UK Championship: A short history of snooker’s second most prestigious event - Part 3 (1981-1982)
People and players across Europe were recognising the UK Championship, and the tournament was gaining more and more importance with the passage of time. The championship was becoming popular among spectators with every passing year. BBC Television was performing
the coverage duties quite well, in fact, they extended their coverage to eight days for the championship.
1981 – Steve Davis continues
The 1981 UK Championship was fourth event sponsored by Coral Racing and fifth event held and hosted at the Guildhall, in Preston. The tournament was held from November 22-December 5, 1981.
This year, several new features were added to the old recipe. For the first time, a proper qualifying round was conducted among 25 players, who were divided into eight groups, to qualify for the initial draw of the event.
Winners of these qualifiers surged into another newly introduced round, Round of 32, where they competed against each other to qualify for last-24, where top guns like former champion John Virgo, Alex Higgins and Fred Davis were placed.
Another new addition to this event was the entrance of a young promising potter, England’s Jimmy White, who is now one of the legendary players of the world know for his mastery in tricky shots. The 1981 UK Championship was White’s first major event. He
was fresh blood coming into the championship after his successful run in the Langs Scottish Masters and Northern Ireland Classics.
White cleared the baize brilliantly in the initial rounds beating former champion, John Virgo, Dennis Taylor and Ray Reardon to surge into the semi-final stage against the defending champion, Steve Davis. The youngster could not stand a chance against the
champ and tumbled down in a whitewash defeat by the score line of 9-0.
Along with White, another young player, Tony Meo, also improved his abilities during the championship. He faced former world champion, Terry Griffiths, in the semi-final clash after ousting Rex Williams, Cliff Thorburn and Alex Higgins, but he crashed out
at the hands of Griffiths by 9-3.
The best-of-31 frames final encounter of 1981 UK Championship was yet another piece of cake for the defending champion, Davis. Griffiths was one of the leading top dogs of snooker at that time but against the youngster he seemed like an amateur and lost
to Davis, 16-3. Davis pocketed a winner’s prize money of £10,000.
1982 – Steve Davis overtaken
With the increasing number of players every year, a couple of changes had to be made in the 1982 Coral UK Championship. For the first time, a two-round qualifying session was introduced, where potters were placed according to their world ranking. Another
change was the addition of high break prize money, which was £1,000. The sixth UK Championship took place from November 27-December 4, 1982.
Top guns of snooker, which included Steve Davis, Patsy Fagan, Terry Griffiths, Dennis Taylor, Tony Meo, former UK Champion, John Virgo and Alex Higgins, were placed in last-32 draw, where they faced the qualifiers.
Defending champion, Steve Davis, started his campaign impressively with easy victories over Rex Williams 9-6 and Patsy Fagan 9-3 to set up a quarter-final clash against old friend, Terry Griffiths, the man he ousted in yester year’s UK Championship final.
This time luck was on Griffith’s side, as he avenged his defeat by beating Davis by the score line of 9-6.
On the other hand, Jimmy White again impressed during the championship with a promising performance and reached the quarter-final stage of the event, where he crashed out at the hands of the Welshman, Ray Reardon, 9-8.
Former world champion, Griffiths, surged into the final encounter against England’s Alex Higgins. Both cueists played outstandingly well during the ultimate battle and fought neck and neck, as they dragged the match into a decider frame. The last frame was
also a thriller that finished in favour of Griffiths, who took his first UK Championship title by the score line of 16-15.
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