Welshman Jimmy Clark, 27, ranked 49th on the world table, shone in the second big surprise in the Champions League, the 2022/23 season took place in the World Snooker Championship, which began on June 28 and ends on the 29th of this month in Morningside Arena, in Leicester (England), by eliminating England’s Judd Trump, 35, the current runner-up in the world and second in the hierarchy from the competition.
A draw (2-2) in the third match of Group 2, between Clark and Judd, was enough for Jimmy to advance to the second stage of the tournament, after a 3-0 victory over another Englishman, Sean O’Sullivan, and another draw (2-2) against China’s Peng Yesung. Clarke was winning 2-1, which effectively guaranteed him qualification – with a huge ball of happiness (‘chorizo’) and Judd still saving the equaliser, but it wasn’t really enough to avoid disqualification.
‘Ace in the Pack’ (Jude), which Ronnie O’Sullivan won from 13-18 on May 2 in the World Cup Final in Sheffield – the same event he already won in 2019 – stayed as Mark Selby (Ben Wollaston) did. ) won his group) for the first stage of the tournament, which distributes prizes of 328 thousand pounds (382,000 euros), and whose second stage will be held on the same stage from 25 to 29 of this month.
In the other groups, Stuart Bingham (2015 World Champion) joined fellow Englishmen Ronnie O’Sullivan, Robert Milkins, Chris Wakelin, Anthony Hamilton and Ricky Walden between the qualifiers. So are Sean Murphy (2005 World Champion) and David Gilbert.
In the second stage of the competition are also Chinese Zhao Xintong, Lu Ning, Yuan SiJun, Lyu Haotian, Xiao Guodong, Irish Aaron Hill and Michael Judge, Belgian Luca Brecel and Northern Irish Jordan Brown.
On Thursday and Friday, on the 21 and 22 of this month, Welshman Michael White, Belgian Julien Leclerc, Englishman Jack Lisowski and Mark Joyce will compete for another place in the second stage of the Championship, while in another group only one place. Northern Irishman Mark Allen and Himanshu Dinesh Jain, Stewart Carrington and Jenson Kendrick will leave.
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