How good was the 2008 World Championships?
May 8, 2008
This years snooker championships has had its fair share of excitement, and two 147 breaks from Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter. But how good was this years championships?
The BBC have yet to release viewing figures for this years finals, but they are expected to be high. The high standard of snooker on show has made this year a very watchable tournament. The fact that Ronnie O’Sullivan won the tournament will please the organizers as he is one of the most watched players in the game, who tends to attract the highest viewing figures especially in the UK.
And then their is the Chinese contingent, their ever growing love of the game has lead to over 100 million Chinese viewers of this years championships. I can’t see it being very long until they find a world champion of their own.
O’Sullivan’s win over Ali Carter in the final was not spectacular, and will hardly match the Davis VS Taylor epic black ball match of 1985. But Ronnie’s character and charisma ensures that fans will watch him however well he is playing. Snookers governing body will surely want O’Sullivan to remain in the game for a long time to come, and not hang up his cue like he has been threatening to do for the past few seasons.
The main financial concern for snookers governing body was the withdrawal of sponsorship from tobacco companies. This concern however was crushed when they signed a multi-million pound deal with casino company 888.com.
I personally believe that the continued interest in snooker from China and the rest of the world will ensure the game only gets stronger and stronger. Lets just hope Ronnie does not hang up his cue too soon.
O’Sullivans 147 break in 2008 World Championships
May 7, 2008
Ronnie O’Sullivan has produced another fantastic 147 in his final frame of the match against Mark Williams, during the 2008 World Championships. At this point in the match Ronnie did not look like missing and even the professionals were not that surprised when he completed the maximum break. You could tell by the way Ronnie was playing he was thinking 147 early on in the frame.
His cueing throughout the final frame was fantastic especially when he cannoned the balls at fast speed, and released a red that was tight against the pink into open play. To complete a 147 in snooker is an amazing and difficult achievement, especially at the crucible the biggest of all world stages.
For his troubles Ronnie will receive £157,000 reward, although he will have to split that with Ali Carter who also managed to complete a 147. I have included the video below for your enjoyment.
O’Sullivan comfortably wins the World Championships
May 6, 2008
Last night Ronnie O’Sullivan successfully won the 2008 snooker world championships, beating fellow Englishman Ali Carter 18-8 in the final.
During the match O’Sullivan was never at his resolute best, but did enough to comfortably win the match. O’Sullivan however was happy with his performance stating that ‘the final is about the victory and not the performance’.
During the game O’Sullivan seemed to be playing his ‘B’ game as if he knew that cater was not going to provide him with a decent challenge to the title. This was however justified as O’Sullivan had beaten Carter on their last previous 8 meetings.
I for one did not expect to see the Ronnie O’Sullivan that thrashed Stephen Hendry in the semi finals. The tense atmosphere during a final at the crucible was always going to see to that. Ronnie was very emotional after his victory, and mentioned his dad who is serving an 18 year sentence in prison for murder.
Ali Carter however will be disappointed to have not amounted a more serious challenge to the match, which saw Ronnie walk away with the title without any problems.
As well as winning the title Ronnie also made it into the history books by winning the UK championships and world title in the same season as well as establishing himself as the number one player in the World. The only other players to have achieved this are Steve Davis, Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry.
O’Sullivan opens up big gap in World Final
May 5, 2008
Last night Ronnie O’Sullivan opened up a big 11-5 gap in the World Championships Final against Ali Carter. The final few frames of last nights session were a bit scrapy with both players making mistakes at the table, O’Sullivan however ended the night with a large advantage taking the last two frames with a run of 57 and 106.
Although O’sullivan has a big lead he has only shown parts of the fantastic play which comfortably beat Stephen Hendry in the semi final. Carter will be disappointed to be losing 11-5 as O’Sullivan is certainly not playing his best snooker of the tournament.
O’sullivan seems to be the fresher of the two players during the match so far, mostly due to having a day off whilst carter faced a late semi final finish on Saturday night. This added freshness has made O’Sullivan the definate favourite to win the title tomorrow.
I hope today Carter can rally himself and come back into the match a little more, everyone at the crucible will certainly be hoping so. Even the die hard O’Sullivan fans will not want to see Ronnie walk away with the title, they would want a tight match with a great finish and Ronnie getting pushed all the way.
Lets hope today we see some great snooker from the first all English final since John Parrot vs Jimmy White way back in 1991.
Mighty O’Sullivan cruises past Hendry
May 2, 2008
For what should have been a close match between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry, the first semi-final saw O’Sullivan defeat Hendry 12 frames to 4.
O’Sullivan took all eight frames of the second session to put in him World Championship final.
O’Sullivan produced a textbook performance making breaks of 93, 57, 87, 133, 135, 85 and 70, making it hard for Hendry to find his form who missed a lot of chances early on.
Hendry who has one the World Championship seven times, has never lost 8-0 in one session at Sheffield.
O’Sullivan was on blinding form and playing with such unstoppable force makes him an early favourite to take the championship.
Second Round Update
April 28, 2008
The championship is finally starting to warm up and yesterday saw two of the big guns go head to head. In a thrilling second round match between Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan the fiery English man came out on top. Ronnie won the game by nine games to seven and completed a polished performance. The young English man rarely looked in trouble and kept his cool at pinnacle moments throughout the game. Sullivan will now move on to the next round and it looks like he could go all the way this year.
In other matches Liang Wembo from Chince beat Joe Swail of Northern Ireland by 9 frames to 7. In the other two matches Stephen Maguire beat Neil Robertson by 11 frames to 5 and Joe Perry beat Stuart Bingham by 9 frames to 7. Another classic match in progress there. The two Englishmen putting on a great show.
China Rookie Liang knocks out Ken Doherty
April 25, 2008
Chinese rookie Liang Wenbo has produced the biggest upset of this years tournament by knocking out world number 4 Ken Doherty.
Liang will now join fellow countryman Ding Junhui who beat Marco Fu in the last round. Liang’s victory enforces the every growing quality of snooker in China, and is certain to have overjoyed the Chinese contingent.
Liang played brilliantly during his tie with Doherty and fully deserved his victory. In the first 7 frames Liang had produced 5 over 50 breaks. Liang did admit that he was nervous during the match, but beating Ken Doherty would have given him a massive confidence boost.
Following this defeat Doherty looks likely to drop out of the world 16, for this first time in 15 years. It hasn’t been a very good year for Ken who only 1 year ago Doherty even had the change to become world number 1.
The Irishman was gutted after his performance admitting that he was struggling to find his form, he was however surprised with Liangs confidence stating that it looked as if he had been at the crucible more times than himself!
King knocks out favourite Selby
April 24, 2008
Last years runner up for the World Snooker Championship Mark Selby has been knocked out of this years tournament by Mark King.
Marks defeat has come as a surprise to many snooker fans, his recent consistent form had made Selby second favourite to win this years tournament at the crucible. Selby did manage to get into a 5-4 lead going into the next session, this lead was quickly pegged back by Mark King who punished Selby whenever he made a mistake. This continued for throughout the match which Mark managed to win 10-8.
Mark was gracious in defeat admitting that the better player won the match. He will however be very disappointed at exiting the tournament so early following his recent success in the Welsh open.
King stated that he was really please with his good solid performance, which is something that has been missing or King in recent years. He did however have some nerves during the final frame, but managed to keep these at bay for a great win.
Ding wins marathon match against Fu
April 23, 2008
Ding Junhui has won a marathon battle of the east against Hong Kongs Marco Fu 10-9, Ding now continues onto the 2nd round of the tournament.
The match was full of first class safety shots, and some great snooker including a few century breaks. Ding started off the better of the two racing into a fantastic 5-1 lead, before getting his lead pegged back to 5-4 from a determined Marco Fu.
Both players seemed to be very nervous during the match, maybe due to the huge amount of supporters that were watching the match in the far east, which was thought to be around 100 million people!
Ding held his nerves in the final frame and managed to win a very hard fought match. Dings reward for getting though this match will be a 2nd round tie against seven times world champion Stephen Hendry.
The fans in the far east will no doubt be relishing their mans game against the most successful player in world snooker. This hard fought win will hopefully give Ding the extra confidence he needs to play a more confident and relaxed game against Hendry. If Ding loses his anxiety I can see him getting passed Stephen Hendry and pleasing all his fans in the far east
Bingham through after Davis comeback
April 22, 2008
Stuart Bingham kept his cool last night to win remarkable match against six time world champion Steve Davis. Bingham was 8-3 up at one point in the match, but a fantastic Davis comeback saw Davis level the match at 8-8.
It looked like the next frame would see Davis take an incredible lead at 9-8, Davis however missed the final black, and left an easy pocket for Bingham. If Davis would have won that frame I believe his momentum would have taken him on to win the match.
Defeat in that frame however handed the momentum to Bingham who made no mistake clinging the match with a 59 break in the final frame. Davis after the match was annoyed to have lost after making such a good fight back, and was frustrated at his missed chances in the final 2 frames.
Following this defeat Davis has dropped out of the worlds top 16, and will now have to go through the qualifying sessions to compete in major tournaments. Davis however is not put off by this and is relishing playing in further big tournaments.
Although Bingham had beaten Davis, he has never beaten someone so experienced on such a big stage. The victory was overwhelming for Bingham who had to hold back tears after the match.
