It’s the midway point of the World Championship and this time next week we’ll be getting ready for the start of the 2019 final at the Crucible Theatre.
A terrific tournament so far has provided countless storylines with records broken, seeds tumbling, and deciding frame thrillers just a few of the highlights from an entertaining opening week.
The World Championship, of course, is the sport’s blue riband event and has been generating headlines from Sheffield for 42 years since 1977.
In that time, there have been plenty of winners and losers, triumph countered by heartache.
Neil Robertson remains the favourite for the title on this occasion after dropping only seven frames across his initial two tests.
The Australian has reached the final of the last four ranking events he’s participated in, collecting a couple of trophies en route.
Robertson is in the top half of the draw, which is the only side to possess former world champions.
That means that there is a distinct possibility that there will be a first-time world champion for the first time since 2015.
Four years ago it was Stuart Bingham who etched his name onto the silverware and “Ballrun” is currently locked at 4-4 in a tough second round affair with four-time winner John Higgins.
The likes of Ding Junhui, Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire, and Ali Carter are all represented in the bottom bracket – with the quartet all among the top 10 players who have never claimed the game’s ultimate prize.
Then, there’s the likes of David Gilbert, Gary Wilson, and Zhou Yuelong – each relatively inexperienced when it comes to the Crucible stage but who will be hoping to become an unexpected threat at the business end.
By contrast, Barry Hawkins and Kyren Wilson are two of the most consistent Crucible performers of recent years with nine appearances in the quarter-finals or better between them.
But neither has yet gone on to permanently write his name into the history books – could it be this year?
Sunday’s action is a little unusual in that there are no encounters reaching a conclusion on day nine.
It means that there is a good opportunity to give yourself a quick World Championship related challenge to pass the time.
Regular readers of SnookerHQ will be familiar with the “Snookered” series of quizzes.
A bit of a mean one combines 15 hints with 15 answers and all you have to do is match them up, with the caveat being that a single wrong answer will bring a premature end to your run.
The question is, how well do you know the World Championship?
Hi David,
Like your quiz, but an issue with one of the questions. For the question ‘Featured in three finals in a ten-year span, winning once.’ the expected answer is Ebdon, but aren’t Doherty and Thorburn valid answers as well?
Hi there. Yes, I suppose it can be construed in that way, although Doherty and Thorburn’s three appearances came in 6-year spans. Thanks for playing the quiz.