Originally Posted by Terrence Chant:
“Shanghai Masters underway then and the first 'shock' as Wild Card (shouldn't be there mind) 16 year old Yuan Sijun whitewashes Gouldy 5-0. I say shock but he also brushed him in China earlier this year. Talk about a bogey player!”
I know there's a lot of 'anti wildcard' feeling in snooker circles, and I can see why players who qualified on merit (like Gould) feel aggrieved at having to play an extra round that not everyone else is chosen for, for no extra reward. Especially after a result like that.
But I feel the wildcards are necessary for overseas events because of the way the world snooker tour is structured. For example, around a dozen Chinese professionals had to travel to Barnsley to play in the qualifiers for this...a distance of several thousand miles to earn a chance to play in an event in their own back yard! So credit to Liang Wenbo and Mei Xiwen for emerging as qualifiers, and to this lad for beating Gould.
Yuan Sijun's career could follow one of two paths now:
(1) he could be championed by World Snooker and sponsors, wildcarded into many more events, awarded ranking points and prize money (he gets neither for yesterdays win), and given every opportunity to nurture, develop and maximise the obvious talent he has
(2) he'll join the 128 player world tour within 2 or 3 years, win a few matches in qualifying venues like Barnsley and Wigan, but struggle to make inroads against the solid 'match players' hovering around the 50-100 ranking level. Then after one too many agonisingly slow defeats from Anthony Hamilton, Fergal O'Brien or Rory McLeod, will drop off the tour and slide into obscurity.
I know which depressingly familiar one my money's on.....