Former world champion Shaun Murphy has backed the announcement of Saudi Arabia’s first ever invitational snooker event and the introduction of a new golden ball which could increase the maximum break to 167.
The inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker will take place in March with seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan set to feature in the 10-player field alongside 2019 world champion Judd Trump and current holder Luca Brecel.
The tournament will see the introduction of a 23rd golden ball, known as the Riyadh Season ball, which will be worth 20 points, but can only be potted once a maximum break of 147 has been completed.
Murphy urged traditionalists to give the novel idea a chance, likening it to the single-frame Snooker Shoot-Out, which was met with plenty of resistance when it was introduced, but has evolved into a permanent fixture on the world ranking calendar since 2017.
Murphy, who as the current world number six is set to feature in the tournament, told the PA news agency: “It was heresy when the Shoot-Out was brought in as a ranking event – people were nearly out with torches on the streets – but I haven’t met a single person who has been to the Shoot-Out and not enjoyed it.
“You should never criticise something unless you’ve tried it. It’s just something different and it’s not the first time the sport has tried new ideas.
“I imagine they (World Snooker Tour) had to make a few concessions to get the event over the line, and the new promoters in Saudi will want their event to stand out and be different. At the end of the day you’d rather have the event than not.”
Precise details of the format relating to the golden ball are yet to be revealed, but the PA news agency understands that WST is not considering the introduction of the ball for any other tournaments.
The Saudi tournament, due to be held in Riyadh from March 4-6 and featuring the top eight players in the world and a prize pool of one million US dollars, will not offer the highest break in the sport’s history.
A short-lived experiment in 1959 saw the introduction of a ‘Snooker Plus’ tournament, which included two additional colours, an orange ball worth eight points and a purple worth 10, which raised the theoretically available maximum to 210.
The announcement of the Saudi event, hailed as a “huge breakthrough” by WST chairman Steve Dawson, was met with some resistance from lower-ranked players, with 2023 Shoot-Out semi-finalist Steven Hallworth tweeting: “Was starting to lose sleep with worry that the top 8 players might run out of events and cash soon, thank God for this”.
Amnesty International criticised snooker’s addition to the growing list of sports heading to the kingdom, calling on those involved to seize the opportunity to speak out about human rights abuses.
Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s Economic Affairs director, said: “It was just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia’s huge sportswashing machine sucked in snooker along with almost every other major world sport.
“If the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump play in Riyadh, they shouldn’t hesitate to speak out about human rights.”
For all that Murphy accepts the relevance of continued expressions of concern, the 41-year-old insists neither those prospective invitees, nor the sport itself, should be in any quandary about being part of the historic deal.
“Obviously there is a question over human rights as there should be, but if we (WST) only traded with countries with perfect human rights records, it would be a very, very small pool to pick from,” added Murphy.
“We wouldn’t be trading with the UK either. We haven’t covered ourselves in glory over hundreds of years, going around invading other countries, so people in glass houses need to be careful where they throw their stones.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan dismisses talk of greatness ahead of World Championship opener
Ronnie O’Sullivan shrugged off suggestions of greatness on the eve of his bid to eclipse Stephen Hendry and become the first player to win eight world snooker titles in the modern era.
O’Sullivan is already routinely described as the best player to pick up a cue after a record-breaking career that includes eight Masters and eight UK titles within a total of 41 ranking tournament wins.
But the 48-year-old, who starts his first round match against Welsh qualifier Jackson Page on Wednesday, has never been one to pore over the record books, and questions whether such plaudits are worth having at all.
“I don’t regard myself as the greatest of all time,” said O’Sullivan. “Statistically I suppose I am, but I’m just happy to be playing.
“I suppose as a kid I would have been desperate to be up with those guys but when you get there it’s a bit of an anti-climax – it’s not as great as you thought it would be.”
O’Sullivan, who won his first world title in 2001, currently sits on seven alongside Hendry, with Davis and Ray Reardon one behind on six wins each.
Yet while the title-winning eras of those fellow greats spanned less than a decade, O’Sullivan’s longevity, which shows all the signs of pushing on beyond a quarter of a century, makes the reign of the ‘Rocket’ indisputably unique.
“I’ve had a different career to them,” added O’Sullivan. “They just did it over a 10-year period while I’ve sort of gone off track for five or six years, then got myself back together, then disappeared for another three years, then got myself back together again.
“I was a bit all over the shop really, stuff going on off the table that can affect how you perform. Hendry and Davis had everything fitted around them to focus on snooker, but that’s how it worked out for me, so I’ve had to go on longer.”
“I love playing, I enjoy it. I get to travel where I want, take time off when I want, be my own boss. It’s those little things, and you want to win because competitiveness has always been in me.
Amid more top-level retirement talk, with Mark Selby the latest to question his future in the sport after his first round defeat to Joe O’Connor, O’Sullivan appears to be heading back to the Crucible intent on many more attempts to increase his legacy.
He has linked up with a new coach and is clearly putting the effort in ahead of his opener against 22-year-old Page, who beat Barry Hawkins on his Crucible debut two years ago before suffering a heavy defeat to Mark Williams in round two.
O’Sullivan added: “I love playing, I enjoy it. I get to travel where I want, take time off when I want, be my own boss. It’s those little things, and you want to win because competitiveness has always been in me.
“I’m pretty cool with what I’ve done and I’d like to keep winning more. Whether that makes me the greatest or not, I don’t know. It really doesn’t matter.”
Jack Lisowski forges ahead against Ding Junhui in tight Crucible clash
Jack Lisowski forged a 5-4 lead in his World Snooker Championship opener against Ding Junhui as the clash lived up to its billing as the tie of the round.
Lisowski, who reached the quarter-finals at the Crucible in 2022, had to qualify for this year’s tournament after dropping out of the top 16, beating Matthew Stevens 10-3 last week to book his ticket.
But after falling behind early on against Ding, Lisowski looked back to his best as he edged a highly entertaining first session.
Lisowski, 32, looked in danger of being blown away by Ding on Tuesday morning as the 2016 finalist flew out of the blocks, compiling a clearance worth 127 to win the opening frame.
The Chinese star then enjoyed a huge slice of luck in the second as he fluked a red into a middle pocket early on, but a missed black at 23-0 opened the door for Lisowski to pot his first ball of the day.
Lisowski was only able to score a solitary point at that visit before letting Ding back in, though, and he finished the frame with a break of 60 to make it 2-0.
The Englishman hit back in the next, rattling off a break of 72 to reduce Ding’s lead to one.
And Lisowski went into the mid-session interval tied at 2-2 courtesy of a break of 91 in the fourth frame.
Ding displayed his brilliant battling qualities in the fifth frame as he conjured a 98 to edge ahead once more.
An attritional sixth frame, which lasted more than half an hour as a tactical battle broke out, went Lisowski’s way as he drew level.
But Ding made quick work of the next frame, winning it with a break of 90 to go 4-3 up before Lisowski took the eighth.
And Lisowski won the final frame of the session to lead for the first time in the match.
Former finalist Kyren Wilson has one foot in the second round after storming into an 8-1 lead against Welshman Dominic Dale, who is making his Crucible comeback after a 10-year absence.
Wilson started brightly, winning the first two frames before Dale seemed set to get his first frame on the board after opening up a 30-0 lead in the third.
But Wilson made Dale pay for missing the pink as he roared back with a break of 75 to take a 3-0 lead.
Dale was not to be denied in the fourth frame, though, producing a stunning break of 120 to get on the scoreboard.
Wilson regained command immediately after the interval with a phenomenal break of 123 before a 98 in the next frame moved him 5-1 in front.
Englishman Wilson then showed exceptional nerve to come from behind to win the next frame 74-70 to extend his lead to five.
Wilson’s dominance continued as he won the next two frames with breaks of 77 and 73 to extend his massive lead.
Make it shinier and nicer – Hossein Vafaei says ‘everything so bad’ at Crucible
Hossein Vafaei strongly criticised the conditions at the Crucible after crashing out of the World Snooker Championship in a 10-5 defeat by former champion Judd Trump.
The Iranian described the famous Sheffield venue as “smelly”, compared its practice facilities to “like playing in a garage”, and questioned the treatment of players in the course of the marathon 17-day event.
“Everything’s so bad – if you ask me if I want to come back here, I would tell you no way,” said Vafaei, who is no stranger to Crucible controversy after playing a rash break-off shot in his defeat by Ronnie O’Sullivan last year.
“Forget the history, you want to go somewhere really nice as a player. You walk round the Crucible and it smells really bad. You go to other countries, and everything is shiny. But here it’s completely different.
“The practice room – do you see anything special? I feel like I’m practising in a garage.”
Speculation over the future of the Crucible, which has staged he tournament since 1977, has been heightened since world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan suggested it should be moved to Saudi Arabia or China when the existing deal expires in 2027.
Vafaei, who made his debut in 2022, is clearly no fan and continued: “Look at the China venues, how fantastic they treat the players, a red carpet and an opening ceremony. The players are treated like stars. But here no one looks after the players, before and after the match no one cares who you are.
“If they don’t want to lose the Crucible invest some money, make it shinier, make it nicer, make it more luxury for the people. If they make it cleaner and nicer, people will enjoy it.”
Trump turned a 6-3 overnight advantage into a comfortable win over his opponent, who cut a frustrated figure after failing to take a series of chances to reach the midway point with more of a chance against the 2019 champion.
Trump was not even required to summon a half-century in a low-key second session, and was more than happy to ease though a potentially tricky assignment and seal his place in the last 16 against either Tom Ford or Ricky Walden.
“I got the job done in that first session,” shrugged Trump. “I knew it was going to be a bit demoralising for him to be 6-3 down after that performance, so today was about getting a few frames early on and knocking the belief out of him.
“Coming into this event I was a lot more confident than I have been in the last three or four years. It’s nice to know I’m into the second round and I’ve got a few days off so I can sit back and watch other people sweat.”
It was a different matter for four-time champion Mark Selby, who is on the brink of falling at the first hurdle after losing his first session 7-3 to debutant Joe O’Connor.
Selby, who questioned his future in the sport after losing to Gary Wilson in the Tour Championship earlier this month, was second best against his Leicester rival, who reeled off five frames in a row to leave himself in a commanding position ahead of Monday’s resumption.
Eleventh seed Zhang Anda followed defending champion Luca Brecel out of the tournament as he was hammered 10-4 by last year’s surprise quarter-finalist Jak Jones.
Resuming 5-2 in front after their abridged opening session on Saturday, Jones chiselled his way over the line with a top break of 60, while Zhang’s 95 in the 13th frame proved much too little, too late.
Shaun Murphy fashioned a 6-3 lead over China’s Lyu Haotian despite a dreadful missed black in the fifth frame that briefly inspired his opponent to claw back a 3-1 deficit and level at 3-3.
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