Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson call for snooker rule changes as Zhao Xintong wins Worlds
Zhao Xintong won the World Snooker Championship for the first time in his career on Monday night, but some of the game's biggest stars have called for changes to the tournament
Snooker stars Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, and Barry Hawkins are calling for a major shake-up of the World Championship format following Zhao Xintong's historic win. The Chinese star made a triumphant return from a 20-month suspension to become his country's first-ever world champion, beating Mark Williams 18-12 in the final.
Zhao showed remarkable form in his first major long-format event since his ban, impressively knocking out Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals.
Despite having to battle through four qualifying rounds, playing a whopping 111 frames to even reach the main draw, Murphy has voiced strong opinions against the current setup.
Speaking to Sporting Life, he said: "I don't think it's ideal as it is. I think in any setup where everyone doesn't start in the same round is totally wrong. I think it's totally weird.
"A tournament where I start in the fourth or fifth round against players who have four or five rounds behind me, I think it's weird. I think it makes a bit of a mockery of the tour to be totally honest. We need events where players all start in the same round.
"There is no other way to shoehorn those matches into a two-table venue like the Crucible so I don't see it changing, but I think it's a really weird system now."
Robertson joined the chorus of disapproval, suggesting that matches should be shorter and criticising the three-day span of semi-final matches, as per the Express.
He said: "The best out of 25 frames is a great match to play actually, I do like that, but I think first two rounds out of 19 and best out of 25 for the rest of the event. It's straightforward, it shortens things, you are going to see a better standard of play.
"You see a much better standard in the other events, like the Masters, in the World Championship it does drag on a bit. I would love to see it shortened. Playing a semi-final over three days is crazy, I am not engaged in that."
Selby, who excels in longer matches, backs the current format, but acknowledged shortening the number of frames would be more appealing for spectators.
"In a way, I hope that they don't change," he said. "But from a viewing point I get it as well. You could easily have first round, first to 10, last 16, first to 10, and then go quarters, 13, semis, 13, and have the final first to 15. You could easily do that.
"Because some of the rounds where it's the last 16 or even the semis, you are playing over three days, I mean that is a long slog."
When a player reaches the semi-finals, they have only played half of the frames necessary to win the title, despite beating three opponents already to get to the final four and single-table setup.
Hawkins echoed the sentiment that earlier rounds could be completed sooner, but hailed the World Championship as a special competition that separates the good from the great across multiple sessions.
He said: 'It's such a long, drawn out tournament. I suppose some of the matches don't need to be as long as they are, but at the same time that is what makes it so different. There is nothing elsse like it.
'Maybe the first couple of rounds, best of 19, maybe the second round doesn't need to be best of 25.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Brit athletics champion, 81, is a MONK who took 70 YEARS to claim first gold after ‘nearly collapsing' on first run
SIGN OF THE CROSSFIT Brit athletics champion, 81, is a MONK who took 70 YEARS to claim first gold after 'nearly collapsing' on first run Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MARATHON monk has become a British athletics champion after SEVENTY YEARS despite 'nearly collapsing' on his first run. Father John Gribben is a sprightly 81 years old and can now claim to be top of his field after winning a gold medal at the British Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 A sprightly elderly monk has become a gold medal British athletics champion Credit: Guzelian 2 Father John Gribben, 81, is known as the 'sprinting monk' Credit: Guzelian Known as the 'sprinting monk' among parishioners, he won the 400 metre dash in two minutes, three seconds and 190 milliseconds. Gribben also secured bronze medals in the 60 metre and 200 metre events in London. But it took him 70 long years to finally achieve running stardom, with Gribben's first attempt at the sport coming in the 1950s. That didn't exactly go to plan, with octogenarian admitting he could barely stand up straight after a half-mile effort. READ MORE IN ATHLETICS HURD MENTALITY Fans stunned at how sprinter finished race after falling over final hurdle He told The Times: 'I nearly collapsed after that first run. I said, 'I'm not a runner', but I never stopped after it.' Gribben started to master the art of running when he moved to Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 1979 — where he remains to this day. And like any good athlete, Gribben dedicates himself to a gruelling mid-week training schedule. He explained: 'Three nights at least of a 5km run, most days I'll do a 60 metre sprint, and then the other things are an hour at the local gym a couple of days a week.' The Belfast native, who attended a theological college in Dublin, mainly gets his racing kicks at Greenhead Park's Parkrun in Huddersfield. He's since completed over 250 events, boasting an impressive 5km Personal Best of 26 minutes. I'm a parkrun fanatic - here are my top 10 tips for first-timers as the event turns 20 Gribben, who takes TWO buses to reach the course, started attending when he was nearly 70 years old. He now runs 5km in around 40 minutes, and those Saturday morning slogs finally paid dividends when he clinched gold at the Masters. Gribben also revealed the spiritual kick he gets from running, adding: 'There's something in the spring, you hit one point where it is ecstasy, you're outside yourself almost, when you hit that speed that carries you the last whatever you need to get to the line. 'Sometimes I just say to my saviour, 'Well I'll run if you run with me'. 'I don't know that I get an answer but… I start putting on my trainers and it feels good to do.'
NBC News
7 hours ago
- NBC News
With kung fu kicks and dragon masks, pro wrestlers find new fans at fight night in China
Asia American-style professional wrestling is gaining momentum in China, where Chinese history and music are woven into standard pro wrestling fare. June 6, 2025, 5:16 AM EDT By Janis Mackey Frayer BEIJING — The music blared and the crowd whooped as Alexis Lee strutted across the stage toward the ring. At just 5 feet tall, the wispy professional wrestler was dwarfed by heftier contenders, so to make her point, she pushed a spectator over in his chair and growled through her skeleton face paint. The crowd loved it. 'It's like the circus but with athletics,' Lee, a 30-year-old Singaporean, told NBC News. 'So it's entertaining, and live drama too. It's just fun.' While martial arts have a deep history in China, professional wrestling — with its raucous theatrics, shiny tights and body slams — is still fighting for recognition here. But on a recent Saturday night at a live events venue in Beijing, a special six-match bout billed as the 'Battle of the Decade' showed how far pro wrestling has come and its potential in the massive Chinese entertainment market. 'People are really starting to take pro wrestling — Chinese pro wrestling — seriously,' said Adrian Gomez, the American founder of Middle Kingdom Wrestling, one of the few pro wrestling organizations in China, and the man of the night. 'I feel this is the pinnacle of 10 years of really hard work,' said Gomez, 37, whose first-ever wrestling event in 2015 failed to draw a single paying spectator. For this event, there were all the alter egos and over-the-top moves of American-style pro wrestling that have made WWE a global brand. For the harder-to-win Chinese market, wrestlers have woven Chinese history and music into standard pro wrestling fare. Alberto Curry, from Atlanta, is better known on the Asia pro wrestling circuit as Zombie Dragon for the leathery dragon mask with wing tips that he wears. Curry admits it took some experimentation to determine what a Chinese audience wants to see. 'Nobody reacted to being a bad guy, which is weird,' a masked Curry, 36, said in an interview. 'Then I switched it, and people immediately took to it.' One of the obstacles to acceptance in China is that officials have appeared unsure whether to classify pro wrestling as actual fighting or entertainment, according to Ho Ho Lun, who was squaring off against Chinese wrestling legend The Slam in the evening's main event. 'For many years, there were no Chinese talents,' said Lun, 36, a former WWE wrestling star from the Chinese territory of Hong Kong. 'People used to only watch on TV until they found out, 'Oh, there's actually a place I can go and watch it for real.'' WWE tried breaking into the Chinese market back in 2016, and more recently signed a livestreaming deal with a mainland platform. The reach is limited, according to market intelligence firm S&P Global, as less than 10% of Chinese households with internet access have ever tuned in. 'The thing about wrestling is that it can be anything you want it to be,' said Gomez, who moved on a whim from Arizona to the northern Chinese city of Harbin 15 years ago to work as an English teacher. 'There weren't really any local leagues for pro wrestling,' he said. 'I think we've found a way to please and make Chinese people feel proud of the wrestling that's building up here.' For wrestlers, it's a fully hands-on experience, from getting ready to adjusting each other's costumes to selling their own branded merchandise before and after the show. They even helped build the ring for the event. Few felt what was at stake more than Wang Tao, who grew up in rural China and is considered a rising star among pro wrestlers. Wang rehearsed moves with his Dubai-based wrestling partner Shaheen Alshehhi and, wearing no shirt and silver streaks in his hair, quietly paced a hallway close to the ringside. 'I'm a little nervous,' he said. 'For me, this is really important.' Throughout the night, the sold-out crowd of nearly 400 people cheered, booed, swore and laughed as wrestlers delivered kung fu kicks and body blows and even spilled out of the ring onto the floor. Ho Ho Lun defeated The Slam to claim the championship belt, notching a victory for the pro wrestling scene here in the process. 'People are looking for new ways to entertain themselves,' wrestling fan Beck Jiang, 32, said of the Chinese market. 'This is a pretty awesome way.' Janis Mackey Frayer Janis Mackey Frayer is a Beijing-based correspondent for NBC News.
The National
8 hours ago
- The National
Scheffler, McIlroy or DeChambeau
DeChambeau is bidding to win his third US Open following victories at Winged Foot in 2020 and Pinehurst last year, where he edged out Rory McIlroy in a thrilling finish. Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the main contenders for the year's third major championship. Scottie Scheffler Scottie Scheffler won the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow (David J. Phillip/AP) Scheffler recovered from a relatively slow start to the season to win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson by eight shots in his adopted home state of Texas and followed up with a five-shot victory in the US PGA Championship for his third major title. The world number one was a 19-year-old amateur when he held the clubhouse lead after bad weather brought the first day's play to an early end the last time Oakmont hosted the US Open in 2016 and it would be no surprise to see his name on top of the leaderboard again nine years on. Rory McIlroy A U.S. Open champion at 22. The career grand slam now. Congrats, Rory. 👏 — U.S. Open (@usopengolf) April 13, 2025 McIlroy could only follow his Masters triumph with a share of 47th in the US PGA at Quail Hollow, a venue where he had won four times before, and declined to speak to the media after every round. The world number two's driver was deemed non-confirming earlier in the week and he struggled off the tee, but McIlroy – who missed the cut at Oakmont in 2016 and in each of the next two US Opens – has come to relish the tough test it provides and his form figures since 2019 read 9-8-7-5-2-2. Bryson DeChambeau Bryson's clutch bunker shot forever immortalized at Pinehurst No. 2. — U.S. Open (@usopengolf) April 14, 2025 DeChambeau has become a fixture on major championship leaderboards since his move to LIV Golf, his US Open win last year one of five top-six finishes in his last six starts. DeChambeau led after two holes of the final round of the Masters before fading to a closing 75 and also failed to convert a promising position in the US PGA before finishing in a tie for second, but his 2020 victory at Winged Foot proved he can overpower a traditional US Open-style venue, with Oakmont very much in that category. Shane Lowry Shane Lowry held a four-shot lead after 54 holes when Oakmont last staged the US Open in 2016 (Zac Goodwin/PA) Lowry held a four-shot lead after 54 holes at Oakmont in 2016, but struggled to a closing 76 to finish three shots behind Dustin Johnson. Three years later he converted the same advantage into his first major title in the Open Championship at Royal Portrush and although he has not won as often as a player of his ability should, five of his six DP World Tour victories have come in prestigious events. Jon Rahm Tough finish for me on Sunday but hats off to Scottie on an amazing win – always love the battle! Thanks to the PGA of America, all of the volunteers, fans, and everyone at Quail Hollow Club for putting on a great event. Taking lots of positives with me for the rest of the year,… — Jon Rahm Rodriguez (@JonRahmOfficial) May 21, 2025 Rahm made a welcome return to contention in the majors with his performance in the US PGA Championship, where he wiped out a five-shot deficit to claim a share of the lead after 11 holes of the final round, only to drop five shots on the closing three holes after Scheffler had responded with two crucial birdies. He won his first major in the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines and added the Masters title in 2023 but had struggled to produce his best form following his shock move to LIV Golf at the end of 2023.
