The year 2020 is one that most people would like to forget in a hurry, but it is also a year that will go down in history and one that will not be easy to brush aside. For snooker enthusiasts, 2020 has not been great in the beginning, as the 2019-2020 season was severely disrupted on the pro circuit while the amateur circuit was also interrupted. Nonetheless, we still managed to see the pros return to complete some major tournaments and plenty of young talent shine in domestic competitions.
Pro Circuit Played Behind Closed Doors
On the pro-circuit and world stage the World Snooker Championship took place behind closed doors, the China Open was cancelled, and the Gibraltar Open won by Judd Trump was also played behind closed doors. The latter is usually a great excuse for snooker fans to go on holiday and soak up the Maltese sun while heading over to the Europa Point Sports Complex in the evenings to see the masters of snooker ply their trade.
There was a surprise that Ronnie O’Sullivan won the World Snooker Championship as most bookies had Judd Trump as odds-on favourite. The bookies offer website platforms on which members can stake multiple snooker betting markets. Ronnie was always going to make a point of going for the WSC as the last time he won it was way back in 2014. However, none of the bookies had Ronnie down as winning his 7th title. This that did have their money on Ronnie, got a nice return on their bet!
Meanwhile, also had Ronnie O’Sullivan down for a surprise upset in the Northern Ireland Open, but Judd Trump came through true to form as the bookmaker’s favourite to pick that one up instead.
Despite the disruptions we still managed to watch the pros at work even though it was on the TV and not live, plus the non-ranking snooker tournament ‘Championship League’ also managed to pluck out a winner.
· Gibraltar Open – Judd Trump (England)
· English Open – Judd Trump (England)
· German Masters – Judd Trump (England)
· Players Championship – Judd Trump (England)
· Northern Ireland Open – Judd Trump (England)
· World Snooker Championship – Ronnie O’Sullivan (England)
· 2020 Championship League – Luca Brecel (Belgium)
Amateur Circuit Continued
While on the amateur circuit, the lack of crowds and less attention meant that most tournaments on the circuit were up and running reasonably fast after governments began to relax lockdown and allow snooker events to get back and running, albeit minus live spectators.
Prior to lockdown we saw Englishman Ben Hancorn, one to watch out for, win the Amateur National Championship after beating Jamaican amateur Rory McLeod. Hancorn has an impressive record and later in the year made it to the quarterfinals of the 2020 European Championships Amateur Continental Event.
The eventual winner of that event was Welsh born Andrew Pagett who beat Finland’s Heikki Niva, who ironically knocked out Ben Hancorn in the same event.
We also saw the 2020 Northern Ireland Under-21 Championship completed with Fergal Quinn coming out the eventual winner. Sadly, we didn’t see a 2020 Asian Championship for amateurs in 2020 which would have been interesting as we are seeing quite a few pro players coming out of Thailand which currently holds the record for this tournament with 16 title wins by Thai players.
Another notable amateur tournament won by Declan Lavery was the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship, which managed to get under way, and the 147 Snooker Club in Antrim. This was no fluke as Lavery won the tournament for the second year running, showing he is still a force to be reckoned with on the felts.
· 2020 English Amateur Championship – Ben Hancorn (England)
· 2020 European Championships Amateur Continental – Andrew Pagett (Wales)
· 2020 Northern Ireland Under-21 Championship – Fergal Quinn (Ireland)
· 2020 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship – Declan Lavery (N.Ireland)
For now, the UK Championship at Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes is underway and there are 5 amateurs in the draw! It will be an exciting event with battles amongst the amateurs and pros making this a special event!