World Championship Qualifying

[JP1]

I agree, let's hope Luca Brecel get's a decent referee this time, hard enough to beat your opponent without having to beat the referee as well.
Justice prevailed this time, but that doe snot make it right what Pete Williamson did and Barry Heran will need tolook into this.
For those that have not seen the match here are two pictures, A - shows the situation Brecel found himself in, as you can see the red is impossible to hit even with the long stuff and tons of side, far to close to the black, the only shot left was the one he played raising the cue and attempting to get between black and cushion to reach the red, the distance of black from cushion was 1-1/2 balls width or about 75mm

Picture B - shows where Hold demanded that Pete Williamson places the balls, again it requires little to see that this completely closed the door to the shot Luca attempted, his subsequent round the table attempt hit first blue then green, both balls also totally incorrectly replaced by Williamson, which underlines his incompetence as he obviously had no idea where any of the balls where even seconds after they had been struck?? which is unbelievable.
Lucas eventual escape was only made possible by Williamson having replaced the green incorrectly to open the path to the red vis the bottom rail with check side, a freak shot really, and after 30+ penalty points awarded to Holt.

The mere fact that Williamson was unable to locate the original position is bad enough, but knowing this, how then can he justify calling a foul and a miss???

You are really only left with two possibilities, cheating or incompetence, and I ask you is either acceptable in the biggest tournament in snooker in the world? I don't001.jpg002.jpg think so.

[SnookerFan]

Wouldn't it be immense of Luca Brecel qualified for The Crucible? Partly because he's young, talented and Belgian. Also, because Mark King is a bit of a tit.

[JP1]

That is not the point, it does not matter what Holt thinks, HE IS NOT THE REFEREE if you watched the match live you would have seen that Holt insisted/influenced the referee to come to a decision that benefited him by having the balls incorrectly replaced to make it more difficult for Luca Brecel, this shows either total gutlessness or bias on the referees part, in the situation with one red left and the frame and match at a knifes edge, no referee in the world would call a foul and a miss on a snooker such as this, what the rule requires is for the referee to be satisfied that player B did not make a serious attempt at striking the ball on, the snooker which was obtained by playing a push shot and was as you correctly point out a fluke, was in the bracket of "un-hitable" and hence should only have been called a foul, Holt could then have chosen to play the ball from where it finished or request Brecel to play the shot again.
Alan Chamberlain has a very similar situation in a match he refereed only a few weeks earlier, also only one red left with the frame delicately poised, Alan correctly called a foul but NO MISS This debacle with Pete Williamson who even struggles to get the balls back in position and to post the correct scores must not be allowed to be repeated, retire him he is obviously not up to it. And that really is the best anyone can say about him.

Can someone get a still of video of the original snooker?

It didnt look like brecel could make the shot he 1st tried, and if it was on there was barely enough room for the ball to squeeze thru.

When he did hit it, i missed him playing the shot, but i know the white came down the table and hit the red fullish, so it looked like he hit the top cush with side ,now at 1st it didnt look like this was on but obviously it was...

holts view is brecel played the wrong shot each time and thats why he put it back...regardless of that, even in some cases where the miss rule seems alittle unfair, its not really the players fault is it? I mean any player could be on the wrong side of one of these decisions so if it happens to be in your favour then you got to take it.

i dont agree with you jp1 that holt was unsporting....maby just used his expericence giving his opinion of where he thought the black was? i mean if the referee is incompetant then he could have put the black back in favour of brecel or holt...

i dont know holt or the ref personally, maby he is not the best ref going , i dont know, but jp why dont you back your arguement up with examples of the ref's incompetance instead of making references to how big he is?

[coomsey76]

It's good to see Luca get through and keep his head after a bit of controversy.......

I've watched him play a couple of times this week and I'm really impressed how much he has come on since I last saw him, he's a great talent!!

I wish him luck against King cause it would be ace to see him play at the crucible!!

[FerruleFox]

Brecel was in a very tough snooker, when replacing the black holt had a word with the ref of where he thought the black was...some people thought he was trying to get an advantage..

in my opinion i dont think he was trying to get an advantage...i suppose he is more experience than brecel, maby brecel should have insisted on black being slight different, its very hard to say just from watching the stream of it..

bottom line was ...holt got a lucky snooker that was sh*t hard to get out of...he put it back as he was entitled to and like i believe all other pro's woudl have done as well

holt attitude seemed to be ok overall throughout the match..he defo let the pressure get to him in the last 2 frames..

all credit to the young man tho...after all that went on he kept his cool and wasnt afraid to win the game...and after all the drama in the match fair play to him...i hope it makes it thru now, i really enjoyed watching that match and he will be good for the game.

Thanks for the summary. Holt's always struggled with fulfilling his potential but I've never heard of him being unsportsmanlike. I was surprised to hear all the criticism.

It's nice to see Luca doing well. He's a very exciting young talent who could do well on the main tour.

[Dubliner]

I didn't see the match......why are people criticizing Holt's attitude? Did he have a meltdown or something?

Brecel was in a very tough snooker, when replacing the black holt had a word with the ref of where he thought the black was...some people thought he was trying to get an advantage..

in my opinion i dont think he was trying to get an advantage...i suppose he is more experience than brecel, maby brecel should have insisted on black being slight different, its very hard to say just from watching the stream of it..

bottom line was ...holt got a lucky snooker that was sh*t hard to get out of...he put it back as he was entitled to and like i believe all other pro's woudl have done as well

holt attitude seemed to be ok overall throughout the match..he defo let the pressure get to him in the last 2 frames..

all credit to the young man tho...after all that went on he kept his cool and wasnt afraid to win the game...and after all the drama in the match fair play to him...i hope it makes it thru now, i really enjoyed watching that match and he will be good for the game.

[Dubliner]

Can someone get a still of video of the original snooker?

It didnt look like brecel could make the shot he 1st tried, and if it was on there was barely enough room for the ball to squeeze thru.

When he did hit it, i missed him playing the shot, but i know the white came down the table and hit the red fullish, so it looked like he hit the top cush with side ,now at 1st it didnt look like this was on but obviously it was...

holts view is brecel played the wrong shot each time and thats why he put it back...regardless of that, even in some cases where the miss rule seems alittle unfair, its not really the players fault is it? I mean any player could be on the wrong side of one of these decisions so if it happens to be in your favour then you got to take it.

i dont agree with you jp1 that holt was unsporting....maby just used his expericence giving his opinion of where he thought the black was? i mean if the referee is incompetant then he could have put the black back in favour of brecel or holt...

i dont know holt or the ref personally, maby he is not the best ref going , i dont know, but jp why dont you back your arguement up with examples of the ref's incompetance instead of making references to how big he is?

[JP1]

I assume everyone here knows what and why the miss rule was brought in? XXXXXXXXX Pete Williamson should not be refereeing a match in an important tournament such as this.
For a start the snooker laid was on the LAST red and there was no easy option for Luca Brecel to hit the red, in fact it was darn near impossible to hit the red, how XXXXX Williamson can call a deliberate miss in this situation is beyond me, IBSF referee watching the match with me, commented also that Wiliamson should have been asked to leave right there and then, surely this is not the intention of the rule to allow cheats to make use of it, not enough Williamson then re sets the balls in an entirely different location at the urging of that nauseous and totally unacceptable Holt, it appeared to all that these two had made up their mind to screw Brecel by hook or by crook. Michael Holt deserves to be thrown out of the tournament - this guys behaviour is a disgrace and damaging to snookers future prospects. Luca Brecel should simply have refused to play the balls from where XXXXX Williamson placed them. There were many more incidences attesting to XXXXXXX unsuitability and bias as referee, awarding Hold a free ball when clearly there was plenty of room for him to hit the object ball on both sides??? Holt needed three snookers at that time the free "gift" from Williamson allowed him to win that frame with the aid of the free ball. I see that other snooker Associations have taken a very serious view of such refereeing disasters as well and have made their displeasure known to WS and Barry Hearn. All credit to Luca Brecel for coming through and winning in spite of having to beat his opponent AND the referee. Let's hope that Luca will get a competent referee against Mark King because on natural ability Luca should have little trouble with King - Go Luca you are an asset to snooker world - wide, it's cheats like Holt and Williamson that leave a bad taste in every snooker enthusiasts mouth. Ask former world snooker champion Mark Williams what HIS opinion of Michael Holt is??

on the brecel/holt match again...it was a great match to watch plenty of drama.

holt stole a massive fram to go 7-6 behind instead of 8-5 behind. he snookered brecel, brecel hit the ball and went in off. holt dished the last 2 reds and colours, was a sickner for brecel to lose that frame.

it went 7-7 and there was another frame where holt needed the snooker, got it and was on to dish the colours, made a canon on pink/black and unluckly to snooker himself on pink and lost that frame.

then later there was the miss from brecel giving holt 30 points, which was writtent about on twitter...there were some injust acusations about holt regarding the snooker and miss. holt was in massive trouble in a snooker, played a great shot and ended up snookering brecel. in mu opinion holt played the game in good spirits, he knew he could have been out if he got the snooker wrong, but still managed to smile (or grimace!) when he was snookered.....

anyways..it was just one of them unfortunate situations where it was a very difficult snooker to hit, eventually he seen the correct way to hit it and did....but anyone who says holt shouldnt have out the ball back doesnt know what they are on about...

so holt won that frame (after brecel missed a long range brown after needing a snooker himself) and it was down to the decider.

brecel held his nerve better that holt in the last frame and in my opinion deserved the win.

[FerruleFox]

I didn't see the match......why are people criticizing Holt's attitude? Did he have a meltdown or something?

[Dubliner]

on the brecel/holt match again...it was a great match to watch plenty of drama.

holt stole a massive fram to go 7-6 behind instead of 8-5 behind. he snookered brecel, brecel hit the ball and went in off. holt dished the last 2 reds and colours, was a sickner for brecel to lose that frame.

it went 7-7 and there was another frame where holt needed the snooker, got it and was on to dish the colours, made a canon on pink/black and unluckly to snooker himself on pink and lost that frame.

then later there was the miss from brecel giving holt 30 points, which was writtent about on twitter...there were some injust acusations about holt regarding the snooker and miss. holt was in massive trouble in a snooker, played a great shot and ended up snookering brecel. in mu opinion holt played the game in good spirits, he knew he could have been out if he got the snooker wrong, but still managed to smile (or grimace!) when he was snookered.....

anyways..it was just one of them unfortunate situations where it was a very difficult snooker to hit, eventually he seen the correct way to hit it and did....but anyone who says holt shouldnt have out the ball back doesnt know what they are on about...

so holt won that frame (after brecel missed a long range brown after needing a snooker himself) and it was down to the decider.

brecel held his nerve better that holt in the last frame and in my opinion deserved the win.

[Dubliner]

Never saw this coming. Could anyone tell me how he played if they got to see the match?

Last time i seen brecel on live stream he didnt look like he could do much damage, today was a different story (and yesterday) .
He has plenty of talent, but it wasnt only raw potting that won him that match, he seems to have matured a little ,he is no john higgins in safety dept but played a few clever safetys and played the right shot most of the time.

must say he did seem to get the run of the ball throughout the match, having said that ,in the end he didnt struggle gettting over the line whereas i think the pressure got to holt in the last couple of frames...i'd say holt was surprised what was thrown at him, especially as brecel didnt do much all season.

mark 'hard as nuts' king tho will be a different kettle of fish for brecel. will be interesting how brecel handles king's playin style. king will stay there till next tuesday no bother.

good to see davy morris get thru to play hawkins. hawkins is one of the toughest seeds to play in last 48 in my opinion. very consistant and scores heavy. davy obvioulsy needs to up his game a bit i think to win, but now is as good as time as any, he is a talented player and can score with ease when he gets on a run.

[Mr Snooker]

Well the Final Qualifying for takes place this weekend (14 & 15 April)

This is the line with head to head meetings between the players (Including PTC Head To Heads), not sure if any one is doing a prediction contest for the final round if not feel free to make your predictions


1 Ken Doherty (4) V Anothony Hamilton (5)
2 Dominic Dale (0) V Ben Woollaston (1)
3 Ricky Walden (1) V Jamie Jones (2)
4 Mark Davis (1) V Robert Milkins (2)
5 Ryan Day (0) V Gerard Greene (3)
6 Stephen Hendry (1) V Yu De Lu (0)
7 Tom Ford (0) V Cao Yu Peng (0)
8 Marco Fu (2) V Joe Jogia (0)
9 Mark King (0) V Luca Bracel (0)
10 Marcus Campbell (3) V Liang Wenbo (0)
11 Fergal O' Brien (0) V David Gilbert (0)
12 Jamie Cope (0) V Liu Chaung (0)
13 Barry Hawkins (0) V David Morris (1)
14 Andrew Higginson (0) Peter Lines (3)
15 Pete Ebdon (0) V Alfie Burden (0)
16 Joe Perry (2) V Jamie Burnett (1)

Please let me Know if any head to heads are wrong please

Thanks Phil :snooker:

[beechy1212]

Another crushing disappointment for Jimmy White.

I can't see Davis or White ever making the Top 32 again. They should both retire and play each other in exhibitions up and down the country - I'd go and watch!

Disagree with that. They are both top 48 or thereabouts. There are a lot of players of similar levels from 20-64. There isn't a lot in it at all. I think its something to be admired the way they both battle on. If they were getting crushed every week, i'd agree but they don't. They both chip away and if they enjoy it, they should carry on playing. A few years ago, White was getting beat every single game and within 1 frame of dropping off the tour. So credit there for bouncing back a bit.

[FOXMULDER]

Another crushing disappointment for Jimmy White.

I can't see Davis or White ever making the Top 32 again. They should both retire and play each other in exhibitions up and down the country - I'd go and watch!

[Rane]

Sad to see White out, but it was one of these matches where I didn´t want to see a loser. But what a long pot Chuang started his matchwinning break from.