Luca Brecel, James Wattana, Lucky Vatnani and Yu Delu awarded main tour wildcards – Snooker news
World Snooker has confirmed it has awarded main tour wildcards to Luca Brecel, James Wattana, Lucky Vatnani and Yu Delu.
It has also been confirmed that there will be 100 players on the professional circuit during the 2011-12 season, which means there is going to be an extra qualifying round as well.
The 16-year-old Luca Brecel, who won the European Amateur in 2010, would have been on the professional circuit but he was dropped off for the fact that he was too young. However, the teenager has now been awarded with a wildcard, which means he will be playing
in the qualifying rounds.
The Thai-Poon, James Wattana, who was one of the best players of the early 1990s, has also been awarded with a card. The reason for awarding him a wildcard was his strong performance in the qualifying rounds of the 2011 World Snooker Championships.
James Wattana, who made it to the final of his first professional event in the 1989 Asian Open in his native Bangkok, is still the biggest name in Thailand snooker. Him getting a wildcard means he will be playing for his country in their World Cup team in
Bangkok in July 2011.
India’s Lucky Vatnani has also been given a wildcard, which suggests that India is due to play a role in Barry Hearn’s future plans. The former IBSF world snooker and billiards champion Pankaj Advani was offered the main tour card before but he turned it
down, as he did not want to spend much time in the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile there is no strong reason found for awarding a wildcard to the Chinese, Yu Delu. Many people are still thinking why he has been favoured over Li Hang, who beat the likes of former world champions Ken Doherty and Graeme Dott in the China Open.
However, it is being suspected that may be the World Snooker had given the Chinese snooker authorities a wildcard and they awarded it to Yu, as he has been a stalwart in various ranking tournament staged over the years.
Tags: