Ball – ‘Shoot Out’: Chris Wakelin’s first trophy took a decade (snooker)

Englishman Chris Wakelin, 30 years old, 41st in the standings and professional since 2013, managed to win this Saturday night, and after ten years on the professional circuit, to win the first race of his career, “Shoot Out”, by winning the final of the competition , which ended on this day, at the Morningside Arena, in Leicester (England), young Belgian Julien Leclerc, 85th in the hierarchy (1-0).

Chris Wakelin took home £50,000 (€56,893) of the £171,000 (€194,572) total prize pool for Shoot Out, a unique tournament in which games are a single ‘frame’ of ten minutes. limit (with the players timed to be able to hit and the audience able to feign loudly), in which he succeeds, as a champion, in front of Iran’s Hossein Vafaei.

Still, the icing on the cake: In the final, Chris’ entry with 119 points was the best in the tournament, earning him another £5,000 (€5,689).

The German Masters Wednesday in Berlin without the 2022 finalists

The 2022/23 season on the professional circuit has only a three-day break, as on Wednesday 1 February the players will move with their arms and luggage to Berlin, where the Tempodrom will continue until Sunday 5 February. , from Masters of Germany, is the tenth event of the World Snooker Tour season.

The tournament, which is part of the European Series, was won by the Chinese Zhao Xintong in 2022 (9-0 to compatriot Yan Bingtao in the final). Neither one nor the other will play, such as Jianbo Zhao and Li Hang, who also qualified for the top 32 of the competition: they are four out of ten Chinese arrested and accused of match-fixing. The race will also be broadcast to Portugal (EuroSport) and will award a prize fund of £400,000 (€455,140), of which £80,000 (€91,028) will go to the champion and £35,000 (€39,825) to the runner-up.

Matches will be played in best of nine frames through to the quarter-finals – first to win five (5-0 to 5-4 possible) – semi-finals with best 11 partial (first to win six (6-0 to 6-5 possible). Final, in The fifth, will take place in two sessions, with the best of 19 frames: the first to win ten (from 10-0 to possible 10-9).

The German Masters Final will be held, on Sunday, February 5, in two sessions, in the afternoon and in the evening, with the best 19 “shots”: he is the champion of the tournament, as it is broadcast live in Portugal, the first to win ten (out of 10- 0 to possible 10-9).

Without Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Judd Trump, John Higgins or Mark Williams, and indeed with Ali Carter, Ricky Walden, Tom Ford and Jimmy Robertson in the ‘Final Eight’ – they will play four Chinese who have been suspended by the world. Snooker at ’16avos’ – First round includes games by Tian Pengfei-Anthony McGill, Sam Craigie-Kyren Wilson, Peng Yisong-Jimmy White, Jack Lisowski-Zhang Anda, Xiao Guodong-Fan Zhengyi and Neil Robertson-Joe Perry , Chris Wakelin-Si Jiahui, Matthew Stephens-Luca Pressel, Robert Milkins-Daniel Wells, Louis Heathcote-Cao Yuping, and Bang Junxu-Ross Muir.

It should be noted that the season unfortunately got a void in the calendar with World Snooker announcing, on January 24, the cancellation of the Turkish Masters Championship, which was supposed to take place from March 13 to 19, in Ankara, due to the lack of a sponsor to support the tournament.

“Shout Out”, This Saturday (outlined in black):

Final Quarters:

Daniel Wells (gal) – Tom Ford (Ang) 1-0

Liam Highfield (English) – Dominic Dale (gal)0-1

Michael Holt (English) – Julien Leclerc (Bale)0-1

Chris Wakelin (Engineer) – Michael White (Gal) 1-0

Semi Finals (marked in black):

Daniel Wells (Gal) – Chris Wakelin (Engineer)0-1

Dominic Dale (Gal) – Julien Leclerc (Bale)0-1

Finalist (Black Champion):

Chris Wakelin (Engineer) – Julien Leclerc (Bale) 1-0