The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Qualifier Dott desperate to avoid Rocket at theCrucible–
Scotsman earns his place in World Championship
Scotland’s Graeme Dott came through World Championship qualifying for a fourth successive year to book his place in this morning’s draw.
The 2006 world champion beat Mike Dunn 10-7 to advance but knows who he wants to avoid in the first round pairings for the Crucible.
Dott said: “You’ve got to be brutally honest and I don’t think anybody wants to play Ronnie (O’Sullivan) because he’s playing awesome.”
Chris Wakelin vowed to deliver the goods on his Crucible debut after the former supermarket van driver earned his place.
The 26-year-old trounced China’s Tian Pengfei 10-1 in qualifying.
But Wakelin has not found life easy in the professional ranks, which he joined in 2012, and it took a helping hand from colleagues at Asda’s store in Rugby to keep his fledgling career afloat.
After guaranteeing himself a minimum of £18,000 for reaching round one, Wakelin said: “It’s going to be amazing to play there for the first time.
“Four years ago I was still driving a van around Warwickshire. I loved that job and had amazing people around me. Asda themselves actually gave me time off to practise and to play in tournaments.
“They had a fundraiser for me and it raised nearly £1,000 towards my tour expenses. I can’t thank them enough. Hopefully now when I go out at the Crucible I can do them all proud and put on a good performance.”
The toughest part of the van-driving job was navigating Warwickshire’s hills in the snow, often getting stuck. The Crucible seemed a world away to Wakelin who also suffered depression at a young age.
“I’ve had bad times and I stopped playing for a while and thought I’d never pick a cue up again,” Wakelin said. “But I’ve had amazing people around me the last five years and the few months before I got on tour everyone drummed together and pulled me out of a hole. I’m eternally grateful.”
Former World Championship winner Ken Doherty missed out on a Crucible return when the 48-year-old lost to Matthew Stevens in their final qualifying round clash.
The 1997 champion crashed 10-2 to Welshman Stevens at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Doherty is playing on a tour wild card that runs through to the end of next season, when he may consider retirement.
He said: “I’ll come back and try again next year and then see what happens.”
Joe Perry, Ricky Walden, Robert Milkins, Stuart Carrington and Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-nooh joined the players heading to the main draw.