On April 26th, Beijing time, the Snooker World Championship continued to be in full swing in Crucible, and the top 16 were officially released! China's 22-year-old snooker star Si Jiahui became the only non-British player in the top 16 of the Snooker World Championship, bringing a surprise to the Chinese people! Here are the details (detailed matchup chart is attached below).
The World Championships is the highest level of snooker competition, and the prize money for entering the main round (top 32) is 20,000 pounds, the top 16 is 30,000 pounds, the top 8 is 50,000 pounds, the top 4 is 100,000 pounds, the runner-up is 200,000 pounds, and the championship prize is up to 500,000 pounds!
The World Championships is a long-game system, the first round of the main competition (1/16 finals), using 19 rounds and 10 wins, divided into 2 periods (9 rounds/10 rounds), 1/8 finals and 1/4 finals, using 25 rounds and 13 wins, divided into 3 periods (8 rounds/8 rounds/9 rounds);
The semi-finals are played in 4 stages (8 games/8 games/8 games/9 games), and the final is played in 4 stages (8 games/9 games/8 games/10 games) in a 35-18 system, and the World Championships format is a great test of patience and concentration.
The top 16 players in the world rank directly qualify for the main event, and the remaining 16 spots in the main draw will go through four rounds of qualifying rounds, and join hands with the top 16 seeds to come to Crucible to compete for the final title!
Defending champion and Belgian Brecel are the top seed and are currently ranked No. 4 in the world. The No. 2-16 seeds are O'Sullivan (1), Trump (2), Mark Allen (3), Selby (5), Mark Williams (6), Ding Junhui (7), Murphy (8);
Ali Carter (9), Gary Wilson (10), Anda Chang (11), Kyren Wilson (12), Higgins (13), Tom Forde (14), Barry Hawkins (15), Milkins (16).
The 16 players who broke through from the qualifying round, ranked from high to low in the world, are Lisowski (17), Ryan Day (18), Hussein Wafai (19), Si Jiahui (23), Lu Haotian (26), Pang Junxu (27), Maguire (28), Bingham (29);
O'Connor (30), Gilbert (31), Rickie Wharton (32), Dominic Dyer (40), Jamie Jones (41), Jackson Page (43), Jack Jones (44), Robbie Williams (45).
As a result, there were frequent upsets in the first round of the main competition, half of the seeded players lost and went out, and the defending champion Brecel was eliminated first, 9-10 by Gilbert, and suffered a round trip!
In addition, Selby, the runner-up of the last World Championships and ranked 5th in the world, also suffered a round of tours, losing 6-10 to O'Connor, ranked 30th in the world, and all the champions and runners-up of the last World Championships were in one round, which was indeed unexpected.
The other six seeded players who lost in the first round were No. 6 seed Mark Williams, who was killed 9-10 by China's 23-year-old snooker star Si Jiahui, and No. 7 seed Ding Junhui, China's snooker "first brother", who was killed 9-10 by the top seed Lisowski in the qualifying tournament.
No.9 seed Ali Carter lost 7-10 to world No.28 Harry Maguire, and No.10 seed Gary Wilson lost 5-10 to world No.29 Bingham.
11th seed and China's Zhang Anda lost 4-10 to world No. 44 Jack Jones, while 15th seed Barry Hawkins lost 8-10 to world No. 18 Ryan Day.
So far, the top 16 of this World Championship has been officially released!1/8 finals are:
Top half: Gilbert (31) vs. Milkins (16), Maguire (28) vs. Murphy (8), O'Connor (30) vs. Kyren Wilson (12), Higgins (13) vs. Mark Allen (3)
Second half: Judd Trump (2) vs. Tom Forde (14), Jack Jones (44) vs. Si Jiahui (23), Lisowski (17) vs. Bingham (29), Ryan Day (18) vs. O'Sullivan (1)
At present, there are two matches in the 1/8 finals that have ended the first stage of the competition, with No. 3 seed Trump temporarily leading No. 14 seed Tom Ford 6-2, and Gilbert temporarily leading No. 16 seed Milkins 5-3.
Looking at the current situation in the upper and lower halves, Murphy and Mark Allen in the upper half of the region are hopeful of competing for a ticket to the finals, Murphy has won a total of 12 ranking tournaments in his career, one of the "80 Five Tigers", a Grand Slam player;
Mark Allen is 38 years old, has won 11 ranking tournaments in his career, and has won three championships this season, and is in very hot form! In the second half, O'Sullivan and Trump have outstanding overall strength and hope to compete for another place in the final.
O'Sullivan is 48 years old, is the greatest player in the history of snooker so far, famous for his fast playing speed and high accuracy, and the nickname "Rocket" comes from this! He has won 41 ranking championships in his career, including 23 of the three major championships, and has reached the top of the World Championships 7 times and won 7 Grand Slams.
At present, the 48-year-old O'Sullivan is still in hot form, winning the Masters and the British Championship this season, and this World Championships will be attacking the 8th round of the Grand Slam, I have to say that O'Sullivan is indeed too strong.
Trump is also the favorite to win the World Championships, but he is in the same half as O'Sullivan, and if the two usher in a direct confrontation, they will definitely receive great attention from many fans!
Trump is 34 years old and has won a total of 28 ranking tournaments in his career and is a Grand Slam player. This season's state is bursting, winning 5 championships and 3 runners-up, and the single-season results surpass O'Sullivan, who also won 5 championships. However, judging from the gold content of the championship, O'Sullivan is undoubtedly stronger! Therefore, in the second half of the region, O'Sullivan and Trump, who have outstanding overall strength, are expected to usher in a direct confrontation.
It is worth mentioning that China's 22-year-old snooker star Si Jiahui, after breaking into the semifinals of the World Championships last year, this World Championships has become the hope of the whole village! In the next 8 rounds, Si Jiahui is still very hopeful of winning in the face of Jack Jones, who eliminated Zhang Anda in the last round and ranked 44th in the world.
If Si Jiahui advances to the top 8, the next 1/4 finals are likely to challenge Trump, which will surely attract the attention of many snooker fans! At 17:00 on April 26, Beijing time, the first stage of the 1/8 finals between Si Jiahui and Jack Jones will start, and Si Jiahui is expected to have a better performance and defend the glory of Chinese snooker in a foreign country!