By Elliott West
Introduction
A new year and snooker will start to come thick and fast this month. First up, one of my fond favourites, the UK Seniors Snooker Championship, being held at the Bonus Arena in Hull. I have been impressed how this once Tour that stood on the sidelines, has continued to grow, year on year with the standard of snooker continuing to improve. The king of this tour has to be the firm favourite Jimmy White but let’s face it, anyone who still plays on the main tour has a golden opportunity to raise this trophy in a few days time.
The biggest hurdle for the majority of these more seasoned players will be the table itself. Most say that they get thrown by the pace of the Star table and struggle to keep sustained positioning. With the best of 5 formats, there are likely to be several slug matches before a potential winner will emerge.
The Runners and Riders
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ken Doherty and Jimmy White reach this year’s final but when have I ever got a prediction correct? Famous last words spring to mind. Watch out for a few players who I believe who cause problems for any opponent. Rod Lawler is one obvious player who springs to mind. A man who caused a number of headaches over the years, someone who likes to fancy his chances with a style of play that involves long and protracted frames. So it will be interesting to see how his first opponent, the 1986 World champion, Joe Johnson will deal with this?
Another spanner in the works could be Kuldesh Johal who has played on the main tour in the past with tour cards in the 2008/2009 and 2010/2011 seasons. A player who has a slightly longer cue than most players, he has already won two Pontin’s events and did have several last 64 finishes in his professional career. However he hasn’t played competitively since 2012 so may struggle, being slightly more on the rusty side.
All the usual faces will be there with Cliff Thorburn, John Parrott and Stephen Hendry all making appearances in the draw. The only exception being Tony Drago who has been replaced by Patrick Wallace and other good players included, such as Barry Pinches, Lee Walker, Philip Williams, David Lilley, Michael Judge and Wayne Cooper.
With an afternoon session already wrapped up at the time of writing this, Ken Doherty impressed me with his 3-0 win over Lee Walker, especially as he arrived at the tournament in the early hours of the morning, following a mad dash from his son’s tennis tournament. A journey that landed him in bed at 4 am after a late ferry to Holyhead. There was also a 3-1 win for Peter Lines over Michael Judge. An impressive start with Jimmy White up against Patrick Wallace and John Parrott playing Wayne Cooper tonight.
