Tour Survival 2015/16 – Player by Player

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As the nights draw in and the clocks go back, it is also that time of the year when I take a close look at the battle for tour places from the start of the 2016/17 season. As regular readers will be well aware, to fully understand how each of the current tour players are currently placed, it is necessary to analyse a number of different ranking lists and orders of merit.

With two of the biggest money events to come in the International Championship and UK Championship tournaments, today I take my first player-by-player look at the current state of play and flag up some of the surprise names with work to do if they are to remain on tour for another season…

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Morris Suffering From Back Injury

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One of last season’s most impressive performers of those to have started the season on zero ranking points, Irish number three David Morris has struggled for victories in the early weeks of the season and it has today emerged that he is currently suffering from the after-effects of a back injury sustained whilst at the gym.

The quotes from David and story in full can be found here at Ireland’s SnookerHQ website, but clearly this is not a trivial issue for him and one that is likely to impact upon his schedule of events over the coming weeks and months. In that regard, the postponement of the Indian Open, originally scheduled for October, has proven to be a bonus for him and with little snooker now until the venue stages of the International Championship in late October, he has the opportunity to rest up and prepare for Chengdu..

Up into the top 64 on the latest projected seedings list and with no points to defend during the remainder of this season, David has a real opportunity not only to consolidate his place on the tour with a good 2014/15, but to top his previous career high ranking of 55 and hopefully therefore we will see him back in action as soon as possible.

 

World Snooker Rankings 2014/15: Seedings Revision Two Round-Up

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Stuart Bingham’s victory at the Shanghai Masters yesterday marked not only his biggest tournament win to date, but also the end of the second stage of the 2014/15 season as the seedings are revised for the International Championship.

Click below for a round-up of all of the changes to the seeding list, including confirmation of a change at the top of the rankings since Australia…

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2014/15: Money To Defend, Themes To Follow

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For those of us who like to keep an eye on all things rankings related, during each season there are usually a number of themes to follow just from a look at the various ranking lists.

For example a couple of seasons ago, it was only a matter of time before Judd Trump became number one, given the relative lack of points that he was defending compared to those above him, while last season it was the likes of Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui who were well placed to climb to the top of the list due to lesser performances two years previously.

This year has of course seen a change to a prize-money based ranking list, but the premise of a two-year rolling system remains the same and so below I take a look at a few themes that I will be following as the season progresses.

To assist, @joanneballantyn has also helped to put together the usual ‘money to defend’ lists (available here), which show which points will be coming off at each cut-off point.

Click below for more…

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World Championship 2014: Tour Survival Blog

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So it begins, tomorrow will see the start of the 2014 World Championship qualifiers and with them, the climax of the race for main tour places, which I have been talking about so much during the past few months.

Though you can view my extended player-by-player guide to tour survival here, this then is the post that will be updated throughout this week’s matches, making focusing on those which could prove key to certain players hopes of remaining on the main tour for at least another season…

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Four Days In Barnsley

Following Neil Robertson’s victory at the UK Championship, the snooker circuit was back in action this week at the Barnsley Metrodome for the final matches of 2013, as the round of 128 of the German Masters and Haikou World Open events were played out.

Click below for my round-up of the events…

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