It’s a year on since Anthony Hamilton achieved a lifetime ambition of becoming a ranking event winner in a sport he has been a professional in for 26 years.
When the German Masters gets underway this week in Berlin, he will be introduced in his first round match against Jimmy Robertson as defending champion which will without doubt bring all those fond memories of his greatest ever moment flooding back.
Since its relaunch in 2011 at The Tempodrom, the German Masters has fast become one of the most popular and eagerly anticipated events on the snooker calendar and it is moments such as these we saw here a year ago which have made it so.
With two rounds of qualifiers already contested back in England, we’re down to the last 32 stage of the competition and those who have made it through have earned the right to play at one of the sport’s best venues which at its peak will hold a sell-out 2,500 strong crowd by the time we reach the latter stages.
We’re without the likes of John Higgins and Neil Robertson who couldn’t make it through the preliminary rounds as well as Ronnie O’Sullivan who withdrew due to ill health, but we still have a very strong line-up.
World number one Mark Selby is returning to the scene of his ranking event triumph three years ago which really kickstarted his period of dominance at the top of the rankings – as he’ll be looking to find form ahead of his World Championship defence coming up in April.
Recently crowned Masters champion Mark Allen will be looking to capitalise on his momentum and consolidate his place in the top 16 ahead of The Crucible.
Judd Trump, Ding Junhui, Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams are all event winners already this season and will be lining up for another when they get in action in Berlin too.
You can follow all the latest action from the German Masters here at The Sportsman.
