O'Sullivan acted like a child: a review of the opening matches of the Snooker Champions League.
So, on January 3, the tournament with the grand name "Championship League" kicked off. However, it is not a ranking event, although it can offer players some prize money, and there are no amateurs involved. This means that Main Tour players can "warm up" and earn a little extra after celebrating the New Year.
Tournament Format
Let's talk about the format. This is something that not all Ukrainian readers will grasp immediately. We are accustomed either to the "Olympic" or to the "championship" systems for determining the strongest player in a specific category of competition. By the way, the "Everyone against Everyone, home and away" system is recognized as the most objective in the world. While everyone may have their own opinion, most European team tournaments across various sports are held this way. Moreover, international tournaments consider this principle to be the most sportsmanlike.
Now, regarding the snooker Championship League (by the way, the current champion is Mark Selby, and the current winner will receive £10,000). The draw determines 8 groups of 7 players (each) from a total of 25 participants. If you're good at math, don’t overthink it. It's indeed hard to visualize, but considering that snooker is either chess at a physical level, golf on a table, or poker with a cue in hand (in my opinion, all comparisons are valid, but snooker is snooker and nothing else)... it generally raises no questions about the complexity of the competition formula.
So, the draw defines the composition of the first group of seven players. Each player competes against every other until three victories are achieved. A win earns 1 point, while a loss earns 0. As a result, a table of seven positions becomes known. The top four then compete in the familiar semifinals: 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3. The fifth place moves on to the next group. The 6th and 7th places are eliminated. Then follows the familiar final, and the winner advances to the final group, whose matches will be held in February. Additionally, three players from the semifinals also move on to the next group. Quite a complex formula, wouldn’t you agree…
Jones's Misfortune and Ronnie's Walkout
The matches of the current Championship League began on January 2. And they have brought some unexpected results so far. Thus, the winner of the first group (and, accordingly, the first participant in the final) was Si Jiahui. Well, he defeated Welshman Jack Jones in the final. The second group was won by Iranian Hossein Vafaei, who also beat Jack Jones in the final.
In the third group, we found the charismatic Ronnie O'Sullivan. He managed to lose 3 out of 4 matches. In the fifth match, while losing to Robert Milkins, he openly began to hit the balls wildly, with all his strength. You should have seen the reactions in the comments of certain public pages covering the match! Interestingly, Milkins eventually also exited the tournament, and Ronnie withdrew... Official sources noted "w/o" in the matches involving O'Sullivan.
However, let’s note that in this tournament, prize money is awarded – attention! – for every frame won! And, of course, for winning the match, plus for winning the semifinal, plus for advancing to the final group, etc. Therefore, it's clear that Ronnie, with his earnings (16 million pounds from prize money alone throughout his career... not counting contracts... 640 million UAH, if you can imagine such a sum), was indifferent to the £10,000 for winning the final match. However, treating opponents this way is unacceptable for both beginners and veterans. In any sport!
I believe that if snooker is a sport, then one should behave in a sportsmanlike manner. Not to get upset if the game isn’t going well. And if you don’t want to participate in a tournament – then you should notify in advance. But instead, Ronnie acted like a child: lost 4 matches, got frustrated in the fifth, and withdrew from the tournament. This seems wrong somehow. Or simply put – in our terms, "shameful".
What’s Next?
Regarding the highlights: up until the penultimate round, before Ronnie's withdrawal from the tournament, Jack Jones was outside of the top five. However, he secured the fourth, qualifying position. In the semifinal, he defeated Mark Selby, who had not suffered a single defeat in the calendar year!!! And for the third consecutive time, he reached the final group – now facing the reigning world champion, Kyren Wilson. Well, you know, history repeated itself: for the third time in a row, the Welshman failed to reach the final group, losing in the decisive match. Now he will try his luck in the next round, which starts on January 10.
More to come!
Vladimir Kungurov for Champion
