are taken from the draw available here.

Opening the tournament will be Mark Selby as defending champion, with Marco Fu over on table two, while Scottish pair John Higgins and Stephen Maguire will get underway in the afternoon session.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has to wait until Tuesday afternoon to get his tournament started, while Judd Trump begins a day later towards the end of the first round.

World Championship 2015: Tour Survival Blog

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pondsAfter months of updates and speculation, Wednesday will see the start of the 2015 Betfred World Championship qualifiers and with them, the climax of the race for main tour places for the 2015/16 season.

As is now tradition, this then is the post that will be updated throughout this week’s matches (and the Crucible if necessary), focusing on those players and results that will finally determine who will remain a professional come May and who will be facing a trip to Burton for Q School…

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Seeds Set For Crucible

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Crucible300Following on from my earlier post confirming that Stephen Maguire will take the final automatic seeding for this year’s World Championship, with Ding Junhui’s victory against John Higgins we now know exactly how the top 16 seeds will be placed in the draw.

Light has also been shed on the draw for next week’s qualifiers, which will see 128 players battle it out to join the seeds at the Crucible…

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The Crucible Curse – A Look Back

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Selby1

This year Mark Selby will become the first player since Neil Robertson in 2011 to try and dispel the so-called ‘Crucible Curse’ that no first time champion will successfully defend the World Championship title at the Crucible Theatre.

Click below for my look back through time at how previous first-time world champions have seen their defences ended…

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My 10 Years at the Crucible – Part Two

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Crucible10A year ago ahead of my tenth year visiting the Crucible Theatre for the World Championship, I took a look back at my first three years between 2005-7, recalling the various experiences that had helped draw me to the sport and ultimately end up writing this blog.

Unfortunately at the time I never got round to part two, so with no further delay, now I look back at my next three years as John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson took Crucible glory between 2008-10…

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Closing In On The Cut: Crucible 2015

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SelbyROS

Following Joe Perry’s victory at the 2015 Players Championship today, we are now just one event and one week from knowing the final seedings list for next month’s World Championship, with only one place now up for grabs at the Crucible, but the placement of the seeds in the draw to be determined.

There is also the small matter of a battle for the number one ranking, with Mark Selby needing to win matches in Beijing if he is to retain the top spot ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan…

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