It was only a little under four weeks ago that the curtain was coming down on the snooker season with Mark Selby lifting his third world title in four years at the Crucible.
Even by the lofty standards of the undisputed world number one it was a stellar campaign, which saw him win five world titles in all including the World Championship and UK Championship as well as China’s most prestigious title, the International Championship.
When it comes to the biggest events, we haven’t seen domination to a level near this since Stephen Hendry’s heyday in the 1990s. Selby is quite simply a winning machine, now comfortably among the game’s all-time greats and there’s no reason to believe there isn’t plenty more to come.
But the great thing about Barry Hearn’s brave new snooker world, with a volume of tournaments we’ve never seen before, is that opportunities really are aplenty. While serial winners like Selby can continue to pick up regular silverware, some of the game’s lesser lights can still realistically dream of joining the winner’s enclosure too.
If we take last season as an example, there were four new ranking event winners.
Scotland’s bright hope Anthony McGill got his first taste of glory at the Indian Open with a fine win in the final against Northampton’s Kyren Wilson, who was a first-time winner the season before at the Shanghai Masters.
Liang Wenbo, who has long been in the shadow of his compatriot Ding Junhui, finally landed the trophy his talent deserves by beating Judd Trump in the final of the English Open. The celebrations that followed as he closed in on the title, quickly became one of the moments of the season.
Next was one of the sport’s most well-liked veterans. Mark King beat Barry Hawkins to capture the Northern Ireland Open to realise a dream after more than 20 years on the professional circuit.
And how can we forget Anthony Hamilton? Long dubbed snooker’s greatest player to never win a ranking event, he beat Ali Carter in the German Masters to lose the tag regarded as an unwelcome, back-handed compliment.
As we prepare to begin another snooker campaign with the start of the Riga Masters qualifiers next Wednesday, who could be next to get that winning feeling for the very first time?
Here’s my top four to watch in their quest for ranking event success this season…
Ryan Day
A name formerly thrown into the mix alongside Hamilton when it came to naming the greatest player never to have won a ranking event. Following Hamilton’s recent success, Day is the standout candidate for this tag now. The Welshman is a four-time ranking event runner-up, most recently at last season’s World Grand Prix where he lost out to Barry Hawkins 10-7. Day’s talent has never been questioned. Now it’s more about getting over the psychological hurdle. If he can find form at the right time this season, he’ll have an excellent chance.
Michael Holt
The newly married Hitman Holt is a really popular figure on the main circuit and would certainly be a welcomed tournament winner. He has twice won minor PTC ranking events in the past and was a runner-up to Australia’s Neil Robertson in the Riga Masters just over a year ago. Everyone knows he can play. He can beat anyone on his day. He’ll be hoping he has his day this season.
Luca Brecel
Belgium’s young prodigy when he qualified for the Crucible at the age of 17, back in 2012. Many people expected big things to follow, but he is yet to really live up to the billing. Now up to number 27 in the world rankings, he has definitely found some consistency in his game – and he certainly doesn’t lack self-belief. His potting is phenomenal. Surely a matter of when and not if.
Yan Bingtao
The 17-year-old Chinese sensation enjoyed a remarkable first season on the professional tour. En route to shooting up to number 56 in the world rankings, he qualified for the World Championship at the first time of asking, reached the quarter-finals of the German Masters and finished by winning World Snooker’s Rookie of the Year award. Big things are expected of Yan and he seems to take it all in his stride. His all-round game is way beyond what you would expect from his youthful years. Some might say it is still a year too early for him to win big, but I’m not so sure – he’s that good.
