2016 Champion of Champions

The 2016 Champion of Champions (officially the 2016 Dafabet Champion of Champions) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 7 and 12 November 2016 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, England.[1] It was the fourth staging of the tournament since it was revived in 2013. In the United Kingdom the tournament was broadcast on ITV4.

2016 Dafabet Champion of Champions
Tournament information
Dates7–12 November 2016 (2016-11-07 – 2016-11-12)
VenueRicoh Arena
CityCoventry
CountryEngland
OrganisationMatchroom Sport
FormatNon-ranking event
Total prize fund£300,000
Winner's share£100,000
Highest break John Higgins (SCO) (143)
Final
Champion John Higgins (SCO)
Runner-up Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)
Score10–7
2015
2017

Neil Robertson was the defending champion,[2] but he was beaten 2–4 in the Group 1 semi-final by Stuart Bingham.

Prize fund edit

The breakdown of prize money for 2016 is shown below:[3]

  • Winner: £100,000
  • Runner-up: £50,000
  • Losing semi-finalist: £25,000
  • Group runner-up: £10,000
  • First round losers: £7,500
  • Total: £300,000

Players edit

Players qualified for the event by winning important tournaments since the previous Champion of Champions. Entry was guaranteed for the defending champion, winners of rankings events and winners of the following non-rankings events: 2016 Masters, 2016 Championship League and 2016 China Championship.[4] Remaining places were then allocated to winners of European Tour events (in the order they were played) and then, if required, to winners of the 2016 Snooker Shoot-Out, 2016 Six-red World Championship and 2016 World Seniors Championship. Ding Junhui was awarded a wildcard for being this year's World Championship runner-up, but later qualified on his own right by winning the Six-red World Championship and 2016 Shanghai Masters.[5]

With several players winning more than one tournament, there were fewer than 16 players who qualified by winning tournaments. Remaining places were allocated to the highest ranked player, not already qualified, on the one-year ranking list. After the 2016 International Championship there had only been 14 different winners and, with only one event left, Stuart Bingham, who was 8th in the one-year ranking list, qualified at that stage.[6] The final place was left for the winner of the 2016 China Championship, a non-ranking event. During the China Championship Marco Fu withdrew and Joe Perry, 9th on the one-year ranking list, replaced him. At that stage John Higgins was the only non-qualified player left in the China Championship and, since he was 10th on the one-year ranking list, he therefore became the final qualifier. Moreover, he subsequently went on to win the tournament by beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–7 in the final.

The following players qualified for the tournament:[7][8]

Seed Player Qualified as Ref.
1   Neil Robertson Winner of 2015 Champion of Champions, 2015 UK Championship and 2016 Riga Masters
2   Mark Selby Winner of 2016 World Snooker Championship, 2016 Gdynia Open, 2016 Paul Hunter Classic and 2016 International Championship
3   Ronnie O'Sullivan Winner of 2016 Masters and 2016 Welsh Open
4   Shaun Murphy Winner of 2016 World Grand Prix
  Mark Allen Winner of 2016 Players Championship Grand Final
  Judd Trump Winner of 2016 China Open, 2016 Championship League and 2016 European Masters
  Ding Junhui Winner of 2016 Six-red World Championship and 2016 Shanghai Masters
  Martin Gould Winner of 2016 German Masters
w/d   Marco Fu Winner of 2015 Gibraltar Open
  Anthony McGill Winner of 2016 Indian Open
  Ali Carter Winner of 2016 World Open
  Robin Hull Winner of 2016 Snooker Shoot-Out
  Mark Davis Winner of 2016 World Seniors Championship
  Liang Wenbo Winner of 2016 English Open
  John Higgins Winner of 2016 China Championship
  Stuart Bingham Highest ranked player, not already qualified, on the one-year ranking list after 2016 International Championship [9][10]
  Joe Perry Qualified from the one-year ranking list after Marco Fu's withdrawal

Four players were seeded. The seedings were determined in early October. Defending champion Neil Robertson was the 1st seed, while Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan were seeded 2nd and 3rd respectively for being the winner of last season's Triple Crown events. As Robertson was seeded twice for winning the UK Championship, Shaun Murphy became the 4th seed for being the highest ranked player not seeded after the 2016 Shanghai Masters.[9]

Main draw edit

Group semi-finals (last 16)
Best of 7 frames
Group finals (quarter-finals)
Best of 11 frames
Semi-finals
Best of 11 frames
Final
Best of 19 frames
            
1   Neil Robertson 2
  Stuart Bingham 4
    Stuart Bingham 4
Group 1 (8 November)
  Ding Junhui 6
    Ding Junhui 4
  Ali Carter 2
    Ding Junhui 5
  John Higgins 6
    Judd Trump 4
  Anthony McGill 3
    Judd Trump 4
Group 4 (10 November)
  John Higgins 6
4   Shaun Murphy 2
  John Higgins 4
  John Higgins 10
3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 7
3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 4
  Robin Hull 2
3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 6
Group 3 (7 November)
  Martin Gould 2
    Martin Gould 4
  Mark Davis 3
3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 6
  Mark Allen 2
    Mark Allen 4
  Joe Perry 2
  Mark Allen 6
Group 2 (9 November)
2   Mark Selby 5
2   Mark Selby 4
  Liang Wenbo 0

Final edit

Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Brendan Moore.
Ricoh Arena, Coventry, England, 12 November 2016.
John Higgins
  Scotland
10–7 Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)
  England
Afternoon: 75–0 (75), 19–69 (68), 74–3 (74), 1–100 (88), 0–90 (90), 79–0 (79), 74–4 (65), 29–88 (61), 48–82
Evening: 62–23 (60), 64–21 (63), 0–77 (74), 88–0 (83), 0–134 (130), 76–0 (76), 86–1 (86), 113–0 (58)
86 Highest break 130
0 Century breaks 1
10 50+ breaks 6

Century breaks edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Champion of Champions Snooker 2016". Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Champion of Champions: Neil Robertson beats Mark Allen". BBC Sport. 15 November 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  3. ^ "Prize Fund". Champion of Champions Snooker. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Champion of Champions June Update". www.wpbsa.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Race To The Ricoh – Champion of Champions Latest". www.wpbsa.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  6. ^ "1 year list after the 2016 International Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Players". Champion of Champions Snooker. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  8. ^ Champion of Champions 2016 – Shanghai Update
  9. ^ a b "Champion of Champions Group Draw Announced". www.wpbsa.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  10. ^ "rankings update Selby dominates". www.wpbsa.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.

External links edit