Stephen Hendry to clash against Ryan Day at the World Snooker Championship 2011
Stephen Hendry is likely to meet Ryan Day in the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in his first-round match. The seven-time world champion is seeded 13 while Day is placed at twentieth spot. World Snooker published drawsheets of the world snooker
championship 2011 on Monday, February 21. The mega event is running from April 16 to May 2 at the same venue it takes place every year, the Crucible theatre.
Stephen Hendry, a record seven-time world champion from Scotland, has been tussling with his performances during the current season. He faced early exits from a couple of tournaments during this season, the Shanghai Masters 2010, the Masters 2010, the UK
championship 2010, German Masters 2011 and Welsh Open 2011. He revealed that the reason for his poor performance is ‘the yips’ he has been struggling with for the last 10 years.
Ryan Day, turning 30 in March, faced the same circumstances in 2010/2011 season, exiting in first rounds of major ranking events but he bounced back well in the Welsh Open 2011. He made a huge upset when he defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first round of
the Welsh Open.
Both Hendry and Day have faced each other in the World Championship 2008 quarter-final, where Hendry beat Day 13-7. If they go head-to-head in the upcoming mega event, the competition is going to be a thriller.
In other possible knocks, snooker legend Steve Davis might face the energetic youngster, Jack Lisowski in the qualifiers. Davis is seeded 40 while Lisowski is at number 56. If the youngster succeeds to end the journey of the experienced Davis, the six-time
world champion and winner of the most professional snooker titles, then he will be facing Stephen Lee to book his spot at the Crucible.
Ronnie O’Sullivan could face Shaun Murphy in the last-16. He has been struggling too like Hendry with his performance during the current season due to his illness and some family issues. He did not participate in German Masters and was thrown out of Welsh
open by Ryan Day in the first round.
The defending champion, Neil Robertson, the first Australian to win the World Championship since 1952, might face the man he defeated at the 2010 World Championship final, Scotsman Graeme Dott in the quarter-final as both players are placed in the same quarter
of last-32 round. Both have to face their qualifier opponents first.
The qualifiers for 2011 World Championship will take place at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield, from March 5 to 13. Sixteen winners from the qualifiers will meet the top-16 in the televised stage of the tournament at the Crucible.
Tags: