Liang wins spot at Crucible

Eurosport - Sat, 08 Mar 14:57:00 2008
Liang Wenbo will join his Chinese compatriot Ding Junhui at the World Championships at the Crucible next month after beating former semi-finalist Ian McCulloch 10-5 in the final qualifying round in Sheffield.

Liang, 21, won the first five frames and finished off with a break of 105 to reach the televised stage.
"I'm very happy to qualify," said Liang, who practises alongside Ding at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
"I didn't feel nervous at all and made a good start. I played well and am really looking forward to the final stages. I hope I can draw Ding."
Breaks of 95 and 52 helped Liang build a 5-0 lead before McCulloch, who reached the semi-finals in 2005, won the sixth frame on the blue.
A run of 69 helped the Preston potter close the gap to 5-2 but he potted only one more ball during the first session as Liang claimed a 7-2 advantage helped by efforts of 55 and 82.
McCulloch started the final session with a 109 and closed to 8-5 but lost a tight 14th frame before Liang's century in the last.
On a good day for the Asian contingent, Hong Kong's Marco Fu secured his Crucible place with a 10-3 defeat of Alan McManus, who featured in the semi-finals in 1992 and 1993.
Fu, who won his first ranking title, the Grand Prix, last October, fired in breaks of 76, 91, 58, 84, 69, 67 and 62 to account for his 8-1 first session lead.
The world number 27, a semi-finalist at the Crucible in 2006, then completed victory with a run of 116 in frame 13.
"It's nice to win easily against a player like Alan and it's nice to play to a really good standard," said Fu.
"It would have been a disaster not to qualify for the Crucible, even though I've had a good season I would have regarded it as a poor one not to be at the World Championship."
Matthew Stevens, the Crucible runner-up in 2000 and 2005 but required to qualify for the first time in nine years after dropping out of the elite top 16, beat Rory McLeod 10-5 to claim his place in the draw.
"It was a horrible feeling having to play here but the rankings don't lie and if you drop out of the top 16 you have to play this match. Even so, it was a weird feeling driving here knowing that if I lost I wouldn't be at the Crucible," Stevens said.
"I just wanted to win, even if it wasn't pretty, which it wasn't for much of the match."
Joe Swail survived a deciding frame finish for a second successive year to reach the Crucible for the 11th time in his career.
The Belfast player, who edged Dave Harold 10-9 last year, came from 9-7 down to beat 18 year-old Judd Trump.
"Whenever it goes down to the crunch I tend to draw inspiration from other close matches I've won and it proves I can play under pressure," said Swail, who reached the last four at the Crucible in 2000 and 2001.
The draw for the first round of the 888.com-sponsored event will take place next Tuesday.

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