World
World Snooker Championship disaster emerging as third player threatens to walk away from sport
The World Snooker Championships could look vastly different next year if some comments from a handful of players are anything to go by.
Snooker has been playing catch up to the golden era from the 1970s and 1980s when the likes of Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins and Steve Davis helped it become the number one televised sport in the UK.
The sport has fallen down the rankings ever since with football becoming the nation’s top choice.
Ronnie O’Sullivan continues to be the main attraction in snooker with his natural talent coupled with his unpredictable nature proving to be blockbuster television.
He has already secured his status as the greatest snooker player of all time and is bidding for an eighth world title this year.
Three players have raised concerns they might not be back next year
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But finding anybody other than Judd Trump truly capable of challenging the ‘Rocket’ is getting harder and harder.
Trump has matched O’Sullivan this season with five titles, but nobody else has come close to matching the pair.
The first round of the World Snooker Championships has highlighted the sport’s biggest issue with just a handful of the top 10 seeds still in the tournament.
Defending champion Luca Brecel went down to world No 31 David Gilbert while Mark Selby looked out of sorts in his match against Joe O’Connor.
Ding Junhui, Gary Wilson, Ali Carter and Mark Williams have all fallen at the first hurdle while Jak Jones – the second-lowest ranked player in the tournament – pulled off an upset win over Anda Zhang.
The World Snooker Championships are where the best of the best are expected to go up against each other.
But those who were once seen as O’Sullivan’s closest rivals are already looking at departing the sport.
Williams headed into the World Snooker Championship in great form having defeated O’Sullivan in the final of the Tour Championship earlier this month.
However, he raised doubts on whether he’ll be back at the Crucible next year after his loss to Si Jiahui.
He said: “Who knows what will happen? I cannot keep coming to this venue. I am 50 next year. I look around and I have loved every minute of it. If I will be back next year, I don’t know.”
John Higgins is playing his 30th World Snooker Championships
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Selby cut a forlorn figure after his loss to O’Connor and admitted he could walk away from the sport.
The four-time world champion said: “If I decide to carry on, then I’ll probably need to seek help somewhere to try and overcome that hurdle. And if I don’t, then obviously I’ll choose to do something else.
“Now John Higgins, who is the same age as O’Sullivan, has become the latest player to raise concerns about this being his last visit to the Crucible.
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Mark Williams also doesn’t know whether he will be back at the Crucible
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The Scottish snooker icon is competing in his 30th World Snooker Championship having won the tournament four times previously.
“The game’s tough, it really is,” he said.
“I’m going to immerse myself in the tournament, the city, give it everything and see where it takes me. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Higgins is set to drop out of the elite 16 on the provisional ranking list and has admitted previously he would consider his future if he was no longer among the top players.
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