Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and Ricky Walden were all sent home today at the snooker China Championship in Guangzhou today.
Some argue that tournaments played week in-week out could cause a burn-out for some players. It would almost appear that way after what was seen today as the brand new event got under way.
Judd Trump has had some amazing results lately. He reached 2 finals (one of which he won) and 3 semi finals in total over the past 3 weeks. Trump has looked more composed and mature this season which would appear that his focus is on the snooker more than anything else.
Today he struggled against Ali Carter though as the inevitble tiredness kicked in. It’s clearly not a matter of just playing snooker but travelling, hotel rooms and diet all play a key role in a players performance. Even to look at, Trump looked almost pale and tired as he played Ali Carter. He never did get going really and as a result lost out by 6-4. Not a result he would of liked considering the huge prize money involved here (£200k for the winner).
Ding Junhui also found himself taking an early exit as he lost out to Marco Fu. Ding had just played the final of the International Championships where he suffered a crushing defeat to Mark Selby. With tiredness and a lack of confidence it’s no wonder he suffered against Fu today. The score here was 6-3 to Fu.
Ricky Walden has had an awful few months on the snooker table. Today’s loss to Mark Allen in the first round didn’t help matters for him. To be fair though, Mark Allen played some brilliant snooker today. With three centuries and many more frame winning breaks, there was little stopping Allen as he appears in good form. The final score was 6-4 Allen.
For Mark Selby snooker fans, they can continue on clapping and cheering as he won against Anthony McGill 6-2. It wasn’t the type of match that will go down in the history books, but it was once against tough match play from Selby which we have become so accustomed to.
With Judd Trump right on top of Bingham in the snooker rankings list, Bingham will no doubt be trying very hard to do well this week to gain clearance from the chaser.
