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
Dates	20 April – 6 May 1996
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking 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
Score	18–12
← 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

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 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]

144, 138, 137, 123, 109, 107, 100, 100 Peter Ebdon 144, 115 Tony Drago 139, 126, 120, 106, 103, 102, 102, 101, 100 Ronnie O'Sullivan 137, 130, 104, 101 John Higgins 135, 125, 121, 118, 113, 110, 108, 106, 105, 104, 104 Stephen Hendry 129 Jason Ferguson 125 Alan McManus

123, 120, 101 Dave Harold 116, 105, 104, 103 Steve Davis 115 Anthony Hamilton 110 Darren Morgan 109 Ken Doherty 103 Euan Henderson 100 Jimmy White

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 from the original (PDF) 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.