1996 World Snooker Championship

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.

Embassy World Snooker Championship
Tournament information
Dates20 April – 6 May 1996
VenueCrucible Theatre
CitySheffield
CountryEngland
Organisation(s)WPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£1,200,000
Winner's share£200,000
Highest break Peter Ebdon (144)
Tony Drago (144)
Final
Champion Stephen Hendry
Runner-up Peter Ebdon
Score18–12
← 1995
1997 →

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  5  
  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
Highest break by Ebdon: 79

 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]

References
  1. "Anger over left-leaning O'Sullivan". The Independent. London. 22 April 1996. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  2. "Bad breaks mount up for a troubled soul". The Independent. London. 15 December 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
  3. "Bad Boys: Ronnie O'Sullivan". BBC Sport. 7 May 2003. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  4. "Terry Griffiths at the World Championships". Snooker Database. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  5. Kastner, Hugo. "SNOOKER – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  6. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 119.
  7. 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.
  8. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  9. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
  10. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  11. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 42–43.
  12. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
  13. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 148.
  14. "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  15. Eric, Hayton (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. London: Rose Villa Publications. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
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