A look at the upcoming Snooker Masters 2011
The Masters is the most prestigious and acclaimed non-ranking event in the snooker circuit. The tournament has the second highest prize money in all the events, after world snooker championship.
The Masters will be the incipient tournament of year 2011. The tournament will take place at the Wembley arena from 9th until 16th January.
Top sixteen players on the world ranking have been confirmed to participate in the tournament. Surely it will be an all star competition.
Masters was held in 1975 for the first time in England. The first Masters was won by John Spencer after beating the legendary Ray Reardon in a match full of tussle.
Canadian cueist Cliff Thorburn, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and late Paul Hunter have been the most successful contestants in this event.
After the death of Paul Hunter, many former snooker players and the widow of Hunter demanded that the name of the tournament should be changed and renamed after Paul Hunter. World professional billiards and snooker association WPBSA ruled out any possibility
of changing the name of tournament to Paul Hunter trophy.
World number six Mark Selby is the defending champion of The Masters 2010. Selby has dominated the event in recent years, last year he claimed the titles by defeating Ronnie.
Ronnie has defeated Mark in the 2009 Masters, then Mark beat Ronnie in 2010; it will be a great match if both cue men face each other in the final this year. The audience might get bored watching the two playing a final for a third consecutive time, but
they wouldn’t mind battling each other.
Mark hopes to imitate late Paul Hunter by winning the event three times in four years. “To win it for a third time in four years and emulate Paul will be a satisfactory achievement” said Mark.
There is a competitive and fierce bunch of young players like Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy contesting in this event, who have the potential to win the big tournaments and display marvellous game.
27-year-old Mark has won some small events in 2010 but he wants to start the New Year with a big win at Masters.
The format for the tournament has been announced, sixteen top notch players are going to battle for the prize money up for grabs.
The format of the tournament is very simplistic and uncomplicated. There are only three rounds before the final match, opening round with eight matches will directly lead into the quarter finals.
The opening match on day one of the event will be played between the defending champion Mark Selby and world number 16 Mark King. The contestants in the 2nd match on 9th January are Ali Carter and world number-12 Peter Ebdon.
The third match will be played between Mark Williams and Ding Junhui on 10th January. John Higgins faces his fellow Scotsman in the fourth match of the event. The rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan will play world number 11 Mark Allen on 11th
January, whereas, Marco Fu takes on Stephen Maguire later on the same day.
The round one of the event will be concluded on 12th January with the matches Neil Robertson vs. Stephen Hendry and Shaun Murphy vs. Jamie Cope. The mega round with super matches will decide the players to flow into the next round.
The winner of UK championship 2010 John Higgins is in a superb form and he will be the event’s potential winner along with the runner up Mark Williams. On the other hand, Mark Selby is eager to strike once again and match with the performance of late Paul
Hunter.
This all star competition will doubtlessly activate the snooker calendar with loads of excitement and plenty of quality play. Snooker fans all over the world are eagerly waiting for the action packed tournament to detonate at the Wembley arena.
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