Marco Fu – ‘I am not going to drag out, it doesn’t matter what’

Marco Fu is set to attempt his utmost to achieve the Crucible Theatre after profitable his second World Snooker Championship qualifying match on Friday.

The 2-time former semi-finalist hasn’t featured on the venue phases since 2018 however beat Ken Doherty 10-6 to achieve the penultimate preliminary spherical in Sheffield.

Fu trailed the 1997 world champion 5-4 after the opening session however reeled off breaks of 136, 104, 97, 71, and 61 within the night session to advance.

The 46 year-old from Hong Kong is a former world quantity 5 and a three-time rating occasion winner however has struggled with numerous points in latest seasons.

The previous Masters runner-up was badly impacted by the restrictions of the worldwide pandemic, and he has additionally suffered from eye issues which have affected his imaginative and prescient.

After beating Mark Selby in January, Fu needed to forfeit a match on the German Masters because of the latter concern.

Nonetheless, Fu has no intentions of creating the identical choice on this occasion having made it midway by means of the qualifying competitors on the English Institute of Sport.

“It’s all the time been a privilege, a dream for everyone, simply to have the ability to play on the Crucible,” Marco Fu, who will subsequent face Hossein Vafaei, instructed the World Snooker Tour.

“I miss enjoying there, undoubtedly. However I’m simply going to take it one match at a time. I wanted to win 4 matches right here, I’ve received two.”

“That’s simply midway. It’s going to get tougher any longer, so I’m simply going to take pleasure in it.

“That’s crucial factor, I’m beginning to take pleasure in my snooker once more. That’s an enormous plus already. The Crucible is the dream, however one match at a time.

“[The eye problem] is on and off. That would occur tomorrow, that might occur any time. However I’m not going to drag out, it doesn’t matter what occurs right here.

“I’m simply going to attempt my finest, attempt any option to win. Qualifying for the Crucible could be my aim, however subsequent up is a really robust opponent in Hossein.

“I simply have to be 100% and hopefully my eyes can be okay for that match.

“I wish to play so long as I can, so long as I’m having fun with myself and enjoying snooker to a good commonplace. That’s necessary as properly.

“If I can play to the usual tonight, there’s no cause why I can’t simply keep on.”

Elsewhere, 2006 world champion Graeme Dott recorded a 10-5 overcome Mostafa Dorgham whereas Irishman Aaron Hill thumped Daniel Womersley 10-3.

It was even higher for veteran Andy Hicks, with the 1995 World Championship semi-finalist thrashing Lengthy Zehuang 10-2.

Chinese language duo Ma Hailong and Jiang Jun secured tight successes towards Martin O’Donnell and Fan Zhengyi respectively.

Oliver Brown beat Dylan Emery 10-8 and Julien Leclercq simply dismantled the problem of Haydon Pinhey in day 5’s different outcomes.

The heavy hitters, in the meantime, will start to enter the fray on this yr’s World Snooker Championship qualifying competitors on Saturday.

These ranked from 17 to 48 on the planet rankings be a part of the motion within the third spherical, together with the likes of Jack Lisowski, Ricky Walden, Matthew Stevens, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who’re all concerned on day six.

World Snooker Championship qualifiers draw

All matches are the perfect of 19 frames performed throughout two classes.
Scorelines in italics point out the top of the primary session.

–

Qualifier 1

Qualifier 2

Qualifier 3

Qualifier 4

Qualifier 5

Qualifier 6

Qualifier 7

Qualifier 8

Qualifier 9

Qualifier 10

Qualifier 11

Qualifier 12

Qualifier 13

Qualifier 14

Qualifier 15

Qualifier 16

Featured photograph credit score: WST