2013 UK Championships Preview

I think this year’s UK Championships might be the most important for a long time. It’s the first time Barry Hearn’s new flat 128 player draw is being played on the BBC, the sport’s most prestigious broadcaster.  It is widely regarded that the World Championships fate in Sheffield goes hand in hand with the BBC’s commitment to continue broadcasting the event.

From the onset I think this tournament looks badly thought out, with the two organisations idea’s of a good event clashing. The event starts today but the main coverage doesn’t being until the traditional Saturday, with the top four seeds opening matches held over for Saturday. The BBC has negotiated that the draw is seeded, so the 1^st seed plays the 128^th and so on – in an effort to protect the bigger names of the sport. So Saturday see’s the four top seeds playing amateurs in what I expect will be extremely one sided matches, not the best of starts.  

In the past the BBC had complained about matches happening away from the TV cameras and the event being harder to follow. This is only going to be magnified as so many matches are crammed into a 13 day period. You could have Shaun Murphy losing to a rank outsider and not have any highlights of the match. 

Last week at the Champion of Champions the top players voiced their opinions that the tour lacks rewarding events for the top players. I personally think with the rolling ranking system its fair that the top 32 all qualify for the UK championship with the remaining 64 playing each other for the remaining 32 places. With the first round taking place at Gloucester, so when we get to the event we only have 32 players. The event can have a more structured feel and supporters can work out when and where their favorite players will be playing – something that is impossible with the current system.  

It’s going to be very interesting to see how it plays out on the BBC, which attracts higher UK viewing figures & more general fans who will be experiencing this new set up for the first time.

I’ve picked out my five favorites for the title.

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Only a week after winning the Champion of Champions the Rocket looks to be playing quite well, his all round game and aura will make him hard to beat. 

Neil Robertson

Is having a very good season, with almost 50 centuries to his name Neil is creating chances and finishing them in one visit almost every time. His safety play is as good as anyone and with the Wuxi title already under his belt it’ll take someone playing very well to defeat the young Aussie.

Mark Selby

It was a very slow start to the campaign for Mark, however in the last few weeks he looks to have stepped it up just at the right time – with the defence of his UK and Masters crowns coming up. Along with John Higgins he is the most capable of defeating an inform O’Sullivan & if he gets to the later stages he will be very hard to defeat.

Mark Allen

He is a bit of a wildcard but if he is on form he will be a formidable opponent as he has shown in two ETPC’s this season in Germany and Antwerp. He should be feeling confident off the back of those triumphs and along with Ding Junhui he has been the form man of the last two months.

Ding Junhui

Everyone knows that he won three ranking events on the spin earlier this season, becoming the first person since Stephen Hendry to achieve this feat. However his faultless technique and added bottle makes him a fearsome opponent. He was only beaten at the last minute by O’Sullivan in the Champion of Champions and was slightly unlucky so his confidence should still be sky high.