Well I so often hear about "the qualifier who earned their right to play on television against a top player instead of having to play a wild card" … here is something for you!
If they don't change the plans Steve - 6 times world champion and a legend of the game - will play Ricky Walden - a former Shanghai Masters winner - on table 4, while "poster boy" Stephen Lee will get a television table to battle it out vs Marcus Campbell. This means that if Ricky beats Steve - which is probable - Steve would not have been on television at all if it wasn't for the wildcard round. Now then!
And here
http://soundcloud.com/moniquelimbos/sm2012jinlongwr is Jin Long press conference after his wildcard round win yesterday. Most of it is in Chinese but I asked him the question about what that "wildcard round" was bringing to him, being a Chinese amateur.
Basically, it's about having the opportunity to play the big names in real tournament conditions, something that he very rarely has the opportunity to do. His aim is to try to become a professional and he wants to be ready for when he will make the move to UK.
As I said earlier in this thread, those Chinese amateurs - ready as they are to make sacrifices - just don't have the resources to come and play in PTCs for instance. If APTC develop further the situation should be reevaluated, but as it is now, wildcard rounds are essential to them.