Shaun Murphy tips Si Jiahui to become China's first world snooker champion as Crucible form guide is ripped to shreds

21.04.2023 - 09:43 eurosport.com

Si Jiahui is destined to become China's first world snooker champion, according to 2005 Crucible winner Shaun Murphy. World No.

4 Murphy lost 10-9 to the attacking 20-year-old talent in a major upset in the first round of the World Championship on Thursday night as Si proved that form counts for little at the sport's biggest tournament.

Ad Murphy was also edged out 6-5 by Si in the first round of the 2021 UK Championship when the world No. 80 was an amateur. He was later forced to apologise after saying amateurs should not be competing on the main professional circuit.

World ChampionshipSi beats Murphy in final-frame thriller, Allen leads Bingham12 HOURS AGO The 11-time ranking event winner has revised his analysis just over a year later after levelling the Crucible encounter at 9-9 from 9-6 behind only to lose a tense decider with Si contributing a telling 56 in the final frame. «He was fabulous from start to finish.

Sporting as Murphy Shaun Murphy Robert Milkins Britain China

It may have taken him nine years more than he originally planned, but Luca Brecel’s childhood prophecy has finally been fulfilled. Before he had even stepped through the doors of a Crucible Theatre as a highly-rated 17-year-old, becoming the youngest player in the tournament’s history, the Belgian had already predicted he would become world champion by the age of 19.

Doherty: Rocket imperious, but Allen can go all the way

Ronnie O'Sullivan is in imperious form, but Mark Allen has the game to go all the way and win his first world title, according to 1997 champion Ken Doherty.

Si Jiahui secures spot in World Snooker Championship quarter-finals

Si Jiahui picked up where he left off on Sunday to secure a spot in the World Snooker Championships quarter-finals with a 13-7 victory against Robert Milkins.

Big bans may be handed out – snooker’s largest match-fixing inquiry set to start

Snooker’s biggest match-fixing inquiry will get under way on Monday, coinciding with the start of the second week of the World Championship at the Crucible.

Empty pockets: how snooker can reduce the temptation of match-fixing

W hen a Just Stop Oil activist disrupted the world championship snooker match between Joe Perry and Robert Milkins in its early stages on Monday night, the players looked suitably bemused. Simply going about their cue-swinging business before the table was rendered unplayable, they could have been forgiven for wondering why a pair of mild-mannered, middle-aged snooker players were being targeted by the protest group in their drive to “stop all new UK fossil fuel projects”, and their calls for “UK sporting institutions to step into civil resistance against the government’s genocidal policies”.