The 1996 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1996 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 1996 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 20th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue. Sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy, the tournament was the tenth and final ranking event of the 1995–96 season. The winner received £200,000 from a total prize fund of £1,200,000.
The top 16 players from the snooker world rankings were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible. They were joined by the 16 successful players from ten qualifying rounds. There were five Crucible debutants at the tournament: Jimmy Michie, Jamie Burnett, Nick Terry, Euan Henderson and Anthony Hamilton.
Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, having defeated Nigel Bond 18–9 in the 1995 final to win his fifth world title. He retained the title by beating Peter Ebdon 18–12. It was Hendry's fifth consecutive title and his sixth in total, equalling Ray Reardon's and Steve Davis's record in the . The main stage of the tournament produced 47 century breaks, of which the highest were breaks of 144 by Ebdon and Tony Drago.
Background
The inaugural 1927 World Snooker Championship, then known as the Professional Championship of Snooker, took place at various venues in England between November 1926 and May 1927. Joe Davis won the final—held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham from 9 to 12 May 1927—and went on to win the tournament 15 consecutive times before retiring undefeated after the 1946 edition (no tournaments were held from 1941 to 1945 because of World War II). The tournament went into abeyance after only two players contested the 1952 edition. The six editions of the World Professional Championship held between 1952 and 1957 are retroactively regarded as legitimate continuations of the World Snooker Championship, but that tournament was discontinued due to waning public interest in snooker in the post-war era. The world title was uncontested between 1958 and 1963.
Then-professional player Rex Williams was instrumental in reviving the World Snooker Championship on a challenge basis in 1964. John Pulman, winner of the 1957 World Professional Championship, defended the world title across seven challenge matches between 1964 and 1968. The World Snooker Championship reverted to an annual knockout tournament for the 1969 edition, marking the beginning of the championship's "modern era". The 1977 edition was the first staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it has remained since. As of 1996, the most successful players in the were Ray Reardon and Steve Davis, each having won the title six times. Stephen Hendry was the tournament's youngest winner, having captured his first title at the 1990 event, aged . Reardon was the oldest winner, having secured his sixth title at the 1978 event, aged .
Overview The 1996 edition of the tournament—the 27th successive year that the World Snooker Championship was contested through the modern knockout format—took place from 20 April to 6 May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 20th consecutive year that the World Championship was staged at the venue. Sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy, it was the tenth and last ranking tournament of the 1995–96 season, held after the British Open. The defending champion was Stephen Hendry, who had defeated Nigel Bond 18–9 in the final of the 1995 World Championship to win the title.
Format The top 16 players in the snooker world rankings were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible Theatre. They faced 16 players who progressed through the qualifying rounds. First-round matches were played as the best of 19 , held over two . Second-round and quarter-final matches were played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions. The semi-final matches were played as the best of 31 frames, held over four sessions. The final was the best of 35 frames, also held over four sessions.
Prize fund The winner of the event received £200,000 from a total prize fund of £1,200,000. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £200,000 Runner-up: £120,000 Semi-final: £60,000 Quarter-final: £30,500 Last 16: £16,000 Last 32: £9,000 10th qualifying round losers: £7,800 9th qualifying round losers: £4,800 8th qualifying round losers: £2,700 7th qualifying round losers: £1,800 Highest of the main event: £17,000 Highest break of the qualifying event: £17,000 Maximum break: £147,000
Total: £1,200,000
Summary Qualifying There were ten rounds in the qualifying competition. The first nine rounds were held at the Norbreck Hotel, Blackpool, between 1 and 25 January 1996. The final round was at the Telford International Centre on 21 and 22 March. Rounds one to five were the best of 9 and the later rounds were the best of 19. Paul Hunter, described by Snooker Scene magazine as "the season's outstanding rookie", won the against Dean Venables in round 4; he only lost two more frames as he won three more matches to progress to round six. Against expectations, the world number 184 Richard McDonald defeated Matthew Stevens, ranked 48th, 5–4 in the fifth round. Reigning Women's World Champion Karen Corr defeated Mario Wehrmann 5–0 in the third round but then lost 3–5 to Wayne Lloyd. The highest of the first five rounds was 136, by Jason Greaves in his fourth round win against Daniel Zagaroli.
In the sixth round, Nick Dyson compiled a 137 break during his 10–1 defeat of Andrew Atkinson. Hunter lost 4–10 to Nick Walker in round seven, and Karl Burrows beat Robert Milkins 10–7, leaving Chris Shade, who defeated Stuart Pettman 10–6, as the only first-year professional to reach the eighth round. Two players who had featured in the main stage regularly in the 1980s, Tony Meo and David Taylor, were beaten by Stephen O'Connor and Surinder Gill respectively.
In the eighth round, Dominic Dale made a break of 141 and defeated the 1986 champion Joe Johnson 10–7. The 1980 winner, Cliff Thorburn, went out 3–10 to Paul Davies, and 1981 runner-up Doug Mountjoy lost 10–4 to Gerard Greene. Thorburn said that playing in the qualifying was demoralising: "Four days before I left home I played an exhibition in front of 1,000 people. Then I get here, there's one or two people in the audience, and mentally it's so tough to deal with." The 1972 and 1982 champion Alex Higgins lost 7–10 to Gill in what Snooker Scene magazine described as "an acrimonious and undignified end to by far the worst season of his 25 year professional career". After the match, Higgins said that he had lodged 17 complaints against the WPBSA and would be taking them to court unless they gave him a satisfactory response. The match between John Read and Mark King was decided on the final in the deciding frame; Read the black but then went , meaning that King won. Shade led Jonathan Birch 9–5, but Birch levelled at 9–9, helped by a break of 141 in frame 17, and won the deciding frame by 57 points. Mark Williams recovered from 3–6 to 6–6 and from 6–8 to 8–8 but eventually lost 8–10 to Jamie Burnett. Ian McCulloch, ranked 193rd, was the lowest-ranked player to win in round nine, defeating Fergal O'Brien 10–6. Greene won six successive frames from 4–9 behind to beat Dale.
Ten of the sixteen players seeded into the final qualifying round won their matches. Andy Hicks, a semi-finalist in the previous edition, lost 6–10 to Jimmy Michie. The 1985 champion Dennis Taylor was beaten 6–10 by Rod Lawler, but made a break of 140, his highest in 20 years of competing in the world Championship. Taylor had appeared at the main event every year from 1977 to 1994. Willie Thorne, who had played in the main event every year except one since 1978, qualified again by beating Danny Fowler 10–4. Neal Foulds defeated Chris Small 10–9 in a contest that lasted 8 hours and 56 minutes. Tony Knowles recovered from 3–8 to 8–9 against Drew Henry, but Henry clinched the match by winning frame 18.
Dale and Birch shared the £5,400 prize for the highest break in qualifying, each having made a break of 141. There were five players who qualified for the main event for the first time: Michie, Burnett, Nick Terry, Euan Henderson, and Anthony Hamilton. Burnett beat Brian Morgan 10–7 and Terry defeated Dean Reynolds by the same margin. Hamilton was a 10–3 winner over Walker and Henderson won 10–9 against Joe Swail.
First round The first round took place from 20 to 25 April, each match played as the best of 19 frames over two . The defending champion, Stephen Hendry, made two century breaks and a break of 91 in the first session, but Jason Ferguson took a 6–3 lead with breaks of 60 and 129. Hendry won the first four frames of the second session to go in front, but the match was tied at 8–8. Breaks of 44 and 104 allowed Hendry to secure a 10–8 victory. "If I had lost today it would have been a disaster for me. Jason [Ferguson] punished every mistake. I don't normally feel vulnerable at this venue, but I was today," Hendry said.
Ronnie O'Sullivan eliminated Alain Robidoux 10–3, making two century breaks and further of 67, 62, 67, and 76. O'Sullivan played some of the in frame 11 with his left-hand, which Robidoux regarded as "disrespectful". He refused to shake hands at the end of the match. "It is bad and I don't like it. It might be good for the crowd but I was struggling with my game and he was only rubbing it in. Ronnie [O'Sullivan] is a great player with a great talent who doesn't need to do this. He should keep the left-handed stuff for the exhibition circus," Robidoux said. "Whether playing left-handed does any harm, I don't know but I will do it again if the chance to do so comes along. People want to be entertained and I can make 90 breaks in this way. I'm better left-handed than he is right-handed," O'Sullivan replied. The tournament director submitted a report to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the governing body of the sport.
Dene O'Kane won the opening frame with a half-century, but Peter Ebdon compiled breaks of 144, 82, 138, 62, 67, 81, and 92 as he won ten consecutive frames for a 10–1 victory. Tony Drago compiled breaks of 60, 72, and 115 as he defeated Steve James 10–2. Dave Harold produced breaks of 67, 123, 50, 66, 66, 68, 101, 95, 64, and 120 to eliminate Neal Foulds 10–4. "That's the best I've played," Harold said. The six-time World Champion Steve Davis made a 103 break in the first session of his match against Willie Thorne, which ended 4–4. Thorne then led 8–5, but Davis won five frames in a row to secure victory.
John Parrott, the 1991 World Champion, lost in the first round for the first time since his debut in 1984. Trailing Rod Lawler 3–6 at the conclusion of the first session, Parrott made breaks of 99, 60, and 87 to level the match. Lawler took the next four frames for victory. "I suppose I had to lose in this round sometime but it's a disappointing way to end what has been a good season for me," Parrott said. Gary Wilkinson won the opening frame against David Roe, but he fell 3–6 behind at the end of the first session. The first four frames of the second session were shared, and Wilkinson then won four in a row to go 9–8 ahead. Roe forced a decider with a 74 break, but Wilkinson progressed with a 60 contribution. "[Roe] is scary in practice but never seems to show his true potential at the match table. But while his 6–3 lead wasn't a true reflection of the exchanges, he probably deserved it because he went for more balls than I did," Wilkinson said.