The “Jester” was a finalist in the competition for consecutive years back in 2008 and 2009.
Mark Selby is through to the third and final stage of the Championship League after topping Group D on Tuesday in Milton Keynes.
The European Masters winner compiled three tons in easily seeing off the challenges of Rory McLeod and Jamie O’Neill with 3-0 scorelines.
Selby needed only a point from his last round-robin fixture against Graeme Dott, and although the 37 year-old lost the opening frame to instill a tiny bit of doubt, breaks of 128 and 69 earned him the frames he required to progress.
In Group B, Zhou Yuelong placed in first place after a remarkable performance saw him edge out former world champion Shaun Murphy with seven points from a possible nine.
Zhou compiled an excellent five century breaks during the day, including three on the trot to leave Dominic Dale pointless from their league encounter.
Murphy, who had suffered a 3-1 defeat to Dale, had to beat Zhou 3-0 to have a chance of making it through, but the young Chinese recovered from losing the opening frame to draw the contest.
Selby and Zhou join respective compatriots Judd Trump and Zhao Xintong in Group 1 of the final stage of this edition of the Championship League, which takes place on Friday.
“This format. The way it is every group is tough. Just playing four frames you can lose to anyone.” 🗣
Mark Selby reacts to progressing to @BetVictor Championship League Snooker Finals Day later in the week 👏 pic.twitter.com/Qz69F5t5e6
— Championship League Snooker (@CLSnooker) October 27, 2020
Group 2’s quartet will first be determined over the next couple of days as we get nearer to seeing who will become the first Championship League winner since the event was upgraded to ranking status.
On Wednesday, Kyren Wilson and David Gilbert are among those reentering the fray in Group F, while Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and veteran Ken Doherty compete in Group E.
If not already qualified, the Championship League winner this week will gain the last invitation to the lucrative Champion of Champions.
Click here to view the draw – Times in CET (External Site)
It’s interesting that the official reports concentrate on Mark Selby’s result. If a top player (such as Selby or Shaun Murphy) won a match 3-0 with three consecutive total clearances, you’d expect quite a fanfare. I’m not sure if that’s ever been done before. But not with Zhou Yuelong. In fact, in this CL, 8 Chinese players have won groups (6 in the first round and 2 more this week) but none of them have even been interviewed. Do you know why this is?
I’d have thought anyone who cares about the future of snooker (like WST?) would want to promote young players who do well, rather than just dismiss them when they do not.
Selby is the lead of the story. He’s a three-time world champion, a player in form, and someone who readers are more familiar with, so it’s not unreasonable that reports concentrate on him first. Without taking away from Zhou’s brilliant display, the fact that it’s a short format also doesn’t help. It’s not as immediate to get excited about it compared with a best of nine, for example.
As for the interviews, I’ve no idea but I did notice that too. Seems strange when a lot of them speak English. The Championship League is run by Matchroom Sport, so it’s a different media team to WST’s.
Yes, I just thought it would be an ideal time to promote a 22-year old. Selby played well, but there was nothing particularly notable about his win, and it was on Table 2 anyway. According to Nikolay, Zhou missed the black at the end of his 122, otherwise it could have been a unique achievement. The live stream crashed for that frame, so it’s possible there is no video.
All of the Chinese qualifiers: Zhou, Zhao, Luo, Xiao, Tian and Li speak perfectly decent English, and have been interviewed many times before. Thepchaiya was interviewed.