On the day Barry Hearn warned that Sheffield’s days of hosting the World Snooker Championship might be numbered, Ronnie O’Sullivan roared from the blocks to become the first eight-time world champion of modern times and make Crucible history. Raised.
Facing Welsh qualifier Jackson Page, O’Sullivan built an 8-1 lead in the first session of the first round. He hit four half-centuries, plus a break of 122 in the fifth frame, leaving 22-year-old Page with little chance of salvaging the situation when the match resumes tomorrow. Page was in danger of losing the session due to a whitewash until he made a stunning break of 142 in the seventh frame.
Previously, former World Snooker chairman and Matchroom boss Mr Hearn warned Sheffield City Council that the Crucible needed to be replaced with a larger venue if the city wanted to keep the tournament.
Speculation about the future of the venue was sparked by Mr O’Sullivan during the preparations for this year’s tournament, suggesting the venue should be moved to either Saudi Arabia or China to maximize profit potential. After losing in the first round, Hossein Bafai criticized the conditions at the historic venue as “stinking” and compared the practice room facilities to “playing in a garage”.
Responding to the criticism, Hearn said: “I’m doing everything I can to stay in Sheffield and it only takes two people to tango. I’ll stay here while we’re wanted, and we I think they are wanted. But they have to be realistic. We have been saying for several years that we need a new venue that can accommodate 2,500 to 3,000 people. We’re looking for people to come to the party, but if they come, we’ll stay.”
But Hearn insisted he had no qualms about moving the event, which has been held since 1977, away from its home base. “Everything has a price, whether you like it or not,” he said.
“I would like to say we are living in a fairy tale, but it’s not that simple,” Hahn added. “The first thing in any professional sport is the prize money and they want the prize money to be as big as possible and we have a duty to those players.
“I believe next year we will break the £20 million mark, but we must never be complacent with our lives and have the luxury of sitting back and saying, ‘The job is done.’ It’s never enough. . It’s all about money, get used to it.”
A number of top players have hit back at Crucible criticism, with former world champion Shaun Murphy calling Vafay’s comments “blasphemy” and six-time runner-up Jimmy White calling them “utter nonsense”. I commented.
Mr Trump and other leading players, including Mark Allen, acknowledged the difficulties facing the sport’s governors, but stopped short of joining Mr O’Sullivan and Mr Buffay in calling for the sport to be abolished. .
kyren wilson Although he missed out on another top score at the Crucible, he achieved a comprehensive victory in the first round against Dominic Dale. It was a great return to form for Wilson, who missed the Tour Finals this season and openly acknowledged his off-field struggles with the illnesses of his wife and son.
“A big part of my games is a lot of scoring. There are definitely players who are better suited for this tournament and I want to believe that I’m one of them,” said Wilson, who will face Joe O’Connor in the second round. “If I play like that, it’s going to take some performance to stop me in any round.”
jack lisowski He showed his determination and defeated 7th seed Ding Junhui by decision, setting up a round of 16 showdown with former champion Stuart Bingham. Ding’s loss made him the seventh seed to fall in the first round of this year’s World Championship, and Barry Hawkins’ 10-8 loss brought his total to an eight seed. Ryan Daythe Welshman missed the last five frames in a row.
John Higgins After winning four consecutive frames to get out of trouble, he will take a narrow 5-4 lead over Wales’ Jamie Jones in Thursday’s final session.
