Superstar International

Superstar International 1997 Rilyes Superstar International 1997
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	12
Venue:	Guangdong Hotel , Guangzhou , PRC
Opening:	August 14, 1997
Endgame:	August 16, 1997
Winner:	Ronnie O'Sullivan
Finalist:	Jimmy White
Highest Break:	128 ( Hasimu Tuerxun )

The 1997 Rileys Superstar International was a professional snooker invitation tournament for the 1997/98 season . The tournament was held from August 14 to 16, 1997 at the Guangdong Hotel in the Chinese city ​​of Guangzhou . The winner in an all-English final was the rising young player Ronnie O'Sullivan , who beat Jimmy White 5: 3 . The highest break and at the same time the only century break of the tournament was played by the Chinese amateur Hasimu Tuerxun .

Prize money

The tournament was probably sponsored by Rileys , a company active in the billiards industry , although a company called Riley is named as the sponsor as an alternative . A total of £ 31,000 in prize money was paid out, of which just under a third of £ 10,000 went to the winner.

	Prize money
winner	£ 10,000
finalist	£ 5,000
Semi-finalist	£ 3,000
Second group stage	£ 2,500
First group stage	-
All in all	£ 31,000

Tournament course

A total of twelve players took part in the tournament, four of whom were professional players and the remaining eight were Asian amateurs. The twelve players were initially divided into four groups of three, each with one professional and two amateurs. After a simple round-robin tournament , a final table was drawn up and the two best players advanced to the second group stage. There the same procedure was followed in two groups of four and the two best players in each group advanced to the semi-finals, from which the winner of the tournament was played in the knockout system . The first group phase was held in the best of 3 frames mode and the second group phase in the best of 5 frames mode. This was followed by the semi-finals in the best of 7 frames mode and the finals in the best of 9 frames mode .

First group stage

Group 1

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames
1	Ken Doherty	2	2	0	4-0
2	Guo Hua	2	1	1	2: 2
3	Keith Boon	2	0	2	0: 4

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Ken Doherty	02 : 02	Guo Hua
2	Ken Doherty	02 : 02	Keith Boon
3	Guo Hua	02 : 02	Keith Boon

Group 2

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames
1	Hasimu Tuerxun	2	1	1	3: 2
2	James Wattana	2	1	1	3: 3
3	Gao Feng	2	1	1	2: 3

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	James Wattana	21: 21	Gao Feng
2	James Wattana	12 : 12	Hasimu Tuerxun
3	Hasimu Tuerxun	02 : 02	Gao Feng

Group 3

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames
1	Jimmy White	2	2	0	4: 1
2	Xu Xinjian	2	1	1	3: 3
3	Li Jin	2	0	2	1: 4

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Jimmy White	12 : 12	Xu Xinjian
2	Jimmy White	02 : 02	Li Jin
3	Xu Xinjian	12 : 12	Li Jin

Group 4

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames
1	Pang Weiguo	2	2	0	4-0
2	Ronnie O'Sullivan	2	1	1	2: 2
3	Li Zong	2	0	2	0: 4

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Ronnie O'Sullivan	02 : 02	Li Zong
2	Ronnie O'Sullivan	20: 20	Pang Weiguo
3	Pang Weiguo	02 : 02	Li Zong

Second group stage

Group 1

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames
1	Guo Hua	3	2	1	8: 5
2	Ken Doherty	3	2	1	8: 5
3	James Wattana	3	2	1	8: 6
4th	Hasimu Tuerxun	3	0	3	1: 9

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Ken Doherty	03 : 03	Hasimu Tuerxun
2	Ken Doherty	23 : 23	James Wattana
3	Ken Doherty	32: 32	Guo Hua
4th	Guo Hua	03 : 03	Hasimu Tuerxun
5	James Wattana	23 : 23	Guo Hua
6th	James Wattana	13 : 13	Hasimu Tuerxun

Group 2

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames
1	Jimmy White	3	2	1	8: 5
2	Ronnie O'Sullivan	3	2	1	7: 5
3	Pang Weiguo	3	2	1	7: 5
4th	Xu Xinjian	3	0	3	2: 9

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Ronnie O'Sullivan	13 : 13	Xu Xinjian
2	Ronnie O'Sullivan	13 : 13	Pang Weiguo
3	Pang Weiguo	23 : 23	Jimmy White
4th	Pang Weiguo	03 : 03	Xu Xinjian
5	Jimmy White	13 : 13	Ronnie O'Sullivan
6th	Jimmy White	13 : 13	Xu Xinjian

Knockout phase

	Semi-final best of 7 frames				Final best of 9 frames
	Guo Hua	1
	Ronnie O'Sullivan	4th
					Ronnie O'Sullivan	5
					Jimmy White	3
	Jimmy White	4th
	Ken Doherty	0

final

The young Ronnie O'Sullivan , one of the most up-and-coming players of his time, had only finished second in both group phases and was particularly lucky in the second group phase when he was only thanks to his 3-1 win over Pang Weiguo , who with the same final scores how O'Sullivan took third place got ahead. In the semifinals, however, he had defeated the best Chinese amateur of the tournament, Guo Hua , with 1: 4 , who had previously prevented James Wattana from progressing. The Englishman was in the final. In this he met Jimmy White , who had finished both group stages in first place, but like O'Sullivan only just made it through the second time. In the semifinals he had surprisingly clearly defeated reigning world champion Ken Doherty with 0: 4 and thus qualified for the final.

O'Sullivan got off to a much better start and took a 3-0 lead, but then had to watch White cut to 3-2. He then extended his lead to 4-2, but White made up for it to make it 4-3. The eighth frame went to O'Sullivan thanks to a 59 break, who won the final 5-3.

Final: Best of 9 Frames Guangdong Hotel ,  Guangzhou , People's Republic of China , August 16, 1997
Ronnie O'Sullivan	5 : 3	Jimmy White
68 : 10, 64 : 52, 60 : 49, 23: 55 , 4: 62 (61), 66 : 57, 15: 64 , 63 : 30 (59)
59	Highest break	61
-	Century breaks	-
1	50+ breaks	1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ron Florax: 1997 Superstar International. CueTracker.net, accessed June 11, 2020 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Turner: Other Non-ranking and invition Events - First hero 1990-1999 *. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on June 11, 2020 (English).  
3. ^ Ron Florax: 1997 Superstar International - Finishes. CueTracker.net, accessed June 11, 2020 .