The first-round draw for the Snooker Shoot Out was released on Thursday, but three of the sport’s biggest names are not in the lineup.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, and Neil Robertson – who make up three of the top four in the world rankings at present – have decided against participating in the quick-fire tournament.
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise with just one appearance between them since it was elevated to ranking event status in 2017.
Four-time world champion John Higgins is another notable name who won’t be featuring at the Morningside Arena in Leicester next month.
But most of the other marquee names will be in attendance, including a trio of heavy-hitting Marks – Selby, Allen, and Williams.
The random Snooker Shoot Out draw sees Allen take on Jack Lisowski in a blockbuster opening fixture.
Selby and Williams, who like Allen have been runners-up in the event, face Mark Davis and Craig Steadman respectively.
Reigning Snooker Shoot Out champion Hossein Vafaei begins his defence in one of the other standout ties of the first round.
The Iranian could have received a kinder pairing with Shaun Murphy his initial opponent in the last 128.
There are a few other intriguing clashes at the first stage, with Stuart Bingham up against record women’s world champion Reanne Evans.
Stephen Maguire is set to compete in the event for the first time since 2015, with the Scot drawn to face fellow former world number two Ken Doherty.
Kyren Wilson, meanwhile, will play the unknown Riley Powell – one of six aspiring young amateurs who have been invited to take part in the competition.
The Shoot Out format differs slightly from the traditional guise of the game, much to the irritation of a lot of hardcore snooker supporters.
Matches last just one frame, with each frame’s duration just ten minutes in length.
There’s ball-in-hand for fouls, and players must hit a cushion (or pot a ball) with each shot taken.
Most people don’t mind its staging once a year, but the biggest gripe is with the tournament’s ranking event status as the outcome of encounters is often attributed to luck.
It does provide a rare opportunity to the lower-ranked players to go deep, though, which is highlighted by the fact that no current member of the top 16 has ever emerged with the title.
Snooker Shoot Out Draw
Wednesday, January 25
Session starts at 1pm
Hossein Vafaei vs Shaun Murphy
Vladislav Gradinari vs Ng On Yee
Jamie O’Neill vs Ryan Thomerson
Liam Graham vs Cap Yupeng
Chen Zifan vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Graeme Dott vs Sam Craigie
Robbie McGuigan vs Hammad Miah
James Cahill vs Jordan Brown
Joe Perry vs Luca Brecel
Lukas Kleckers vs Rod Lawler
Joe O’Connor vs Dylan Emery
Barry Pinches vs Michael Judge
Anthony Hamilton vs Ben Mertens
Andy Hicks vs Fraser Patrick
Jack Borwick vs Ali Carter
Mark Williams vs Craig Steadman
Wednesday, January 25
Session starts at 7pm
Jack Lisowski vs Mark Allen
Martin Gould vs Jamie Clarke
Alexander Ursenbacher vs Aaron Hill
Robbie Williams vs Mink Nutcharut
Mark Joyce vs Victor Sarkis
Robert Milkins vs Andy Lee
Sean O’Sullivan vs Dean Young
Andrew Pagett vs Ashley Hugill
Stephen Maguire vs Ken Doherty
Jamie Jones vs Jenson Kendrick
Ben Woollaston vs Sanderson Lam
Muhammad Asif vs Gerard Greene
Louis Heathcote vs Oliver Lines
Jimmy White vs Adam Duffy
Peng Yisong vs Daniel Wells
Barry Hawkins vs Jackson Page
Thursday, January 26
Session starts at 1pm
Riley Powell vs Kyren Wilson
Andres Petrov vs Noppon Saengkham
Zak Surety vs Fergal O’Brien
Fan Zhengyi vs Ding Junhui
Zhang Jiankang vs Tian Pengfei
Matthew Stevens vs Dominic Dale
John Astley vs Pang Junxu
Peter Lines vs Julien Leclercq
David Grace vs Lyu Haotian
Mark King vs Jak Jones
Lei Peifan vs Marco Fu
Yuan Sijun vs Rebecca Kenna
Zhang Anda vs Callum Beresford
Duane Jones vs Zhou Yuelong
Dechawat Poomjaeng vs Si Jiahui
Jimmy Robertson vs Ryan Day
Thursday, January 26
Session starts at 7pm
Mark Davis vs Mark Selby
Alfie Burden vs Ian Burns
Liam Highfield vs Florian Nuessle
Micahel White vs Mitchell Mann
David Lilley vs Oliver Brown
Asjad Iqbal vs David Gilbert
Stuart Bingham vs Reanne Evans
Ricky Walden vs Gary Wilson
Steven Hallworth vs Stuart Carrington
Xiao Guodong vs Anton Kazakov
Elliot Slessor vs Allan Taylor
Farakh Ajaib vs Chris Wakelin
Xu Si vs Matthew Selt
Ross Muir vs Wu Yize
Himanshu Jain vs Tom Ford
Mohamed Ibrahim vs Zhao Xintong
Featured photo credit: WST
I like that these three are still shunning the event. I’ve never accepted the event having ranking status.