I was asked recently whether it made sense for the World Snooker Championship to only include the Top 32 players and while it seemed to be an obvious answer, I thought I would attempt to see if there was any justification that could potentially support this idea. Whether it’s based on the official rankings or the one-year list, is it viable for the biggest tournament to house only the biggest players?
My guess for the logic supporting this idea is that since the World Championship is the most coveted prize in snooker, it’s only deserving that the Top 32 are the ones to contest for the top prize. In theory, it should result in the highest quality matches and provide the fans with familiar faces each year. Furthermore, considering the WSC hasn’t seen anyone outside the Top 32 win for the past twenty years (at least), with the exception of Shaun Murphy, then surely it makes sense to only include these players since the event whittles out the lower ranked players anyway?
Another factor that really disrupts the idea of qualifying for the WSC is the Coral Cup. The Coral Cup series of events (Tour, Players & Grand Prix) are ranking tournaments based on the one-year ranking list whereby the top performers of the current season are eligible to compete. And these are some of the most popular events of the season, among players and fans alike, which have the top players racing to try and reach the threshold that would allow them to compete in the next event of the series.
So if the most favoured tournaments follow this kind of format, and the winners of the WSC are the higher ranked players anyway, why shouldn’t the World Championship adopt a similar approach? Well, it comes down to the reasons we all love the WSC in the first place. The WSC isn’t just any event that is similar to the rest of the tournaments that reside in the season. The duration of the contest as well as what’s at stake changes the landscape of the environment, and the mentality of those competing.
While it would be a somewhat interesting ‘Race to the Crucible’ or ‘Race to Top 32’, only including these players would completely alienate the rest of the professional players on tour that fall outside of this ranking but deserve a shot at the World Championship. There would be no incentive for players that are perhaps outside of the Top 64 to continue their efforts if it won’t lead to anything. Of course they can continue competing in the already existing flat-draw tournaments but everything in the season is a build-up to the WSC, which is an opportunity every professional player should have a shot at earning.
Also, the sheer unpredictability of the WSC is what makes it so intriguing to watch in the first place. After a rigorous qualifying process (link to post below), the first round matches can often provide the biggest shocks as the tournament gets under way. I mean, look at this year as Noppon Saengkham surpassed Shaun Murphy, who is one of this season’s top players; and Jamie Clarke as he toppled Mark Allen in the first round. Disallowing 75% of the tour from competing in the WSC would deny moments such as these.
There may be some sound basis for the idea of only including the Top 32 players for the World Championship, but ultimately wouldn’t make too much sense to impose such a game-changing dynamic. While there are some tournaments which involve a unique format such as the Coral Cup - which personally, are among my favourite events – its distinctiveness and link as a group of events shouldn’t be diminished by populating the season with tournaments that exclusively follow this format.
But tell me, what do you think? What are some of your favourite events and do you think the World Championship should remain unaltered, as the constant for every season?
Like this Short? Click here to read: How Qualifying Works at the World Snooker Championship
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