By Elliott West
Introduction
The 1996 Singha Thailand Open was a professional snooker tournament. Held between 11th – 17th March, 1996 at the Montien Riverside Hotel, it was won this year by Alan McManus after defeating Ken Doherty in the final 9-8. This one of two of McManus’s international victories, the other being the 1994 Dubai Classic, beating Peter Ebdon 9-6. Alan also reached the final of the 1999 Thailand Masters where he was defeated 7-9 by Mark Williams.
Alan McManus won £40,000 and an additional £5,000 for getting the highest tournament break of 139 in his semi-final match against Peter Ebdon. The defending champion, James Wattana, was eliminated by McManus in the quarter-finals, losing 4-5.
The Tournament
In a time when Thailand was a major player in the snooker calendar, this event was prestigious and held valuable ranking points for those who made the long journey to compete in it. Played in a wildcard format, followed by a main draw, none of the three local wildcard players made it through to the main round with Barry Pinches, Paul Hunter and Graeme Dott being victorious. However all three players went on to lose in the first round.
McManus, then the world No 6, had failed to capture a ranking UK title and so winning this title, was another feather in his international cap. In a final where Ken Doherty scored heavily, recording seven half century breaks and if the match had been decided on aggregate points, Ken would win by more than 300 points! The 25 year old Alan McManus, had a top break of 50 compared to breaks of 89, 85, 83, 76, 71, 54 and 51 by Doherty. However the Scot had previously won four of his five matches on a deciding frame and so used this experience to win the match in the decider, mainly by using the strength in his armour, safety play, making the surging Doherty go home with a cheque for £22,500. Ken later reflected on the loss saying:
“I’m gutted to have lost like this in the last frame. It’s hard to take, a bitter pill to swallow. It was a bonus to get to the final as I came to Thailand mainly to get more confidence. What made it a bad loss for me was because on the day I played better than Alan”.
Ken Doherty
Doherty scored another brilliant victory in the semi-final where he defeated Stephen Hendry. The Dubliner beat the Scot 6-5, the same score line as their meeting in the German Open the previous December. Similarly Alan McManus defeated Peter Ebdon 6-5 in their semi-final bout. In a match that lasted nearly five hours, the last two frames took 96 minutes to complete but the gutsy Scot won both of them to reach his first final for 18 months.
McManus, the runner-up to Steve Davis in the 1992 Asian Open, denied the host nation of a third successive victory when he defeated the defending champion, James Wattana 5-4 in the last eight. Wattana, 26, looked set to win the decider as he made a 37 break but he made a critical error, missing a fairly easy red to the middle pocket, a mistake that McManus didn’t forgive him for.
McManus replied with a break of 36 and made sure of his place in the semi-final when he potted the crucial pink. McManus had a top break of 94 in the eighth frame and also had runs of 80 and 48.
John Higgins had a crushing defeat in his quarter-final match with Peter Ebdon. The Scot was whitewashed 5-0 by the Englishman and was the second obliteration in successive tournaments, the previous being a 5-0 defeat to Joe Johnson in the first round of the European Open. Ebdon had breaks of 80, 68, 37 and 33.
Stephen Hendry, in the last eight of the tournament, produced a convincing 5-1 win over the European Open champion, John Parrott. Hendry compiled his 36th century of the season, a 112 and also had breaks of 71 and 48. This win was revenge for Hendry’s loss to Parrott in the semi-final of the Thailand Classic at the start of the season where he lost 5-4. This win took Stephen’s prize money for the seven months of the season to more than £400,000.
Elsewhere, Ken Doherty beat Jamie Woodman 5-1 to reach his second ranking event semi-final of the season and John Higgins completed a sensational 5-3 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last 16. Higgins lost the first three frames but then made breaks of 94, 96 and 73 to help him win the match. John was on course for a maximum break in the last frame but twitched and missed the tenth black.
Wattana enjoyed an impressive 5-0 victory over Willie Thorne in the last 16. Breaks of 54 and 42. This win boosted Wattana’s chances of staying in the top 16 the next season. This was in contradiction to Jimmy White, whose 14 year reign in the elite group seemed precarious after losing 5-3 to Peter Ebdon with Peter winning the last four frames.
Also in the last 16, Ken Doherty got revenge for his 6-0 hiding from Steve Davis in the Benson and Hedges Masters, beating him 5-2. Similarly, Stephen Hendry beaten by Joe Swail in the European Open, gained a 5-2 victory with breaks of 73, 43, 41 and 32. After his win, Hendry complained about the playing conditions, comparing the table to an Axminster carpet. Alan McManus also beat Alain Robidoux 5-4 after a 4 hour 22 minutes battle. The Scot was relieved when the Canadian the in the towel after Alan cleared the colours from green to blue.
Jamie Woodman was an early star of this tournament, beating Terry Griffiths 5-2 in the first round and went on to defeat Anthony Hamilton 5-4 in the last 16. The 25 year old from Bristol, who had been a professional for four years, recently had bought a ten table club to help improve on the £20,000 he had earned the previous season.
In the first round, Steve Davis beat Stephen Lee 5-3, Jimmy White defeated Jamie Burnett 5-1, Alan McManus beat Neal Foulds 5-2, Anthony Hamilton defeated Darren Morgan 5-4 after being 3-1 down, John Parrott beat Paul Hunter 5-4 including a break of 134, James Wattana defeated Steve James 5-3 including a break of 129 and Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated Barry Pinches 5-2 in just 69 minutes with breaks of 111, 110, 77 and 75.
Summary
The 1996 Singha Thailand Open was one of a number of international tournaments that allowed snooker to showcase some of its best players in foreign climbs. Alan McManus’s victory in 1996 was one that hard to achieve with a number of deciding frame matches including the final. His opponent, Ken Doherty may have lost but he was considered to be the better player in the final and went on to win the World Championship in 1997. McManus, a former Masters winner in 1994, added this title to his only other professional title, the 1994 Dubai Classic.
