2008 UK Championship

The 2008 UK Championship (officially the 2008 Maplin UK Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 13 and 21 December 2008 at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England. It was the 32nd edition of the event.

World Snooker, the sports governing body, opened an investigation into allegations of match fixing, after Stephen Maguire beat Jamie Burnett 9–3 in the first round. Several bookmakers had stopped taking bets on the match before it even started, when reports of a number of large sums having been placed on the same correct score began to circulate within the industry. Just prior to the 2009 World Championship, where Maguire and Burnett were drawn together the first round, it was announced that Strathclyde Police had opened an official enquiry into the match. The enquiry was closed in 2011 with no criminal charges against either of them, and a World Snooker disciplinary enquiry was announced, which ended without any regulatory action. In September 2013 it was announced, that Stephen Lee was found guilty of agreeing to lose the first frame of his first and second round matches.

Shaun Murphy won the title with a 10–9 victory over Marco Fu.

Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


 * Winner: £100,000
 * Runner-up: £46,000
 * Semi-final: £23,250
 * Quarter-final: £16,450
 * Last 16: £12,050
 * Last 32: £8,750
 * Last 48: £5,500
 * Last 64: £2,300


 * Stage one highest break: £500
 * Stage two highest break: £5,000
 * Stage one maximum break: £1,000
 * Stage two maximum break: £25,000
 * Total: £625,000

Qualifying
The qualifying took place from December 1 to 8 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, England.

Televised stage centuries

 * 147, 130, 100 – Ding Junhui
 * 143, 127, 117, 114, 110 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
 * 139, 105, 103, 100 – Mark Selby
 * 138, 136, 118, 116, 106, 104, 102, 101 – Marco Fu
 * 136, 120, 109 – Stephen Lee
 * 136, 115 – Shaun Murphy
 * 136 – Mark Williams
 * 132 – Ali Carter
 * 131, 108, 102 – Rory McLeod
 * 127, 103 – Peter Ebdon


 * 127 – Ken Doherty
 * 122, 115, 112, 104 – Stephen Maguire
 * 120 – Graeme Dott
 * 119, 100, 100 – Mark Allen
 * 118 – Neil Robertson
 * 113 – Jamie Burnett
 * 109, 100 – John Higgins
 * 105 – Joe Perry
 * 102 – Joe Swail
 * 100 – Matthew Stevens

Qualifying stage centuries

 * 143 – Matthew Selt
 * 141 – Ricky Walden
 * 137 – Chris McBreen
 * 134, 105 – Joe Swail
 * 134 – Jimmy White
 * 129, 114 – Alan McManus
 * 126 – Mike Dunn
 * 123, 106 – Paul Davison
 * 122, 101 – Liu Chuang
 * 119, 116, 109 – Ian McCulloch
 * 118, 107 – Ian Preece
 * 116, 111, 106, 104 – Judd Trump
 * 116, 108, 105 – Stuart Pettman
 * 115 – Rodney Goggins
 * 115 – Joe Delaney
 * 114, 104, 104 – Lee Spick
 * 113 – Atthasit Mahitthi
 * 112, 102 – Jamie Jones


 * 111, 109 – Rory McLeod
 * 111, 101 – Mark Davis
 * 108, 102 –Tom Ford
 * 106, 105 – Matthew Couch
 * 106, 102 – Michael Holt
 * 104, 101 – Robert Milkins
 * 104 – Barry Pinches
 * 104 – Jin Long
 * 101 – Patrick Wallace
 * 101 – Kuldesh Johal
 * 101 – Jamie Burnett
 * 101 – Matthew Stevens
 * 100 – Steve Davis