Junior Member
China wildcards
Barry hearn and the board need to stop letting so many chinese amateurs play as wildcards in our ranking tournaments,its seriously unfair on the guys who work hard and qualify then spend a fortune to go to the venue and face the pressure of playing one of those boys. especially when its the only country that gets this favour,y not give the top juniors in scotland,england,ireland and wales the chance to play a pro as a wildcard match in the british tournys? something seriously has to change.
Grand Lover of Snooker
This old debate again... I'm not sure how many times I've defended the wildcard rounds now, but it can't hurt to do it again I suppose...Originally Posted by hotshot27
The wildcard round has been present in pretty much every event outside of the UK in recent years. There were two local players in Australia, eight wildcard players in the German Masters, not just from Germany but from other European countries as well, and it was the same in the Malta Cup and the Bahrain Championship in the past. So it's certainly not something unique to China...
Well, there is no additional pressure as far as ranking points or prize money are concerned. They get the full points and money, as if they lost against the seeded player in the last32 stage. The only thing they do lose is the chance to go further in the tournament. And if they don't beat an amateur player, it's not much of a loss as far as I'm concerned.
For a start, there is no need to do that. The British amateurs are not completely isolated from world-class snooker. They now have the PTC series, with most of the events very accessible to them, while an amateur from China would have to travel to the other side of the world to play in a competition of a similar level. On top of that, the main qualifying channel for the Main Tour is completely based in the UK.
For the lucky few Chinese players, a wildcard match is a nice reward, and also a great opportunity. The fact that so many Chinese players have won their matches in the past shows they have a lot of strength in depth. For instance, Lu Ning, who beat Nigel Bond and held his own against Selby in the World Open, is only 41st in the Chinese national rankings. In the past we've had players like Yu Delu, who played very well in several events, or guys like Li Hang, who had a good run in one event. Some of these players couldn't get on the Main Tour, while British players such as Ian Preece and Andrew Norman got wildcards, even after failing to keep their place on merit. For other Chinese players the Main Tour experience was not a good one, mostly struggling against other low-ranked players in the qualifiers. I think it just shows you what an advantage playing at home really is, and the Main Tour players from China are always up against it, even in the qualifiers for the Chinese events.
One long-term solution would be playing the Chinese events similar to the PTCs, with a massive pre-round involving as many amateurs as possible, so that no wildcards would need to enter the event in the later stages. But that would mean playing the entire qualifiers in China, and we all know that's not happening anytime soon. The resources are just not there, and the Main Tour is too "British" to justify something like that. If nothing else, this is another reason the wildcard rounds are so important... I know three events don't give much of a pattern, but it's still some indication of how much strength there is at any particular point, and whether additional doors should be opened for Asian players. And from the players perspective, it gives them a reference of how good they really are as well, and whether a professional snooker career is something they should pursue.
Black
until thailand and china came along the worlds were just a glorified commonwealth championship the reason why so many chinese worldcards are used is because they dont have the PTCs to gain their experience English Players doThis old debate again... I'm not sure how many times I've defended the wildcard rounds now, but it can't hurt to do it again I suppose...
The wildcard round has been present in pretty much every event outside of the UK in recent years. There were two local players in Australia, eight wildcard players in the German Masters, not just from Germany but from other European countries as well, and it was the same in the Malta Cup and the Bahrain Championship in the past. So it's certainly not something unique to China...
Well, there is no additional pressure as far as ranking points or prize money are concerned. They get the full points and money, as if they lost against the seeded player in the last32 stage. The only thing they do lose is the chance to go further in the tournament. And if they don't beat an amateur player, it's not much of a loss as far as I'm concerned.
For a start, there is no need to do that. The British amateurs are not completely isolated from world-class snooker. They now have the PTC series, with most of the events very accessible to them, while an amateur from China would have to travel to the other side of the world to play in a competition of a similar level. On top of that, the main qualifying channel for the Main Tour is completely based in the UK.
For the lucky few Chinese players, a wildcard match is a nice reward, and also a great opportunity. The fact that so many Chinese players have won their matches in the past shows they have a lot of strength in depth. For instance, Lu Ning, who beat Nigel Bond and held his own against Selby in the World Open, is only 41st in the Chinese national rankings. In the past we've had players like Yu Delu, who played very well in several events, or guys like Li Hang, who had a good run in one event. Some of these players couldn't get on the Main Tour, while British players such as Ian Preece and Andrew Norman got wildcards, even after failing to keep their place on merit. For other Chinese players the Main Tour experience was not a good one, mostly struggling against other low-ranked players in the qualifiers. I think it just shows you what an advantage playing at home really is, and the Main Tour players from China are always up against it, even in the qualifiers for the Chinese events.
One long-term solution would be playing the Chinese events similar to the PTCs, with a massive pre-round involving as many amateurs as possible, so that no wildcards would need to enter the event in the later stages. But that would mean playing the entire qualifiers in China, and we all know that's not happening anytime soon. The resources are just not there, and the Main Tour is too "British" to justify something like that. If nothing else, this is another reason the wildcard rounds are so important... I know three events don't give much of a pattern, but it's still some indication of how much strength there is at any particular point, and whether additional doors should be opened for Asian players. And from the players perspective, it gives them a reference of how good they really are as well, and whether a professional snooker career is something they should pursue.
Also why cant one of these Chinese ranking events be in Thailand Thailand is also a hotbed for snooker players
Goddess Of All Things Cue Sports And Winner Of The 2012 German Masters and World Open Fantasy Games and the overall 2011-12 Fantasy Game
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