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World Sport etc
SNOOKER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Tournament Review
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Declan Link & Jon Bonfiglio come together to review the Snooker World Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
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Hi everyone, welcome back to World Sports Etc., where today we are back on the bays after the conclusion of the 2026 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, where China's Wu Yitsa became the second youngest world snooker championship champion on Monday, May the 4th, 2026, after defeating England's Sean Murphy, 1817 in a final frame decider at the spiritual home of snooker, the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The 22-year-old uh Wu Yitsa became uh uh secured the title with a high pressure break of 85 in the 35th frame, marking only the fourth time a final has gone the total distance at the venue since 2002. Wuf follows uh Chao Zing, Chao Xing Tong as the second consecutive Chinese winner of the event to discuss the final and the tournament. I'm joined by Chief Executive of the Peanut Gallery, Declan Link. Hello, Declan. Hello, John. How are you this evening? I'm good, thank you, Declan. Declan, I've recently started thinking that we're sort of um we're increasingly similar, you and I, to the do you remember the Muppet show? I thought it's actually come back recently, but you know the the the old uh the two old guys in the balcony in in the um in the Muppet show that sort of uh uh comment amusingly and grumpily at the proceedings that they see take place around them. Do you remember those two?
SPEAKER_04I do, yeah. And I I always used to think when I was growing up one of them was incredibly funny and incredibly handsome and witty and charming, which is you, and then there was me, the black swan.
SPEAKER_03Now, which one's which? Because I think they were called Statler and Waldorf. Do you remember? I think I I'm guessing Waldorf is the slightly sort of chunkier jowled one of the two, but I can't think of that.
SPEAKER_04Well that would definitely be me then, if it's chunkier.
SPEAKER_03Um listen, one of the interesting things about the final um that we that we saw take uh sort of uh uh take place is the fact that Chinese media um have been celebrating what they're referring to as the passing of the snooker center of gravity to Beijing. And I know you commented on this transition recently. Um, on of the top 20 snooker players at the moment, five are actually Chinese. Um, still the most are English with with seven. I was just wondering, uh Declan, who are you who are currently your favourite Chinese uh snooker players?
SPEAKER_04Uh I only have two actually, um, because I don't want to be silly and have all five, because that would be really stupid. But um Zhao Xing Tong uh has been my favourite, but now I'm jumping on the bandwagon for Wu-Z because at 22 he is uh the world champion, and he is uh only behind uh Stephen Hendry, who is a traditional favourite of mine in the age records. So the the baton appears to be uh passed from one generation to another if this uh trend continues.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and and you to you looks impossibly young as well. I mean he's 22, but you he he could he would definitely be somebody that uh you would bar you would think about barring entry to to some of the least um legally minded pubs in Britain, I think. Um I mean he he looks 15-16 at the uh at certain points during that final.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean my youngest is 21, nearly 22. Uh, he carries himself very well, but you know, obviously he gets ID'd here in America uh because the age limit is 21. I even get ID'd every now and again, which is it's normally by the little old ladies who are trying to make me feel good. Uh, but yeah, he he looks like he's still in in uh high school or secondary school.
SPEAKER_03Now, your sense of the final and the tournament uh and this particular Crucible World Snooker Championship tournament uh as a whole, I mean it it was it was right up there, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think so. I mean, last time we spoke, we were talking about the upcoming quarterfinals, and there was nothing fantastically exciting per se. I mean, all the results were fairly similar. I mean, Sean Murphy beat Zhao Xing Tong uh with the old crucible curse hitting you know the returning champion, not winning the championship. He he went out in the quarterfinals, and that was 13-10. John Higgins, who we spent a lot of time talking about, beat Neil Robertson 13-10. Uh, Mark Allen beat Barry Hawkins 13-11, and Wu Yee's beat my favourite Iranian, Hossein Vafay, 13-8. So there was a lot of consistency in the results, and not sure that they were quite as exciting as the round before. Whereas the the semi-finals, you know, got quite close with Sean Murphy beating John Higgins 1715, and um my new favourite Chinaman Wu Yee's beating Mark Allen 1716. But the actual final was uh, I would say an all-time classic. I mean, it was it was incredible 1817. And um, you know, in looking at my notes when doing some research after I watched it, this is the first Crucible final to reach 1717 uh in frames, going into the final frame since 2002, which added massive drama and tension. And um, there's no question that uh that along with the longest frame in crucible history, where uh Mark Allen in the semi-final and Wu played a hundred-minute frame in the semifinals, uh, it was quite an incredible tournament.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, let's just look at that hundred-minute frame, if we can, for a minute, because it was um there was awe and derision around it at the very same time. Can you just describe a little bit to us the the absolute mess that Snooker got itself into with uh with this hundred-minute frame?
SPEAKER_04Uh I I'm not really sure on the actual context of that one. Um John, maybe you can elaborate a little bit more on that one because I'm not sure what answers that one.
SPEAKER_03Sorry, I dro I I dropped you, I dropped you in it. Um I didn't mean to, but you just threw me under the bus. But basically, and and normally I'd like to throw I I sort of plan ahead for hours in in in and um elaborate ways in which I can throw you under the bus.
SPEAKER_04Like it's like a good football team nowadays, setting traps all over the pitch. I just I just was trapped.
SPEAKER_03But this wasn't one of those. What took place with this was the fact that you had um a black over a corner pocket, just tucked right in there, and then you had about seven or eight reds, uh, the only reds that were left, um, tucked right in, so in a sort of triangle around the black, making it impossible for anybody to to do anything in terms of getting the reds out of the bottom corner pocket. Um, and certainly not being decisive about the uh about the the the balls that were left because the black was right uh was teetering right on the on the edge. So there was just um it was just uh cautious shot followed by cautious shot, followed by cautious shot, and and neither of the two players was willing to give an inch. So this went on and on and on for uh for a hundred minutes, but absolutely uh remarkable. It was like um we used to get I don't know whether you um you ever bought this, but and there's a period of time in the in the VHS world where you could buy uh a video of um of uh of goldfish swimming around in a small space on your TV. It felt like that. The same thing kept looping and repeating itself without any any potential end in sight.
SPEAKER_04Actually, now now that I think about it, I I didn't really understand your question. That was quite an incredible uh bit of a bit of a mess, really. Because it's funny, I was talking to my mate who I taught to you about before, Barmy Army Paul Burnham, uh the cricket guy who started the cricket barmy army for England supporters, and he was at that game, and he lives down south in south southwest London, and he he got home at five o'clock the next morning, having driven back from Sheffield, and and you know, he was buzzing because he he he really enjoyed it and he had very good seats, I think front row seats. Um, how however, you know, now that I understand your question, that was a ridiculous situation, a ridiculous scenario.
SPEAKER_03It was, and it made me think actually, I'm surprised that we've not had scenarios like that before, because it's entirely possible for something like that um to happen. But I guess we've not seen something in which the black is so crowded around by reds in a way in which uh there's just no real viable option to uh to sort of do anything about it. Yeah, I would have expected, I mean, again, potentially because we've not seen this this happen to any meaningful extent, but for the the referee to be able to step in at some point and be able to make when when there's an impasse like that to make some kind of decision.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, did you see that um Woo Yi's um the young fellow who won it? Uh he thought uh that the fans were actually booing him when they were going, woo. He actually interpreted that as as a as booing, but it they were actually supporting him. I know you saw that and heard that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean I I guess it's a bit like the the two other examples that spring to mind um in an international context are one is sporting, of course, with Joe Root in cricket, where when he comes on the field, everybody goes Root and it sounds like a boo. And the other one is Bruce Springsteen, and Bruce Springsteen concerts, of course, all over the world. Uh there is there is uh chance of Bruce, which which um which sound a lot like like like booze. Just as a point of clarification, Declan, you mentioned the crucible curse uh before. Of course, this is a reference to um to professional snooker, but specifically the fact that no first-time winner of the World Snooker Championship has retained the title since the tournament moved to Sheffield's Crucibles um theatre in 1977. And the other thing I'd say, I think, about this entire tournament, which I think is interesting, is that uh and and and also because one of your favorite players, you mentioned it was historically Stephen Henry, who seemed to be an early version of an AI snooker model, he was just metronomic with how accurate and successful he was. But I thought this tournament was also remarkably error strewn, and oftentimes that sort of the incredibly high level of of play that we see or where we expect to see in Snooker sort of um makes us think that these guys just um just have no potential flaws. But I thought this tournament was again the the error-strewn nature of it, and in particular the final as well, meant that you you really couldn't trust either of the players to see a frame out.
SPEAKER_04No, no, and and um again, it was just rip, it was gripping stuff, it was really, really enjoyable.
SPEAKER_03Sorry, I'm coughing. Um spicy nuts again, isn't it? Um I thought I thought it was uh one of the reasons I I um I like uh the sort of the human aspect of watching um mistake uh uh ridden or or flawed snooker is because it reminds me of watching the the uh the England national football, men's football side.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, I I'm I'm I'm convinced it was a it was a very good showcase for World for World Snooker. It really showcased the the uh the the the lovely nature of of the crucible theatre. And it also asked critical questions on you know the three big veteran stars of of 2026 and whether or not um as the year goes on and we move into next year's world championships, uh, what's going to happen with Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, and John Higgins, because John Higgins obviously had out of those three veterans the the best tournament. Um Ronnie O'Sullivan, who knows? I mean, the fact that he he probably wants to come back to to uh to to be the head in the record books, um, he probably will come back, and we obviously spend a lot of time talking about him and one of the other reviews we did. Uh, but what happens to uh to Judd Trump as well, because he really didn't turn up in this tournament.
SPEAKER_03He didn't, and he's still uh world number one in the rankings by some by some distance. Uh Ronnie O'Sullivan remarkably is 14th in in the world, but of course that's because he doesn't play. Uh he plays when he wants to play, he sort of dips in and out. But I think your point about Judd Trump is certainly it didn't seem to be that he was really present there uh at all on in this um in this tournament. Uh but Declan, thanks um, thanks as always for um for your expertise and your and your uh and your comments uh on on this. And um, yeah, we'll keep an eye as the torch passes from um across to uh to China in the in the international snooker landscape.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see May 2027 when we're still going strong around the world to see of the top 20 players what percentage are Chinese there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and one of the top 20 is uh is from Thailand, and I'm not even gonna try and pronounce his name, but if he rises up through the ranks, then um we're gonna have to practice the uh I'm not gonna say it. We're gonna have to practice his name ahead of time. Thanks, Declan. Thanks, John.
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