2026 World Snooker Championship: April 18 - May 04

[Bob Jewett]

I was very surprised to hear that Scandinavia wasn’t considered part of continental Europe. So I went to Wikipedia and found this interesting explanation:

The Scandinavian Peninsula is sometimes also excluded even though it is a part of "mainland Europe", as the de facto connections to the rest of the continent were historically across the Baltic Sea or North Sea (rather than via the lengthy land route that involves travelling to the north of the peninsula where it meets Finland, and then south through northeast Europe)

Which doesn't make much sense word-wise since Scandinavia is in the same continent as Italy and Germany. But then the UK is in Europe, too, if it is in any continent at all.

 

[GideonF]

Which doesn't make much sense word-wise since Scandinavia is in the same continent as Italy and Germany. But then the UK is in Europe, too, if it is in any continent at all.

Here is more from Wikipedia:

The most common definition of mainland Europe excludes these continental islands: the Greek islands, Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands, Great Britain and Ireland and surrounding islands, Novaya Zemlya and the Nordic archipelago, as well as nearby oceanic islands, including the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Azores, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Svalbard.

 

[skogstokig]

on that note he'll be the only one, unfortunately, because luca brecel lost to the incredibly boring welshman jak jones

 

[BeiberLvr]

A record 11 Chinese players will be competing this year.

 

[Bob Jewett]

A record 11 Chinese players will be competing this year.

That's out of 32, for those not familiar with the format. Other Chinese players were eliminated in the qualifiers.

 

[markjames]

the higgins- o’sullivan final
in the 900 snooker format
was the first time i have seen
a ‘spotted cue ball’

 

[skogstokig]

A record 11 Chinese players will be competing this year.

other than zhao and maybe yize, are they really contenders? ding i've written off long time ago. traditionally they crap their pants at the world championship

 

[BeiberLvr]

 

[skogstokig]

i see the bookies don't believe in the crucible curse.. i won't even bother betting on zhao. may avoid top half altogether and bet finalist 1/2 from the bottom half.

 

[George the Greek]

There were plenty of century breaks in the qualifiers and it'll be interesting to see if that level of play continues. I'd like to see Antoni,Stan and Liam go some rounds.

 

[deep]

other than zhao and maybe yize, are they really contenders? ding i've written off long time ago. traditionally they crap their pants at the world championship

Si Jiahui has a decent record at the Crucible.

I'll try and get some photos from around the city, the Crucible is is literally 5 minutes from where I live.

 

[skogstokig]

Si Jiahui has a decent record at the Crucible.

I'll try and get some photos from around the city, the Crucible is is literally 5 minutes from where I live.

i think he's still scarred though. fun player otherwise

 

[Rubik's Cube]

Just for fun here are my guesses for the first round ..

Zhao Xintong 10-3 Liam Highfield

Ding Junhui 8-10 David Gilbert

Xiao Guodong 10-7 Zhou Yuelong

Shaun Murphy 10-5 Fan Zhengyi

John Higgins 10-7 Ali Carter

Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-5 He Guoqiang

Chris Wakelin 10-4 Liam Pullen

Neil Robertson 10-7 Pang Junxu

Kyren Wilson 10-5 Stan Moody

Mark Allen 8-10 Zhang Anda

Barry Hawkins 10-4 Matthew Stevens

Mark Williams 10-2 Antoni Kowalski

Mark Selby 10-6 Jones

Wu Yize 10-4 Lei Peifan

Si Jiahui 10-7 Hossein Vafaei

Judd Trump 10-7 Gary Wilson

 

[Rubik's Cube]

I have an accumulator bet every year on the first round… never won but did get 15 from 16 once.

Just wins, of course, not correct scores!

 

[spartan]

Don't write off Robertson & Ding even though they are in much tougher top half. They are the dark horses. Really, they only have to beat maybe 3 World Champions. No sweat.

 

[skogstokig]

shaun murphy could get the steam up after two fairly soft matches.. i like the odds

 

[deep]

A few pics from my walk home today.....

Looking down Nofolk Row towards the Crucible, Sheffield Catholic Cathedral on the left.


The place itself!


Big screen set up.



Studio being set up in the garden.


Looking back on the gardens.

 

[mjantti]

yes, ursenbacher. we in scandinavia don't consider us continental europe. i think also both maflin and robin hull are english originally

Have to correct this because Robin Hull was born and raised in Finland so 100% Finn. His father is from UK.

 

[Oze147]

When people dug out Robin Hull, I was pretty sure that Bjorn Haneveer was one of the non UK players, who participated in a WC, but apperently he never made it to Sheffield.

 

[GideonF]

I'll try and get some photos from around the city, the Crucible is is literally 5 minutes from where I live.

How common is it to see the players around during the tournament? Like do you see a player in a restaurant or something?