Dott downbeat about chances of world repeat
FORMER world champion Graeme Dott has already written off his chances of winning this year’s Betfred.com World Championship.
Snooker’s most prestigious tournament kicks off in Sheffield on Saturday at the iconic Crucible Theatre, but Dott still has to win two tough qualifying matches just to make sure of his place at the venue.
The Scot was nearly taken the distance in a gruelling 10-8 victory over amateur Brandon Sargeant in the first round of qualifying.
But the 2006 Crucible champion’s qualifying job is not even half done as he looks to cement his participation at snooker’s very own Theatre of Dreams.
Next up is a challenging second qualifying round clash, the best of 19 frames, with Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham today.
‘Playing 18 frames in my first match will be fine for the qualifiers, but it means you’ve got much less chance of winning the tournament,’ said Dott. ‘Nobody qualifying can win it, in my opinion.
‘I know Ding (Junhui) is maybe the highest-ranked player (in qualifying) and people might think if anyone is going to come through the qualifiers and win it, then it would be Ding, but I don’t think it’s possible to come through the qualifiers and win the World Championship. It’s just not.’
Larkhall’s pocket dynamo famously beat Peter Ebdon 18-14 to be crowned champion of the world. As this year marks the 10th anniversary of his finest hour, the 38-year-old is understandably keen to compete at the Crucible and not just the preliminaries at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge International Sports Centre.
‘It means everything,’ said Dott, also a runner-up in 2004 and 2010. ‘You want to get there and if you lose at the Crucible, well you’ve lost, but you can deal with if better than losing at Ponds Forge. I’ve had that before, it’s not a nice feeling.
‘It’s the tournament that everybody wants to play in. Even at the start of the year when you’re just practising you’re probably still thinking about wanting to be at the Crucible. To not be there would be devastating.’ John Higgins and Stephen Maguire are the only Scots to have qualified by right for snooker’s most prestigious tournament by virtue of their top-16 ranking status.
Gone are the days when Scots dominated the field, with seven-time winner Stephen Hendry having retired and compatriots Alan McManus, Jamie Burnett and emerging talent Anthony McGill, as well as Ross Muir, Scott Donaldson, Rhys Clark, Eden Sharav, Dylan Craig and Fraser Patrick all having to win qualifying matches.
Clark, Sharav and Craig fell at the first hurdle as they were beaten 10-5, 10-4 and 10-3 respectively by England’s Dave Gilbert, Thailand’s Dechawat Poomjaeng and China’s Zhou Yuelong.
Maguire left it late to qualify, reaching the China Open semi-finals last month to regain his top-16 place.
‘Stephen Maguire did great, he needed the semis and got to the semis,’ reflected Dott.
‘But there’s a lot of pressure on us all these days because the standard is so high — and the qualifying format is so hard.’