Sadly, we won’t see a first-ever female competitor in the main draw of the Betfred World Chmapionship this year as women’s world number one, Reanne Evans, lost in the latter stages of the qualifiers to Lee Walker. Former world champion Ken Doherty was another notable casualty in the qualifying stages and the veteran has now lost his tour card for next season.
World Championship History
This is the 40th year in a row that the World Championship has been staged at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The tournament is the 19th ranking tournament of the season and also the last. This year’s prize money totals almost £2million with the winner’s cheque worth £375,000. It’s the world’s richest snooker tournament and the one every professional wants to win. The final always attracts a huge TV audience with millions alone watching in China, where snooker has almost become the national sport thanks to the exploits of Ding Junhui.
An estimated 210 million Chinese tuned in to watch Ding in last year’s final against Mark Selby and, though he lost, he’s inspired hundreds of thousands of his countrymen to take up a cue and they will all be willing their man to go one better in 2017.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, seeded 12, will be taking part in his 25th consecutive World Championship at The Crucible but the five-times champion still has a way to go to overhaul Steve Davis, who played in 30 World Championships. Davis and Ray Reardon were both champions on six occasions but Stephen Hendry has won one more in the modern era (John Pulman won it eight times between 1957 and 1968 but snooker was an altogether gentler and less competitive sport in those days).
Mark Selby is the defending champion and current world number one. He won the UK Championship earlier this season and also the International Championship in China. The Jester From Leicester also reached the final of the Shanghai Masters and has earned over £900,000 in prize money over the season. That is more than £1/4million more than world number two Judd Trump.
Selby and Trump are 9/2 general joint favourites to win the 2017 Betfred World Championship and Selby can’t fall foul of the ‘Curse of the Crucible’, which has seen no first-time winner of the title successful defend his crown the following year at The Crucible – the world number one has already won the tournament twice.
Ding Junhui has won the afore-mentioned Shanghai Masters this season and is a general 12/1 to go one better than last year while Rocket Ronnie is 6/1 with Sportingbet to wind back the clock again.
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Alli Carter has slipped to 10th in the world rankings but did won the World Open earlier this season. He could be interesting at the general 50/1 given he’s twice reached the final at The Crucible. After what he’s been through, no-one would begrudge The Captain a first-even world title and he’s very popular on the tour. But he’s only got past the second round once in the last six years in Sheffield.
Shock winners of the World Championship have not been uncommon in the last 40 years. DAVID GILBERT has only once got past the first round in Sheffield in four previous visits but the 35-year-old from Derby is now at a career-best 22 in the world rankings and has probably played the best snooker of his career over the last 12 months. If he could just get a run going in the tournament, he has the capability to spring a few shocks at the general 200/1.
You can get 11/10 with Stan James that there is a first-time winner in 2017.
Snooker World Championship 2017 Current Best Odds
Judd Trump and Mark Selby (9/2), Ronnie O’Sullivan (6/1), Ding Junhui (12/1), Neil Robertson (13/1), John Higgins (16/1), Barry Hawkins and Marco Fu (20/1), Shaun Murphy (22/1), Stuart Bingham (28/1), Kyren Wilson (40/1), Mark Allen (45/1), Alli Carter (50/1), Anthony McGill, Liang Wenbo and Mark Williams (80/1), Stephen Maguire (100/1)
