Latest news with #Crucible
Metro
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Metro
Zhao Xintong opponent reveals surprise strength of 'the future of snooker'
Chris Wakelin gets another shot at Zhao Xintong at the Shanghai Masters and knows what to expect from the world champion after their Crucible clash in April. The pair met in the quarter-finals in Sheffield in a game that will not go down as a classic as both struggled for their best form having previously impressed. The eventual champion ran out a comfortable 13-5 winner to progress and although Zhao wasn't at his best, Wakelin saw plenty from him at the Crucible to be convinced he will lead the sport going forward. After beating local wildcard Zhou Jinhao in the opening round of the Shanghai Masters, Wakelin will now face Zhao in his first match since becoming world champion on Wednesday. 'He's got it all. He is the future. He's the future of our sport,' Wakelin told Metro of Zhao. 'I think what a lot of people don't realise is that most players on tour are capable of playing like that, just not every time on the biggest stage. Whereas Xintong has got so much talent that it carries him through the difficult matches. 'The one thing that really surprised me was his safety game. You don't expect him to have it. 'When it comes to the nitty-gritty, I should be able to find the upper hand, but so many times I came to the table and just thought…I'm screwed! He's absolutely got me where he wants me. I think that caught me off guard.' Jak Jones, who was beaten by Zhao in the first round at the Crucible, also noted the tactical prowess of the 28-year-old. 'His long potting and scoring are good and he also has a good tactical game,' said Jones. 'There are players who have won a lot more, but I don't see anyone in the tournament who is actually better than him.' Wakelin expects Zhao to be a huge positive for snooker as the first Chinese world champion, further growing the profile of the game in a country that is hugely important to the sport. From a ban for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal, Zhao is now being backed to be the face of snooker. 'He's a great ambassador for our sport,' said Wakelin. 'I think he'll do amazing things for us in China. We've got an amazing following there. I'm sure he'll be a worthy world champion. He'll embrace it. More Trending 'It's the very first tournament he's playing in. It will be an honour to play the first ever Chinese world champion in China in his first match.' Despite the accolades, Wakelin warned Zhao: 'I'm not fazed by him. Good luck to him, well done. I hope he goes on to do great things, but he doesn't faze me playing the next world champion.' On whether the world champion is actually the best player on the planet right now, Wakelin said: 'He could well be. There are a lot of players in the world that would have something to say about that. He's got every chance that he could go on to be world number one.' Zhao and Wakelin meet at 12.30 UK time on Wednesday in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters. MORE: Ali Carter talks Shanghai Masters bonus, Zhao Xintong future and Ronnie O'Sullivan clash MORE: Matthew Stevens reflects on 'up and down' snooker life as he confirms Seniors bow MORE: Championship League Snooker: 10 things we learned from a month at the Mattioli
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Snooker star Chris Wakelin reveals body transformation as he sheds STONE & quits smoking to get revenge on Zhao Xintong
CHRIS WAKELIN reckons shedding the pounds and quitting smoking will enable him to ruin Zhao Xintong's world championship homecoming party. Xintong, 28, lifted the £500,000 Crucible title in May – he is China's first world snooker champion – and opens his season at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday. 3 Chris Wakelin pictured in 2023 Credit: Getty 3 He has since dropped a stone in weight Credit: Getty Rugby cueist The pair met in Sheffield in the World quarter-finals but Wakelin struggled with 'fatigue' as he was knocked out 13-5 by the then amateur player. Since then Wakelin has shed nearly a stone in weight by running on the streets and even stopped smoking - he was often seen outside the And he is feeling the health benefits at the start of the new campaign. READ MORE IN snooker Though he will be the massive underdog, he hopes to incur the wrath of the home crowd by bursting the party balloons for the returning Asian superstar. Wakelin, the world No.16, said: 'Zhao represents one of the most ground-breaking, eye-catching matches there has been for a long, long time. 'This is the first time we have ever had a Chinese world champion and he is a great, great world champion as well. 'A phenomenal player. He's got buckets of style, on and off the table. Even the way he walks around the table. He's something really, really special. Most read in Snooker CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS 'It's incredible what he has achieved. I won't go down there, bow down to him myself and let him have the show. 'It's my job to put an end to the world championship party. He's going to have a lot of challenges ahead. A lot of pressure on his shoulders. Snooker fans baffled as star who's not won a match all year knocks in staggering 147 break 'I will give my best and prove why I am here in the first place. 'When he beat me at the World Championship a few months ago, I was really, really below par. I know I will have to play a lot better than I have done. 'We know what is in my tank. I believe and am really confident in what I can achieve. 'At the Worlds, he was super beatable in that match, which is the most disappointing thing from my perspective. I was so fatigued. 'I know Mark Williams spoke about it after the final. He's a lot older than me. "It catches up with you in the tournament. It happened to me in the quarter-finals. 'I have made a lot of positive changes in my life over the last few months. 'I said I would be out getting fitter. I have upped my mileage, dropped nearly a stone in weight. Stopped smoking as well. 'The reasons why I lost in the World Championship are nothing to do with on the table. It was purely my physical fitness as opposed to the mental side of it. 'That's something I am working on and getting towards that goal. I am improving. Hopefully that feeds into my game.' Seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan plays his first match as a married man when he takes on Barry Hawkins in the second round of the main draw over the best-of-11 frames on Wednesday. 3 Zhou Jinhao is the 17-year-old Chinese sensation Credit: Getty
The Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Snooker star Chris Wakelin reveals body transformation as he sheds STONE & quits smoking to get revenge on Zhao Xintong
CHRIS WAKELIN reckons shedding the pounds and quitting smoking will enable him to ruin Zhao Xintong's world championship homecoming party. Xintong, 28, lifted the £500,000 Crucible title in May – he is China's first world snooker champion – and opens his season at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday. 3 3 Rugby cueist Wakelin, 33, top scored with a 83 break as he beat 17-year-old Chinese amateur Jinhao Zhou 6-3 to book a Last-16 date with the Cyclone. The pair met in Sheffield in the World quarter-finals but Wakelin struggled with 'fatigue' as he was knocked out 13-5 by the then amateur player. Since then Wakelin has shed nearly a stone in weight by running on the streets and even stopped smoking - he was often seen outside the Crucible with a cigarette in his mouth. And he is feeling the health benefits at the start of the new campaign. Though he will be the massive underdog, he hopes to incur the wrath of the home crowd by bursting the party balloons for the returning Asian superstar. Wakelin, the world No.16, said: 'Zhao represents one of the most ground-breaking, eye-catching matches there has been for a long, long time. 'This is the first time we have ever had a Chinese world champion and he is a great, great world champion as well. 'A phenomenal player. He's got buckets of style, on and off the table. Even the way he walks around the table. He's something really, really special. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS 'It's incredible what he has achieved. I won't go down there, bow down to him myself and let him have the show. 'It's my job to put an end to the world championship party. He's going to have a lot of challenges ahead. A lot of pressure on his shoulders. Snooker fans baffled as star who's not won a match all year knocks in staggering 147 break 'I will give my best and prove why I am here in the first place. 'When he beat me at the World Championship a few months ago, I was really, really below par. I know I will have to play a lot better than I have done. 'We know what is in my tank. I believe and am really confident in what I can achieve. 'At the Worlds, he was super beatable in that match, which is the most disappointing thing from my perspective. I was so fatigued. 'I know Mark Williams spoke about it after the final. He's a lot older than me. "It catches up with you in the tournament. It happened to me in the quarter-finals. 'I have made a lot of positive changes in my life over the last few months. 'I said I would be out getting fitter. I have upped my mileage, dropped nearly a stone in weight. Stopped smoking as well. 'The reasons why I lost in the World Championship are nothing to do with on the table. It was purely my physical fitness as opposed to the mental side of it. 'That's something I am working on and getting towards that goal. I am improving. Hopefully that feeds into my game.' Seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan plays his first match as a married man when he takes on Barry Hawkins in the second round of the main draw over the best-of-11 frames on Wednesday. 3
Forbes
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Destiny 2: The Edge Of Fate's Portal Cannot Sustain The Game
Destiny 2 Logging in to Destiny 2 during its second week, players were greeted We are now in an era, for the first time in years, where there is not a week-to-week story unfolding in Destiny. In the Edge of Fate, you beat the campaign, and that's it. Instead, you're herded into the main new draw of the entire game, The Portal. The Portal is a series of four 'Ops' sets of missions, Solo, Fireteam, Pinnacle and Crucible. Each have their own dedicated weapons and armor to farm, both now using the new 'tier' system of the game, common Tier 1 drops and exceedingly rare Tier 5 drops at the highest difficulty levels of the game. It's only been two weeks, but it's clear this is not going to be enough to sustain the game in a meaningful capacity, and it would be shocking if the game's active players did not start dropping left and right as they hit some sort of wall in the activity. Some may last longer than others, and some changes will no doubt be made to fix extremely obvious issues with the system. But The Portal is not going away this is 'the thing' that's meant to keep players engaged now. The launch of this Portal in The Edge of Fate is bizarre. There are zero new activities in any of the Ops lists. I'm not going to classify through a string of enemies in a Patrol zone 'new' for Solo Ops. Fireteam Ops is years-old strikes and forgotten seasonal activities. Pinnacle is only old exotic quests right now, though supposedly chunks of dungeons will be added later. Destiny 2 FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The way to 'mix this up' to some extent is the new modifier system with different challenges and boons you can pick to earn better rewards. But it's mainly split into lower levels trying to get an A rank, which usually just means locking your loadout and putting on an enemy challenge or two, or higher levels, where you have to slap every negative modifier in the game on in order to get the best loot. And not even the best look. At the high end, something like a 5% drop at any Tier 5, much less a specific weapon or armor piece with perks or distribution you may want. Lower levels are blindingly easy. I'm not sure what's going on there, but some of these difficulties have bosses that cannot possibly have more health than a miniboss, at max. But at higher levels, getting more powerful actually hurts you, given that you will keep being forced into higher deltas. +30, +40, +50, nothing you do can change that unless you scale things back for inescapably less loot. The split is that lower tier players are going to climb high enough where this just gets exhausting, and leave. Higher tier players, all but a few crazies, are going to burn out with this insane difficulty that is often not necessarily difficulty, but endless sponges and the simple inability to ever feel truly strong. There are some pretty obvious Portal fixes that should be implemented ASAP: Destiny 2 Being vastly under-generous with loot and overly focused on 'challenge' with stupidly punishing tuning is a recipe to turn off players. All of this seems to be in place to extend the grind as long as possible, but what it's going to do is cause a lot of rage or exhaustion quits. I'm already seeing it happen. The entire concept of the Portal, replaying very old content, also is just not appealing at baseline for most players, and those that do say they like it, I will be curious if even they'll still be around a couple weeks from now. This is just not going to be able to carry Destiny 2 for six month gaps between major expansions without severe population crashes. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Metro
2 days ago
- Sport
- Metro
2025 Shanghai Masters Snooker schedule, how to watch, prize money and odds
The Shanghai Masters gets underway on Monday at the Luwan Gymnasium, with the world's best snooker players battling it out for the prestigious title. The top 16 in the world make it into the Shanghai Masters and they are joined by the four highest ranked Chinese players outside that elite group, plus four local wildcards. Judd Trump lifted the trophy last season, beating Shaun Murphy in the final and the world number one will be looking to claim back-to-back titles. Ronnie O'Sullivan had made the event his own before Trump's victory last year, winning four editions of the Shanghai Masters on the spin. There is no shortage of contenders for the silverware, including new world champion Zhao Xintong, who will be playing for the first time since his Crucible triumph. The likes of Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, John Higgins and Ding Junhui have all tasted success in Shanghai before and would love to replicate that on Sunday. One change to the draw since it was made saw Ali Carter replace Mark Allen as the Northern Irishman withdrew due to personal reasons. The tournament runs from July 28 – August 3. Monday July 28 (UK times) Round One02.30: Si Jiahui vs Wang Xinbo02.30: Barry Hawkins vs Wu Yize07.00: Zhang Anda vs Yuan Sijun07.00: Chris Wakelin vs Zhou Jinhao12.30: Neil Robertson vs Pang Junxu 12.30: Shaun Murphy vs Han Fuyuan Tuesday July 29 02.30: Xiao Guodong vs Lei Peifan 02.30: Ali Carter vs Qiu Lei Round Two07.00: Mark Selby vs Murphy/Han07.00: Kyren Wilson vs Si/Wang12.30: Judd Trump vs Robertson/Pang 12.30: Ding Junhui vs Zhang/Yuan Wednesday July 3007.00: John Higgins vs Xiao/Lei07.00: Mark Williams vs Carter/Qiu12.30: Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Hawkins/Wu 12.30: Zhao Xintong vs Wakelin/Zhou The tournament is being shown on TNT Sports and discovery+ in the UK. Winner £210,000Runner-up £105,000Semi-finals £70,000Quarter-finals £35,000Last 16 £17,500Last 24 £10,000 High break £10,000 Judd Trump 16/5Zhao Xintong 9/2Kyren Wilson 6/1Ronnie O'Sullivan 6/1Mark Selby 8/1John Higgins 10/1Ding Junhui 11/1Mark Williams 12/1Neil Robertson 14/1Shaun Murphy 16/1Ali Carter 22/1Si Jiahui 25/1Xiao Guodong 25/1Chris Wakelin 25/1Barry Hawkins 25/1Zhang Anda 40/1Wu Yize 40/1Yuan Sijun 50/1Pang Junxu 125/1Lei Peifan 125/1Zhou Jinhao 500/1Qiu Lei 500/1 Wang Xinbo500/1 Odds courtesy of Betfair 'I started off firing against Mark Williams and I got better as the tournament went on,' the defending champion told WST. 'It was probably one of the best performances I've ever produced in a whole event. Nobody really got close to me that week. 'It sets you up for the whole season. When you get off to a quick start it puts you in a good position. I then won in Saudi straight away after. You are so relaxed after getting the first win. This is important for everyone. It is the first event that all of the top players enter. You don't know what to expect as you aren't match sharp. But it is important to put the work in so you come out strongly.' Non-ranking event 2024 Judd Trump2023 Ronnie O'Sullivan2019 Ronnie O'Sullivan 2018 Ronnie O'Sullivan Ranking event 2017 Ronnie O'Sullivan2016 Ding Junhui2015 Kyren Wilson2014 Stuart Bingham2013 Ding Junhui2012 John Higgins2011 Mark Selby2010 Ali Carter2009 Ronnie O'Sullivan2008 Ricky Walden 2007 Dominic Dale MORE: Championship League Snooker: 10 things we learned from a month at the Mattioli MORE: Resurgent Stephen Maguire tinkers his way to first title in five years MORE: Stephen Hendry challenges snooker star to bounce back from 'disappointing' season
