- Your billiards table just got a whole lot more interesting…
It’s an interesting time in the snooker world. The lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic still disrupting the calendar, the match-fixing scandal that has led to 10 Chinese players being suspended, and snooker’s biggest stars frequently calling out what they see as the mismanagement of the sport by the top brass, means there is a lot of noise off the table as we approach the 2023 World Snooker Championship.
The Sheffield-based tournament is usually the crowning moment of the snooker season, a cause for real celebration of this unique sport and all its ancillary drama. This year, though, there is a feeling that many of these issues will come to a head at the Crucible — that, for once, the World Snooker Championship will not bring distraction from off-table issues, but rather serve to amplify them.
The disciplinary hearing for the 10 suspended Chinese players is due to take place on April 24, slap bang in the middle of the World Championship, and you can expect there will be plenty of discussions among players and pundits alike about the various issues gripping the sport, from betting scandals and earning opportunities to table conditions and scheduling complaints.
All these issues are added to by the fact that, on the table, this year’s tournament is set to be one of the hardest ever to predict. Looking at the snooker odds in the lead-up to the action getting underway on April 15, the usual suspects are all in contention, and yet many of them have suffered below-par seasons, with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson and John Higgins failing to even reach a ranking final so far in the 2022-23 campaign.
The Tour Championship, a tournament reserved for the top eight performing players of each season based on the one-year ranking list, is notable this year for the absence of O’Sullivan, Robertson, Judd Trump, Higgins, and Mark Williams, after a campaign in which several alternative challengers have stepped to the fore and delivered memorable triumphs and consistent performances.
All this makes it difficult to hazard a guess at who might lift the famous trophy on May 1. The form guides suggest Mark Allen, who has been the standout player this season, winning three ranking titles so far and adding a new hardened dimension to his game. Shaun Murphy has been another player in fine fettle recently, whilst Mark Selby’s triumph in the WST Classic means he is heavily fancied in the Snooker World Championship odds.
Many are wondering whether the strange nature of this season, which has seen many top stars fail to get their hands on a trophy, could mean that we’ll see a new face lifting the World Championship trophy, but it’s worth remembering how rare it is that an outsider triumphs in the 17-day slog at the Crucible.
In fact, eight of the last 11 World Championships have been won by either Selby or O’Sullivan, with Trump, Williams and Stuart Bingham the only other players to have picked up the trophy in that time. That is testament to how important experience is when it comes to the Crucible. Any player can have a good week and win a ranking event, but to do it at the World Championship requires another level.
As tough as this tournament is to predict, don’t be surprised if we see one of the sport’s true stars raising their fist to the air on the night of May 1.
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