The Shanghai Masters, a brief history
Big day today, for all the snooker players out there who are entering The Shanghai Masters Qualifier Tour. And since we are talking about this tournament, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you a brief history of what Shanghai Masters means.
So, it all started in the 2007/2008 season, when The Shanghai Masters Tournament saw the light for the first time. His big brother, China Open was on track for some time now, so “he” had to fight strong so “he” could get also on top :)) It was actually the idea of The Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association and its promoter The EastAsia Group, who made a deal with World Snooker, for at least five years of action. And since a big and important event such as this needed a big an important sponsor, Roewe (the Chinese motor vehicle company) was the name of the game, which also is part of the name of the tournament – Roewe Shanghai Masters. :)
The first edition was held at Shanghai Grand Stage, in 2007 between 6-12 August. It was a real shock, for the Chinese at least, because an outsider took the trophy to UK and it was even a bigger shock for the English, since the winner was at his “just” second raking event since 1997 Grand Prix, when he won over John Higgins (9-6). His name is of course Dominic Dale and he was the perfect champion for the start of Shanghai Masters. It was not expected, but very well deserved this trophy. Dominic won in front of Rory McLeod, Ken Doherty, Adrian Gunnell, Dave Harold and Mark Selby and finally made a spectacular 10-6 with his Welsh fellow country, Ryan Day in the final.
It was a crazy first edition, with no Ronnie (he withdrew from the event due to some back problems) but with a blond Dominic Dale (this was the new fashion trend in China apparently) who went home with a £48,000 check. :P
Here, you can see the last frame and also who played in 2007.
The second edition took place at the same location between 29 September and 5 October 2008, this time with no Graeme Dott on the list, for he broke his arm during a football game. And like the first edition, no Chinese name was to be seen in the Grand Finale. Two English men were about to kick each other asses for the big trophy and the £52,000 and those were Ricky Walden and Ronnie O`Sullivan. Although “The Rocket” played extremely well, with beautiful breaks, Ricky won 10-8 and went home covered in glory.
Haven’t got the entire last frame… just a sneak pick here, sorry for that. And here’s the list with who played in 2008.
The most recent edition of Shanghai Masters was in 2009 between 7-13 September and was the first one with a Chinese name in the final. Liang Wenbo, this exception and talented young man, reached the final and played with Ronnie “one hell of a snooker” :)) Still, it wasn’t enough, so Ronnie won with a beautiful 10-5 and became the third outsider to “steel” the trophy and the £55,000 :))
Here is the last frame and the list of 2009 players.
So, that was the short story of Shanghai Masters, my dears snooker loopy :) Now, I would like to wish all the players who are competing these days for the big event in September “Good luck” and see you all tomorrow for our first day of commentaries, right? :))
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