The 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship – Day 2

There was a good crowd in the Crucible on the second day of the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship and the fans were treated with two entertaining – albeit one-sided – matches.

Here is the report shared by World Seniors Snooker

Burden and Drago Excite on Day Two of World Seniors

Alfie Burden and Tony Drago both put on impressive performances as they booked their places in the quarter-finals of the 2023 LLP Solicitors World Seniors Snooker Championship following victories at the Crucible Theatre on Thursday night.

A quarter of a century on from his other appearance at the home of snooker, it looked as if a very fluent Burden had never been away as he dispatched 1997 world professional champion Ken Doherty 3-0.

The Londoner hit breaks of 56 and 30 to claim the opening frame and never looked back, giving his opponent few chances throughout the match as he crafted further efforts of 43, 60 and 51 in a resounding win. 

The player that defeated Burden here back in 1998 was Drago, and the Maltese icon continued the quick green baize entertainment in Sheffield as he ended the journey of Crucible debutant Vito Puopolo inside 37 minutes. 

Featuring in the world seniors for the first time since 2019, 57-year-old Drago had an average shot time of just 12.96 seconds and a pot success rate of 94.74%.

PABSA Pan-American Seniors Champion Puopolo from Canada showed flashes of his quality, but Drago displayed some brilliant shotmaking and rattled in breaks of 50, 35 and a 73 clearance as he recorded a 3-0 victory. 

Burden and Drago will return Saturday for the last eight; Burden meets either Stephen Hendry or Darren Morgan, while Drago faces Mark Davis.

Every time I watch Alfie Burden play I wonder why he hasn’t got a better career. He’s brilliant to watch when on form. Yesterday he gave Ken Doherty very few chances. As for Tony Drago … what can we say? We neatly lost him when he had a heart failure, and the road to recovery was a long one, but here he is, being is good old self again and brilliant at the table. As much as I enjoyed watching Tony, I felt for Vito. He came all the way from Canada. He didn’t do much wrong. He never really got a chance to settle on the biggest scene of all. I hope he enjoyed the experience despite the heavy defeat. At least the Grinder, Cliff Thorburn, was there supporting him!

Here come the pictures …

Alfie Burden 3-0 Ken Doherty

Tony Drago 3-0 Vito Puopolo