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Post by Panda on Jul 29, 2020 13:47:14 GMT 1
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Jul 30, 2020 6:56:48 GMT 1
Slessor and carty are my two picks for upsets in the first round.
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Post by Panda on Jul 30, 2020 16:21:07 GMT 1
Given their opponents, I would tend to agree but it's always difficult for someone playing at the Crucible for the first time so I think in that respect, Bingham will be too strong for Carty. A Slessor win wouldn't surprise me. I would add McGill to the potential upsets as Lisowski has never played well at the World Championship.
Meanwhile, Anthony Hamilton, who suffers from severe asthma, has withdrawn due to health concerns due to the fact spectators will be present at the Crucible. Kyren Wilson now receives a bye to the 2nd round. WST have confirmed Hamilton will still receive the £20,000 prize money he earned for qualifying.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Jul 30, 2020 22:14:37 GMT 1
Given their opponents, I would tend to agree but it's always difficult for someone playing at the Crucible for the first time so I think in that respect, Bingham will be too strong for Carty. A Slessor win wouldn't surprise me. I would add McGill to the potential upsets as Lisowski has never played well at the World Championship. Meanwhile, Anthony Hamilton, who suffers from severe asthma, has withdrawn due to health concerns due to the fact spectators will be present at the Crucible. Kyren Wilson now receives a bye to the 2nd round. WST have confirmed Hamilton will still receive the £20,000 prize money he earned for qualifying. I watched carty destroy his group in June at the first event after lockdown. I'm in 2 minds about Hamilton. He knew spectators were going to be present but it is 20k for not having the expenses. And did he have a different mindset in qualies?
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Post by Panda on Jul 30, 2020 23:20:48 GMT 1
Given their opponents, I would tend to agree but it's always difficult for someone playing at the Crucible for the first time so I think in that respect, Bingham will be too strong for Carty. A Slessor win wouldn't surprise me. I would add McGill to the potential upsets as Lisowski has never played well at the World Championship. Meanwhile, Anthony Hamilton, who suffers from severe asthma, has withdrawn due to health concerns due to the fact spectators will be present at the Crucible. Kyren Wilson now receives a bye to the 2nd round. WST have confirmed Hamilton will still receive the £20,000 prize money he earned for qualifying. I watched carty destroy his group in June at the first event after lockdown. I'm in 2 minds about Hamilton. He knew spectators were going to be present but it is 20k for not having the expenses. And did he have a different mindset in qualies? Best of 19 against a former world champion at the Crucible is very different to best of 4s in an empty room. Bingham hasn't had a great season but did win the Masters so he can still do it on the big stage. I've no problem with what Hamilton's done. Yes, it was known there would probably be spectators at the Crucible but how it was going to work wasn't and now it's become clear that spectators won't have to wear masks in the arena and there won't be temperature checks and it won't be subject to the same bio setup that was in place during the qualifiers. He was more than entitled to enter the qualifiers based on the information that was available at the time and he's equally entitled to withdraw on what has then been put in place. Meanwhile, Joe Perry is apparently the latest addition to the BBC commentary team. I thought he did a solid job during the ITV events recently.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Jul 31, 2020 8:15:26 GMT 1
I watched carty destroy his group in June at the first event after lockdown. I'm in 2 minds about Hamilton. He knew spectators were going to be present but it is 20k for not having the expenses. And did he have a different mindset in qualies? Best of 19 against a former world champion at the Crucible is very different to best of 4s in an empty room. Bingham hasn't had a great season but did win the Masters so he can still do it on the big stage. I've no problem with what Hamilton's done. Yes, it was known there would probably be spectators at the Crucible but how it was going to work wasn't and now it's become clear that spectators won't have to wear masks in the arena and there won't be temperature checks and it won't be subject to the same bio setup that was in place during the qualifiers. He was more than entitled to enter the qualifiers based on the information that was available at the time and he's equally entitled to withdraw on what has then been put in place. Meanwhile, Joe Perry is apparently the latest addition to the BBC commentary team. I thought he did a solid job during the ITV events recently. I haven't followed so closely do thank you for the details. I will agree with you. Temp checks would be essential you'd think.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 31, 2020 11:10:02 GMT 1
I'm with Paddy about Anthony Hamilton, although after Misterhamster's post above I think I'm leaning more in Hamilton's favour. John Parrott said this morning that some players think he's been selfish in withdrawing after getting his prize money. Steve Davis said maybe he got anxious at the last minute. Definitely not going to criticise him if he did suddenly get anxious, but the fact he came through qualifying does make it different for me than if he'd been a direct entry.
Having said that, it was a surprise to see no spectators wearing masks and I assumed that everyone was being tested on entry. Going off topic, there are players/coaches at the British tennis event taking place at the National Tennis Centre this week that are wearing masks and that's outdoors and they were further aware from other people, so it doesn't appear as though this is particularly stringent.
It may not be full capacity but if the size of the crowd today is replicated for the whole tournament then it's definitely going to create an atmosphere. Some of the morning sessions in the past I'm guessing didn't have much bigger crowds!
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Post by Tom on Jul 31, 2020 11:45:20 GMT 1
Barry Hearn has just said that he's not happy with Anthony Hamilton at all, saying he didn't enter qualifying he entered an event and he's robbed someone else the chance to play at the Crucible, adding that if he had no intention of playing at the Crucible he shouldn't have played qualifying in the first place. Sums up my issue with the decision tbh.
Though he did add that he hasn't actually broken any rules so they may be changed in the future.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Jul 31, 2020 12:10:50 GMT 1
If bojo changes rules abd crucible is spectator free in the next hour he could very stupid.
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Post by Panda on Jul 31, 2020 12:11:33 GMT 1
It may not be full capacity but if the size of the crowd today is replicated for the whole tournament then it's definitely going to create an atmosphere. Some of the morning sessions in the past I'm guessing didn't have much bigger crowds! Every session at the Crucible is usually sold out. The overall capacity is pretty small even when full so WST could make more money if they moved it elsewhere but nothing can match the atmosphere of the Crucible.
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Post by Panda on Jul 31, 2020 12:37:37 GMT 1
Just been confirmed fans will not be allowed to attend "pilot" sporting events this weekend. Not sure how that works with the Crucible... Do they boot everyone out now? Wait until after this session? Or have spectators for the rest of today and have tomorrow and Sunday behind closed doors?
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Post by Panda on Jul 31, 2020 13:57:31 GMT 1
No fans at the Crucible from tomorrow, quite possibly for the rest of the tournament.
Steve Davis in his usual dry manner: "Oh well, if they can't go to the snooker, they can all go to the pub instead."
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Post by Panda on Jul 31, 2020 14:10:30 GMT 1
No John Virgo on commentary this year as he moved to Spain just before the new quarantine regulations came in. Ex-Eurosport commentator Dave Farrar is another addition to the line-up.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 31, 2020 14:17:00 GMT 1
No John Virgo on commentary this year as he moved to Spain just before the new quarantine regulations came in. Ex-Eurosport commentator Dave Farrar is another addition to the line-up. No Hazel Irvine this year either because of a family illness. Just remembered that Dave Farrar is a commentator that Quest use on their EFL highlights. Didn't realise he covered snooker as well.
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Post by Panda on Jul 31, 2020 14:21:41 GMT 1
Hadn't seen that about Hazel. I wonder who the second BBC presenter will be? Seema Jaswal has done a bit in the past but mainly the red button coverage I think. I notice they've got Radzi Chinyanganya as a reporter.
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Post by suedehead on Jul 31, 2020 15:05:44 GMT 1
I can’t say I will particularly miss John Virgo’s commentary.
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Post by Panda on Jul 31, 2020 23:45:10 GMT 1
Day 1: JUDD TRUMP 10-8 TOM FORD A hard-fought win for the world champion, who trailed 6-4 early in the second session. His century break this evening was his 100th of the season. Stuart Bingham 5-4 Ashley Carty Ding Junhui 5-4 Mark King Mark Williams 4-5 Alan McManus
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Post by Panda on Aug 1, 2020 23:03:44 GMT 1
Day 2: STUART BINGHAM 10-7 ASHLEY CARTY At 9-4 up at the interval, Bingham seemed home and dry but with the pressure seemingly off, Carty relaxed and reeled off three frames in a row before Bingham finally got over the line. DING JUNHUI 10-9 MARK KING Our first decider of the tournament as Ding is taken all the way by the dogged Mark King. Most of the frames Ding won came from scoring well while King was coming out on top in the tactical frames. However, Ding finally got the better of King in the tactical stakes when it mattered to clinch a 10-9 victory. MARK WILLIAMS 10-5 ALAN McMANUS After a difficult opening session, Williams produced the goods this evening, winning all six frames to progress to the last 16. John Higgins 6-3 Matthew Stevens David Gilbert 4-5 Kurt Maflin
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Post by suedehead on Aug 2, 2020 10:43:41 GMT 1
And they've bought an applause machine for centuries and the end of frames.
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Post by Panda on Aug 2, 2020 17:10:33 GMT 1
And they've bought an applause machine for centuries and the end of frames. It sounds awful. Why not just add it over the TV production rather than have it piped (very badly) into the arena?
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