1996 World Snooker Championship
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Dates | 20 April – 6 May 1996 |
Venue | Crucible Theatre |
City | Sheffield |
Country | England |
Organisation | WPBSA |
Format | Ranking event |
Total prize fund | £1,200,000 |
Winner's share | £200,000 |
Highest break | Peter Ebdon (ENG) (144) Tony Drago (MLT) (144) |
Final | |
Champion | Stephen Hendry (SCO) |
Runner-up | Peter Ebdon (ENG) |
Score | 18–12 |
← 1995 1997 → |
The 1996 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1996 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 1996 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
Stephen Hendry won his sixth World Championship by defeating Peter Ebdon 18–12, equalling the modern-day record of Steve Davis and Ray Reardon. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
Tournament summary[]
- In the first round, Alain Robidoux accused Ronnie O'Sullivan of showing him disrespect by playing left-handed for most of one frame of their match, and refused to shake hands with O'Sullivan when the match ended.[1] O'Sullivan's reaction to this was to claim that "I'm better with my left hand than he was with his right."[2]
- O'Sullivan received a two-year suspended ban and a £20,000 fine, plus another £10,000 to be donated to charity, for an alleged assault on an official.[3]
- Terry Griffiths won his first round match for the 14th time in a row (the first being in 1983),[4] a record that was beaten in 2018 by Ronnie O'Sullivan.[5][6] In the second round, Griffiths lost 8–13 against Steve Davis, his seventh loss in seven matches against Davis at the Crucible.
- O'Sullivan's 13–4 victory over Tony Drago in the second round set the record for the fastest best-of-25-frames match in a professional tournament at just 167 minutes and 33 seconds.[7]
- The final is the only time in Crucible history that the world champion did not take the last shot of the championship. Needing snookers, Peter Ebdon missed a shot and left Stephen Hendry a simple pot, but decided to concede the match rather than let Hendry continue.
- This was Hendry's fifth consecutive title, a record for the modern era.
Legendary BBC commentator Ted Lowe retired after the conclusion of the final.
Prize fund[]
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[8][9]
- Winner: £200,000
- Runner-up: £120,000
- Semi-final: £60,000
- Quarter-final: £30,500
- Last 16: £16,000
- Last 32: £9,000
- Highest break: £17,000
- Maximum break: £147,000
- Total: £1,200,000
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).[8][10][11]
First round | Second round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | |||||||||||
Best of 19 frames | Best of 25 frames | Best of 25 frames | Best of 31 frames | |||||||||||
20 April | ||||||||||||||
Stephen Hendry (1) | 10 | |||||||||||||
26 & 27 April | ||||||||||||||
Jason Ferguson | 8 | |||||||||||||
Stephen Hendry (1) | 13 | |||||||||||||
21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
Gary Wilkinson | 7 | |||||||||||||
David Roe (16) | 9 | |||||||||||||
30 April & 1 May | ||||||||||||||
Gary Wilkinson | 10 | |||||||||||||
Stephen Hendry (1) | 13 | |||||||||||||
23 April | ||||||||||||||
Darren Morgan (8) | 5 | |||||||||||||
Ken Doherty (9) | 10 | |||||||||||||
28 & 29 April | ||||||||||||||
Nick Terry | 5 | |||||||||||||
Ken Doherty (9) | 5 | |||||||||||||
24 April | ||||||||||||||
Darren Morgan (8) | 13 | |||||||||||||
Darren Morgan (8) | 10 | |||||||||||||
2, 3 & 4 May | ||||||||||||||
Drew Henry | 8 | |||||||||||||
Stephen Hendry (1) | 16 | |||||||||||||
24 & 25 April | ||||||||||||||
Nigel Bond (12) | 7 | |||||||||||||
James Wattana (5) | 10 | |||||||||||||
27, 28 & 29 April | ||||||||||||||
Jimmy Michie | 8 | |||||||||||||
James Wattana (5) | 4 | |||||||||||||
22 & 23 April | ||||||||||||||
Nigel Bond (12) | 13 | |||||||||||||
Nigel Bond (12) | 10 | |||||||||||||
30 April & 1 May | ||||||||||||||
Anthony Hamilton | 9 | |||||||||||||
Nigel Bond (12) | 13 | |||||||||||||
20 & 21 April | ||||||||||||||
Dave Harold (13) | 7 | |||||||||||||
Dave Harold (13) | 10 | |||||||||||||
25, 26 & 27 April | ||||||||||||||
Neal Foulds | 4 | |||||||||||||
Dave Harold (13) | 13 | |||||||||||||
21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
Rod Lawler | 6 | |||||||||||||
John Parrott (4) | 6 | |||||||||||||
Rod Lawler | 10 | |||||||||||||
20 & 21 April | ||||||||||||||
Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) | 10 | |||||||||||||
25 & 26 April | ||||||||||||||
Alain Robidoux | 3 | |||||||||||||
Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) | 13 | |||||||||||||
20 & 21 | ||||||||||||||
Tony Drago (14) | 4 | |||||||||||||
Tony Drago (14) | 10 | |||||||||||||
30 April & 1 May | ||||||||||||||
Steve James | 2 | |||||||||||||
Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) | 13 | |||||||||||||
23 & 24 April | ||||||||||||||
John Higgins (11) | 12 | |||||||||||||
John Higgins (11) | 10 | |||||||||||||
27, 28 & 29 | ||||||||||||||
Martin Clark | 5 | |||||||||||||
John Higgins (11) | 13 | |||||||||||||
22 & 23 April | ||||||||||||||
Alan McManus (6) | 5 | |||||||||||||
Alan McManus (6) | 10 | |||||||||||||
2, 3 & 4 May | ||||||||||||||
Mick Price | 5 | |||||||||||||
Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) | 14 | |||||||||||||
24 & 25 April | ||||||||||||||
Peter Ebdon (10) | 16 | |||||||||||||
Jimmy White (7) | 10 | |||||||||||||
28 & 29 April | ||||||||||||||
Euan Henderson | 9 | |||||||||||||
Jimmy White (7) | 12 | |||||||||||||
20 & 21 April | ||||||||||||||
Peter Ebdon (10) | 13 | |||||||||||||
Peter Ebdon (10) | 10 | |||||||||||||
30 April & 1 May | ||||||||||||||
Dene O'Kane | 1 | |||||||||||||
Peter Ebdon (10) | 13 | |||||||||||||
23 & 24 April | ||||||||||||||
Steve Davis (2) | 10 | |||||||||||||
Terry Griffiths (15) | 10 | |||||||||||||
26 & 27 April | ||||||||||||||
Jamie Burnett | 9 | |||||||||||||
Terry Griffiths (15) | 8 | |||||||||||||
22 April | ||||||||||||||
Steve Davis (2) | 13 | |||||||||||||
Steve Davis (2) | 10 | |||||||||||||
Willie Thorne | 8 | |||||||||||||
Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 5 May & 6 May 1996. Referee: John Williams[12] | ||
Stephen Hendry (1) Scotland |
18–12 | Peter Ebdon (10) England |
2–121, 75–42, 34–78, 34–61, 65–51, 18–57, 103–4, 74–39, 60–58, 125–0, 22–81, 70–31, 70–77, 134–0, 74–0, 82–0, 85–14, 1–75, 86–21, 83–23, 34–89, 0–77, 60–66, 96–0, 54–27, 78–23, 77–25, 1–71, 39–83, 73–16 | Century breaks: 1 (Hendry 1)
Highest break by Hendry: 125 |
2–121, 75–42, 34–78, 34–61, 65–51, 18–57, 103–4, 74–39, 60–58, 125–0, 22–81, 70–31, 70–77, 134–0, 74–0, 82–0, 85–14, 1–75, 86–21, 83–23, 34–89, 0–77, 60–66, 96–0, 54–27, 78–23, 77–25, 1–71, 39–83, 73–16 |
Stephen Hendry wins the 1996 Embassy World Snooker Championship |
Century breaks[]
There were 48 century breaks in the 1996 World Snooker Championship, a new record which would last until 1998.[8] The highest break of the tournament was 144 made by both Peter Ebdon and Tony Drago.[13] This was only the second time since 1980, when Kirk Stevens and Steve Davis both made a 136, that two players had the joint highest break of the championship.[14] Stephen Hendry made 11 century breaks in the tournament,[8] one short of his record of 12 set the previous year.[15]
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References[]
- ^ "Anger over left-leaning O'Sullivan". The Independent. London. 22 April 1996. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ "Bad breaks mount up for a troubled soul". The Independent. London. 15 December 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
- ^ "Bad Boys: Ronnie O'Sullivan". BBC Sport. 7 May 2003. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ "Terry Griffiths at the World Championships". Snooker Database. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ Kastner, Hugo. "SNOOKER – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 119.
- ^ Turner, Chris. "Various Snooker Records". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Embassy World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
- ^ "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 42–43.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 148.
- ^ "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
- ^ Eric, Hayton (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. London: Rose Villa Publications. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
- World Snooker Championships
- 1996 in snooker
- 1996 in English sport
- Sports competitions in Sheffield
- April 1996 sports events in the United Kingdom
- May 1996 sports events in the United Kingdom