Welshman Jamie Clarke, 27, 49th in the world table, starred in the second big surprise in the Championship, the 2022/23 World Ranking Snooker event, which began on 28 June and will end on 29 of this month at the Morningside Arena in Leicester (England), excluding from the competition the Englishman Judd Trump, 35 years old, who ranks second in the world and number two in the hierarchy.
A draw (2-2) in the third game of group 2, between Clarke and Judd, was enough for Jamie to advance to the 2nd stage of the tournament, after a 3-0 victory over another Englishman, Sean O’Sullivan, and another draw (2-2 ) against the Chinese Peng Isong. Clark won 2-1, which almost guaranteed him qualification – with a huge ball of happiness (“chorizo”), and Judd still saved the tie, but this was no longer enough to avoid relegation.
The Ace in the Pack (Judd), won by Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-18 on May 2 in the World Cup final in Sheffield – the same tournament he had already won in 2019 – remained, as did Mark Selby (Ben Woollaston ). won his group) for the first leg of the tournament, which has a prize pool of £328,000 (€382,000) and whose 2nd leg will take place on the same stage from the 25th to the 29th of this month.
In the other groups, Stuart Bingham (2015 world champion) joined fellow Englishmen Ronnie O’Sullivan, Robert Milkins, Chris Wakelin, Anthony Hamilton and Ricky Walden among the qualifiers. And also Sean Murphy (2005 world champion) and David Gilbert.
In the 2nd stage of the competition, the Chinese Zhao Xingtong, Lu Ning, Yuan Xijun, Liu Haotian and Xiao Guodong, the Irish Aaron Hill and Michael Judge, the Belgian Luca Brecel and the Northern Irishman Jordan Brown are also participating.
Thursday and Friday, 21st and 22nd of this month, Welshman Michael White, Belgian Julien Leclerc and England’s Jack Lisowski and Mark Joyce will battle for another place in the 2nd stage of the Champions League, while in the other group only one place remains for the northern Irishman Mark Allen, Himanshu Dinesh Jain, Stuart Carrington and Jenson Kendrick.
