The 2004 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2004 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 17 April to 3 May 2004 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 28th consecutive year the World Snooker Championship was held at the venue. The eighth and final ranking event of the 2003–04 snooker season, the tournament was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and sponsored by cigarette company Embassy. The total prize fund was £1,378,920, of which the winner received £250,000.
Qualifying rounds for the tournament took place from 10 to 20 February 2004 at Pontins. The main stage of the tournament featured 32 players: the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings and another 16 players from the qualifying rounds. Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire were debutants at the Crucible. Mark Williams was the defending champion, having won the 2003 final18–16 against Ken Doherty. He lost 11–13 to Joe Perry in the second round.
Ronnie O'Sullivan won his second world title by defeating Graeme Dott 18–8 in the final, despite having trailed Dott 0–5. This was the fourth biggest margin in a World final, subsequently equalled by O'Sullivan against Ali Carter in 2008, and Kyren Wilson in 2020.
The first World Snooker Championship final took place in 1927 at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England, and was won by Joe Davis.[1] Since 1977 the tournament has been held annually at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.[2] The 2004 event marked the 28th consecutive year that the tournament was held at the Crucible, and the 36th successive year that the World Championship was contested through the modern knockout format.[3][4][5] Scottish player Stephen Hendry had been the most successful participant at the World Championship in the modern era, having won the title seven times.[6] Welsh player Mark Williams won his second world title at the 2003 championship, defeating Irish player Ken Doherty 18–16 in the final, for which he received a £270,000 top prize from a total prize fund of £1,682,900. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the 2004 tournament was sponsored by cigarette company Embassy, which sponsored the event from 1976 to 2005.
Format
The 2004 World Snooker Championship took place from 17 April to 3 May 2004, as the last of eight ranking events in the 2003–04 snooker season. The event featured a 32-player main draw, preceded by a qualifying tournament that was held at Pontins between 10 and 20 February 2004. The qualifiers were played over six rounds, higher-ranked players being seeded and given byes to the later rounds.[7] All of the rounds were played as the best of 19 frames .[7]
The top 16 players in the latest snooker world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players. Defending champion Williams was automatically seeded first overall. The remaining 15 seeds were allocated based on the latest world rankings. Matches in the first round of the main draw were played as the best of 19 frames, second-round matches and quarter-finals played as the best of 25 frames, and the semi-finals as the best of 33 frames.[8] The final was played over two days as a best-of-35-frames match.[8] Reaching the first round of the tournament's main stage were 17 players from England, six from Scotland, five from Wales, and one each from Ireland, Thailand, Australia and Northern Ireland.[8]
Prize fund
The winner of the event received £250,000 from a total fund of £1,378,920.[9] The breakdown of prize money is shown below:[9][10][11]
Defending champion Mark Williams (pictured in 2014) won over Dominic Dale the day after he became father for the first time.
The first round was played between 17 and 22 April as the best of 19 frames. Williams faced Dominic Dale.[12] The defending champion, who became a father the day before the match was played, earned a 6–3 lead in the first session , with five breaks over 50, including a century break of 105 in the second frame.[12] Coming back for the second and final session, Dale responded and won three consecutive frames to draw level at 7–7.[12] Williams, however, did the same and clinched victory with the last three frames, which included a half-century .[12] "It's not the best preparation you can have, but if you're happy off the table you can carry that over," commented the two-time world champion after the match with regard to his fatherhood.[12]
Six seeded players – Stephen Lee, Quinten Hann, Steve Davis, Peter Ebdon, Ken Doherty and Jimmy White – lost in the first round. Although Lee fell 3–6 behind Lee Walker, he managed to win three of the first four frames of the evening session to reduce the gap to a single one.[13] Walker, nonetheless, clinched the twelfth frame, which lasted 53 minutes, and ended up winning the match 10–7.[13] Lee claimed afterwards that the defeat was the summary of "a terrible season" for him.[13]Andy Hicks advanced into the second round by beating Hann 4–10.[14] Having already been warned for his language by referee Lawrie Annandale in the eleventh frame, he confronted his rival once the match had ended and he admitted to having told him "You're short, bald and always will be, and can have me outside whenever you want".[14] Hicks pointed out to him that he was likely to drop out of the top 16 as a result of the loss.[14][15] Six-time champion Davis lost to Anthony Hamilton 7–10.[16] Doherty, 1997 winner, was beaten by two-time semi-finalist Joe Swail 6–10.[17] Doherty's defeat was the first time he had lost in round one since 1995,[17] and had since been champion once, finalist twice and three times a quarter-finalist. Ebdon played Ian McCulloch,[18] who was making his third-ever appearance at the Crucible, having previously qualified for the 1999 and 2003 events. The first session, which featured a 48-minutes-long frame, was shared at 4–4, and the balance was not broken after eight more frames, with a scoreboard of 8–8.[18] McCulloch, whose safety and matchplay were praised by his rival, went on to win two frames on the trot and sealed the first Crucible victory in his career.[18] In qualifying for this event, Barry Pinches, who had made his debut at the Crucible in 1991,[19] set the record for the biggest gap between the first two Crucible appearances.[citation needed] He faced White – recent European Open runner-up and Players Championship winner – in a match which overran and had to be completed after other matches.[20] A 10–8 victory meant that Pinches would be amongst the last 16 standing for the first time in his career.[20]
Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire were the only debutants at the Crucible this year, and both lost in round one. Day, who became the first ever player to make three centuries on his debut at the World Championship,[21] put himself 9–7 ahead with breaks of 111, 68, 54, 128, 60, 112, 71 and 57, but 1998 champion John Higgins forced a decider with a 68 and took it with a result of 68–50.[22] Maguire, who was 23 and the youngest of the 32 players who made it to this stage of the tournament, reached the main draw after a season in which he had won his first ranking tournament defeating White in the European Open final, and had also been runner-up of the British Open and champion of the UK Championship, with a 10–1 victory against David Gray. Facing 2001 champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round, he had a chance to take a 4–2 lead, but he would end up losing 6–10 in a match that featured a combined three centuries by both players.[23] O'Sullivan conceded a frame while he could still mathematically win it and also made some obscene gestures throughout the match.[24]Chris Small was 1–7 down to fellow Scotsman Alan McManus when he was forced to retire from the match due to pain from a degenerative spinal disease,[25] a condition which would later force him to retire from the game permanently.[26] McManus said after the match that he was "dumbstruck" by his rival pulling out.[25] Ali Carter, taking part in his second consecutive first-round match of the World Championship after having made his debut the previous season, faced David Gray, who overcame a "nightmare start" and made two consecutive half-centuries in the last two frames to secure victory with a result of 10–7.[27]
Joe Perry and Robert Milkins, who were playing in the main stage for the fourth and third time respectively, faced each other. Although Perry came out 6–3 on top at the end of the first session, Milkins reduced the deficit to two frames.[28] Perry managed then to secure three scrappy frames on the spin to put himself one away from victory at 9–4.[28] Milkins, however, replied with breaks of up to 51 and 65, and Perry said he was beginning to "worry" when it got to 9–7, but managed to close out the match.[28] In a tactical match, Matthew Stevens, finalist in 2000, overcame a two-frame deficit against Thai player James Wattana and won the last five frames to advance into the second round.[29]Paul Hunter, who had lost the Players Championship final against White two weeks earlier, took a 5–4 lead against 1991 world champion John Parrott, who could have levelled the match at 7 each, but missed a pot .[30] Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry raced into an 8–1 lead against Stuart Pettman in the first session, and wrapped up the match with two more frames once the match was resumed, with a 117 century.[31] In a match that only featured six breaks over fifty, Graeme Dott defeated Mark King in the decider.[32] "It was actually getting embarrassing how bad the game was", he said afterwards.[32]
Second round
Barry Pinches (pictured in 2016), who had never played in the second round before, led seven-time champion Stephen Hendry 11–9, but ended up losing 12–13.
The second round of the event was played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions, between 22 and 26 April. Pinches, playing in this stage of the tournament for the first time, led Hendry 11–9 before losing 12–13.[33] Hendry regarded the match as one of the toughest "battles" he had had to endure at the Crucible.[33] Hunter and Stevens met in the last 16 for the second consecutive year.[34] Stevens avenged his 6–13 defeat the previous year, coming from behind in the final frames to win a close match.[34] Hunter found himself two frames in front with only three to play at 12–10 before missing a pink ball in the 23rd frame which would have given him the match.[34] Stevens took all three frames to win the match 13–12.[34] Perry ousted defending champion Williams and made a break of 145, which would remain as the highest break of the tournament.[35] Having manufactured a 10–6 lead, Perry lost five frames on the trot and let Williams in front for the first time in the match at 10–11.[35] Perry put together breaks of 55, 53 and 82 to secure victory and advance into the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in his career.[35] The most one-sided match of the second round featured Walker and Gray, who took victory with a result of 13–5 and would also make his first appearance in the quarter-finals.[36] "It was not my greatest performance", he highlighted despite the result and urged himself to score more heavily the next day.[36]
Dott got off to a good start in his match against Higgins and established a 5–1 advantage that got reduced to 6–3 by the end of the first session.[37] Going into the last session, Dott managed to put himself 12–7 up at one point, but Higgins fired back with breaks of 89 and 130 and won another one to reduce the deficit to only a couple of frames.[37] Dott won the match with a 62 break, and said he had "never seen John play as badly as that".[37] O'Sullivan faced 1995 semi-finalist Hicks,[38] who had not managed to get past the first round of the event since that year. Scores were level going into the final session, but O'Sullivan managed to win a duel in which he compiled five century breaks.[38] Both players conceded frames while the rival was still at the table.[24] Hamilton, who was eyeing his third appearance in the quarter-finals after a year in which he had not managed to qualify for the Crucible, shared the first two sessions with Swail and went into the final one tied at 8–8.[39] Swail had until that point scored half-centuries for every frame that had gone his way, but could not hold Hamilton, who sealed victory by 13–11 with breaks of 86 and 61.[39] McManus won the first frame against McCulloch, who then took seven in a row with breaks of 106, 64, 76, 62, 113, 82 and 84, and moved within two of victory ahead of the evening session.[40] He only needed to play three frames of that last session to wrap up the win and earn a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in his career.[40]
Quarter-finals
Graeme Dott (pictured in 2014) reached the semi-finals for the first time, defeating David Gray 13–7.
The quarter-finals were played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions, on 27 and 28 April. In his match against O'Sullivan, Hamilton came from 0–2 down to level at 2–2, but eventually lost the match by 3–13.[41] It was O'Sullivan's second consecutive win with a session to spare , having compiled centuries of 109, 106, 131 and 121 in the match,[41] and was regarded by Clive Everton writing for The Guardian as a "performance of stunning virtuosity".[42] Hendry edged out McCulloch also with a 13–3 result and a session to spare.[43] In setting up a semi-final duel with O'Sullivan, he made two centuries and nine half-centuries.[43]
Perry, contesting his first ever quarter-final, was six frames behind Stevens at the beginning of the last session at 5–11, but managed to pull back to 10–12 and said he felt he could win it.[44] He stated, however, he was "mentally tired" after his second-round match against Williams and that he had lost the match "at the start".[44] "It's difficult when you have a big lead like that and then someone fights back, because it really puts the pressure on you", pointed out Stevens.[44] Dott had never reached this stage of the tournament before either, and displayed what he thought was "a rubbish game", but defeated Gray 13–7, closing out the match with a break of 62.[45] "You watch the Crucible when it gets to one table as a kid, and wonder what it would be like to play there", he said afterwards.[45]
Semi-finals
Stephen Hendry (pictured in 2011) suffered a 4–17 defeat against Ronnie O'Sullivan, the biggest in history for a World Championship quarter-final match.
The semi-finals were played as the best of 33 frames, held over four sessions, between 29 April and 1 May. Several breaks of over eighty and ninety points and a 117 century gave O'Sullivan a clear advantage over Hendry in the two first sessions, which meant that at the end of the second one, he was 13–3 ahead.[46] The match ended 17–4 and with a session to spare, thanks to breaks of 93 and 79 by O'Sullivan, whose victory against Hendry was the biggest ever for a semi-final of the tournament, improving Hendry's 16–4 win over Terry Griffiths in 1992.[47]
In the other semi-final Dott faced Stevens, who had already reached this stage of the tournament on four occasions. The Scotsman displayed good safety throughout the match and although Stevens won frames 28, 29 and 30 to move one away from victory, Dott then forced a decider, which he won on the final pink ball.[48]
Final
Ronnie O'Sullivan (pictured in 2012) won his second world championship, defeating Dott 18–8.
The final of the event was played on 2 and 3 May as a best-of-35-frames match, held over four sessions, between Dott and O'Sullivan. Welsh referee Paul Collier took charge of his first World Championship final. O'Sullivan (seeded third) was contesting his second World Championship final, having won his previous one in 2001 against Higgins, while it was the first one for Dott (seeded thirteenth), who had till that point reached two ranking finals – those of the 1999 Scottish Open and the 2001 British Open – but had come short to both Hendry and Higgins. Dott made a strong start to the match and compiled breaks of 71, 77, 64 and 60 to move 5–0 clear, but O'Sullivan responded with a 100-point century break and then won three more to put himself only one away from his rival at the end of the first session.[49] In the second session, played over the afternoon, O'Sullivan won all frames save one – in which Dott compiled a 106 century – and only needed two frames and twenty minutes in the evening to seal his second world title.[49]
O'Sullivan won the match 18–8, the biggest margin in a World final since Hendry's 18–5 victory over White in 1993[49] and the fourth largest in the history of the tournament, subsequently equalled by himself against Carter in 2008, and Kyren Wilson in 2020.[50] Afterwards, Dott conceded that the newly crowned champion could be regarded as "the greatest of all time" and expressed elation over having avoided losing the final with a session to spare.[51] "It could have been worse", he stated in the post-match interview.[51] O'Sullivan said he had felt at all times throughout the seventeen days that he would go on to win the tournament and thanked six-time world champion Ray Reardon for his advice, for he had recently begun to work alongside him on improving his overall game.[52] He dedicated the victory to his father, who was at prison at the time, and said there was "more to come".[52]
Main draw
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).[9][8][53]
The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest, with total prize money of £2,395,000 in 2023, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it is now one of the three tournaments that make up snooker's Triple Crown Series. The reigning world champion is Luca Brecel.
Peter David Ebdon is an English retired professional snooker player who is a former world champion and current coach. Ebdon won nine ranking titles during his career, placing him in joint 12th position on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. He won two Triple Crown titles, the 2002 World Snooker Championship and the 2006 UK Championship.
The 2006 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that was held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 38th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue. It started on 15 April 2006 and was scheduled to finish on 1 May 2006, but continued into the early hours of 2 May. The sixth and final ranking tournament of the 2005–06 snooker season, it was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and sponsored for the first time by online casino 888.com. The total prize fund was £896,240, of which the winner received £200,000.
The 2005 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament started on 16 April, and ended on 2 May 2005. The event was the eighth and final world ranking event of the 2004–05 snooker season, following the 2005 China Open. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Due to laws banning advertising cigarettes in Great Britain, this was the last time the event was sponsored by the cigarette company Embassy. The event had a prize fund of £1,121,800, with the winner receiving £250,000.
The 2003 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 19 April to 5 May 2003 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the final ranking event of the 2002–03 snooker season. This was the 27th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, marking the 26th anniversary of the first staging of the event at this venue. The championships were sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
The 2002 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2002 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the final ranking event of the 2001–02 snooker season. This was the 26th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, marking the 25th anniversary of the first staging of the event at this venue. The championship was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
The 1993 World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 April and 3 May 1993 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
The 2006 UK Championship was the 2006 edition of the UK Championship, a professional snooker tournament that is one of the sport's three Triple Crown events. It was held from 4 to 17 December 2006 at the Barbican Centre in York, North Yorkshire. The competition was the third of seven World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) ranking events in the 2006/2007 season and the 30th edition of the tournament. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom and Europe on the BBC and Eurosport.
The 2004 Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament held in February 2004. It was the 30th staging of the Masters tournament, one of three Triple Crown events on the Snooker Tour, the eighth of fifteen World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) events in the 2003/2004 season, and was held at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, United Kingdom from 1 to 8 February 2004. The tournament was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC.
The 2008 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 2008 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 32nd consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible Theatre, and the seventh and final ranking event of the 2007–08 snooker season. The tournament was organised by World Snooker, and sponsored by betting company 888.com. The tournament featured a total prize fund of £1,050,000 with £250,000 being awarded to the winner.
The 2009 World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. This was the first time that the World Snooker Championship had been sponsored by Betfred.
The 2010 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 17 April and 3 May 2010 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The final ranking event of the 2009-10 snooker season, it was the 34th year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, first held in 1927. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and had a total prize fund of £1,111,000, with £250,000 going to the winner of the event. The tournament was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred.
The 2011 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 2011 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 35th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible and was the last ranking event of the 2010–11 snooker season. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and had a total prize fund of £1,111,000, with £250,000 going to the winner of the event. The tournament was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred.
The 2012 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 21 April to 7 May 2012 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 36th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible and the last ranking event of the 2011–12 snooker season. The event was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, and in Europe by Eurosport.
The 2013 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2013 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 37th consecutive year the Crucible had hosted the World Snooker Championship; the 2013 event was the last ranking tournament of the 2012–13 snooker season. Sports betting company Betfair sponsored the event for the first time.
The 2014 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 19 April to 5 May 2014 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 38th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible. The tournament was also the last ranking event of the 2013–14 snooker season. The event was sponsored by Dafabet for the first time. A qualifying tournament was held from 8 to 16 April 2014 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield for 16 players, who met 16 seeded participants at the main championships.
The 2017 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 April to 1 May 2017 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 19th and final ranking event of the 2016–17 season which followed the China Open. It was the 41st consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible.
The 2019 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2019 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 43rd consecutive year the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, and the 20th and final ranking event of the 2018–19 snooker season. Qualifying for the tournament took place from 10 to 17 April 2019 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Sports betting company Betfred sponsored the event.
Ronnie O'Sullivan started his professional snooker career in 1992 and is widely considered one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. His play and accomplishments are described by some peers and pundits as being the greatest in the modern era of snooker. O'Sullivan is a seven-time world champion, and holds many records, including the fastest maximum break in professional competition; the highest number of century breaks; the highest number of maximum breaks, and the most Triple Crown event titles (23).
The 2022 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 April to 2 May 2022 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 46th consecutive year the World Snooker Championship was held at the venue. The 16th and final ranking event of the 2021–22 snooker season, the tournament was organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by sports betting company Betfred. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, in Europe by Eurosport, and elsewhere in the world by Matchroom Sport and other broadcasters. The total prize fund was £2,395,000, of which the winner received £500,000.
References
↑ Turner, Chris (2008). "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
↑ "John Higgins eyes more crucible titles". The Daily Telegraph. 5 May 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2020. the modern era, which began in 1969 when the World Championship became a knockout event.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Joe Perry (ENG) (145)
Graeme Dott (SCO)
