Players to watch in 2012 Shanghai Masters snooker event – Part 1
The new snooker season started in June after a successful finish of the 2011-12 Snooker Season with the end of the 2012 World Snooker Championship. The rookies of the game started the new season with the hope to grab some major ranking titles to improve
their rankings. This season’s events also featured the 2012 World Snooker Qualifying School (Q School) entrants who earned a two-year pro tour place after performing tremendously in the event.
A couple of major names of the game like the former four-time World Snooker Championship winner, Scotland’s John Higgins and the reigning World Snooker Champion, the Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan of England has not taken part in any of the new snooker season
events so far. Both had almost the same reasons for not taking part in the events. They might take part in the upcoming 2012 Shanghai Masters snooker tournament because it is almost the first quarter of the new snooker season and they must not have any issues
now because they have rested enough.
Both O’Sullivan and Higgins seemed unhappy with the increased number of snooker events in the new season. They believed that players cannot spare time for their families and friends if they are busy in competing around the world so they needed a break before
they could begin their new snooker season. O’Sullivan refused to sign the new season contract with World Snooker and wished to have a wild card entry in the 2012 Shanghai Masters.
However, his wish was not granted and the snooker governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) refused the availability of a wild card because this award is solely the authority of the organising country and the sponsors
of that particular event. However, O’Sullivan is still hopeful of a wild card entry otherwise he must sign the contract first to take part in the 2012 Shanghai Masters snooker tournament.
The new season tournaments featured some new faces on the surface of major ranking title gallery who performed tremendously from the start of the new snooker season. This has brought them into the list of the top guns of snooker across the world. The first
major ranking event of the new snooker season was the 2012 Wuxi Classic snooker tournament. The event was an invitational snooker tournament but due to its increasing popularity and number of visitors, the WPBSA decided to change its status to major ranking
event.
The 2012 Wuxi Classic snooker event produced some tremendous matches featuring new face on the leading podium when the English potter, Ricky Walden claimed the title beating the winner of the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open snooker event, Stuart Bingham
by the score line of 10-4. Walden played tremendously from the beginning and hit the final spot to claim his maiden ranking title win against Bingham. He was one of the top contenders of the event but failed to come up with some strategy to unsettle his opponent
in the final and tumbled down easily.
The next event of the new season was the 2012 Six-Red World Championship where the English cueman Mark Davis showed his class and made his way to the final encounter of the event against the former World Snooker Championship winner, Shaun Murphy. The clash
seemed a tough game but Davis was impressive at the baize and pushed his opponent down by 8-4 to claim the title.
Continued in Part 2
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