Home Nations Series continues with the Northern Ireland Open. The event will take place in the capital of NIR – Belfast. This year’s event vended more tickets than ever before and completely sold out the evening session of the final. In 2022, more than 1200 snooker lovers filled the Waterfront Arena for the Northern Ireland Open, forming one of the most electrifying environments in the competition. The tournament will last between the 22nd and 29th of October, while the qualifiers will take place in Sheffield between the 17th and 20th of October. It will feature 128 best snooker players, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, back-to-back champion Mark Allen, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, etc. The tournament players will share a 6-figure prize fund, and the winner will receive the Higgins Trophy, anointed in honor of Northern Irish snooker legend Alex Higgins.
Home Nations Series start and thoughts on bonus
The Home Nations started their activity in 2016. In the inaugural tournament, Mark King won his first ranking title with a 9-8 win over Barry Hawkins. This Home Nations series consists of four events: the English Open, Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open, and Welsh Open. If a player wins all four titles – he adds a massive £1 million bonus to his bank account. A four-time world champion, John Higgins believes the potential £1 million reward is an extraordinary inducement. “To win all four titles is very complex. You would start comparing yourself to the sports legends such as Novak Djokovic or Tiger Woods. Every snooker player will look at this potential £1 million reward and think, I want to try”, declares J. Higgins. The winner will receive prize money that consists of £80,000, while the entire prize money of the tournament is £427,000.
Home Nations Series championship history
Current winner M. Allen won the Northern Ireland Open for the second consecutive year in 2022, beating Zhou Yuelong 9-4 in the final in Belfast. Mentioning J. Trump – he grabbed the main trophy three years in a row, from 2018 to 2020, each time defeating the all-time best R. O’Sullivan in the final, 9-7. In the clash of 2017, M. Williams managed to edge out Yan Bingtao 9-8 in a classic content. The Higgins Trophy, the winner gets after winning the tournament, is dedicated to Northern Irish snooker legend Alex Higgins, aka Hurricane Higgins. One of the legends of this sport has embedded his name into the hall of fame. Alexander Gordon Higgins, two-time world champion in 1972 and 1982, known for his rapid play, is one of the main factors why snooker has evolved massively in the past fifty years.
Probable absence of world champions and history of Macau
Current world champion Luca Brecel and two former world champions – Mark Selby and John Higgins, are among five players who can miss the upcoming Northern Ireland Open to play an exhibition in Macau. Big names decided to compete in a big-money event in Macau that starts on the 27th and ends on the 29th of October. This fact is hilarious because the schedule conflicts with the final day of the Northern Ireland Open. Macau is an autonomous area on the south coast of China. This region belonged to Portugal until 1999. Macau is widely known for its enormous casinos and malls on the Cotai Strip, which joins the isles of Taipa and Coloane, which have earned it the nickname – “Las Vegas of Asia.”
The World Snooker Tour released a statement on Tuesday criticizing the decision taken by the players, adding that it can be considered a breach of contract. Alongside those three snooker players who do not want to participate in this tournament, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ali Carter are two players who might retreat as well. It is believed that these five players have withdrawn the entry already. However, there is no such rule as entering every WST event. Summing up, the WST organization spoke about this misconception. “It is without a doubt that playing in a non-sanctioned event instead of playing in a WST event is harmful to us”, they said. Each player could face sanctions should they play in Macau.
Northern Ireland Open 2023 possible winners
It is hard to predict who is going to lift the trophy. Challengers with the highest possibility of raising the Higgins Trophy are the two-time champion of the last two tournaments – M. Allen, three-time champion J. Trump, and the icon R. O’Sullivan. With the withdrawal of L. Brecel and two former world champions – M. Selby and J. Higgins, the competition is weaker, and it is a chance for others to shock the world. Citing the form of the players, in a recent tournament, the number four overall in the world – J. Trump, managed to find a way to deliver an emotional comeback to defeat Zhang Anda in the final of the English Open at the Brentwood Centre in Essex. He won his last nine matches out of ten. In addition, three wins in the finals against Ronnie show he can win and beat the best.
Noting M. Allen, in the last tournament, he lost to Matthew Selt (#29) in the second round. A few weeks back, he admitted another defeat against Kyren Wilson (#8). Even though M. Allen lost only three battles out of ten, his current form is not at its peak. However, he demonstrates quality games when playing in this tournament – “The Pistol” has a fourteen-match winning streak. There is little to say about R. O’Sullivan because the greatest player of all time is always a threat. He desires to win his first Northern Ireland Open championship, so the drama is ensured. He triumphed in nine clashes out of the last ten, and without a doubt, he is ready to succeed.
Northern Ireland Open 2023 dark horses
Let’s cover the potential dark horses of the tournament. Number six in the world, Australian player N. Robertson, the first player to make 100 centuries in a single season, has lost five matches out of ten, which is not promising. His previous loss came against Liam Highfield. It was an incredible outcome for Liam, who knocked out N. Robertson after completing a comeback from being down 3-1. He prevailed into round three with a 5-3 victory. The most vital question is – can he deliver when the time comes?
Number seven on the planet – S. Murphy, aka The Magician, is not doing well either – he also lost five matches out of ten. Experts do not believe the 2005 world champion can win it, but you never know. The only top player with optimistic results alongside R. O’Sullivan is number ten on the planet – M. Williams. The first left-handed player to win the world championship has won 11 out of his last 13. Overall, many top snooker players are not in superb form, which means unanticipated fireworks are guaranteed. Make sure to check out our latest info on worldwide sports.