O’Sullivan beaten by Fu in the Welsh Open
February 21, 2009
Welsh Open favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan has been knocked out of the tournament by Marco Fu. O’Sullivan had lead the match 3-1 but managed to lose the match 5-3 to Fu.
O’Sullivan looked to be in control of the match although he was never at his best. Credit to Fu though who won 4 frames on the bounce to win the match to make his way into the quarter finals.
Fu will now face either John Higgins or Robertson in the quarter finals. The last frame of the match was pure masterclass from Fu, he managed to compile a faultless 115 break to finish the match off in style.
The Kremlin threatens Snooker at the Crucible
October 31, 2008
The World Snooker Championships long spiritual home ‘the Crucible’ has a new rival for the home of the famous tournament. The Kremlin in Moscow has appeared as a new threat to hosting the tournament in Sheffield.
The Snooker World Series final is due to be played in the Kremlin in November, and the venue is already a firm favourite with many snooker professionals including John Higgins.
This news will again raise fears the the Crucible will lose the Snooker World Championships after 2010. The popularity of Kremlin will be another blow to the Crucible who are already worried about the event moving to China.
John Higgins has already stated he would not object to moving the tournament to another venue, and believes that China is the biggest threat to this. Higgins is excited about the possibilities of moving the tournament to China, as it will give snooker the chance to have more fans hence more money going into the sport.
The Crucible however is still the spiritual home of the Snooker World Championships, and I think that money is the only object when thinking of another venue. If someone at the crucible comes up with some more money I still expect the tournament to stay where it is.
Higgins holds off Day to win the Snooker Grand Prix
October 20, 2008
John Higgins managed to fend off a fantastic comeback from Darren Day to win the Snooker Grand Prix in Glasgow. Higgins had been in a confident mood all tournament, spurned on by the fact that the tournament was being held in his native Scotland.
The match was looking comfortable for higgins who opened up a commanding 5-2 lead in a very impressive first session, Higgins then managed to open up what looked like an unbeatable lead, going up 7-2.
But then all of a sudden Darren Day found his form, Day managed to win five out of the next six frames to get right back into the match at 8-7, Higgins must have been feeling the pressure at this point.
Higgins however, ever the professional held his nerve to win the match 9-7, and win his first ranking event on home soil, in fact this was Higgins first major title victory since he won the World Championship in May 2007.
Higgins admitted that through the early stages of the match he was feeding off Ryan Days unusual mistakes. Ryan wasn’t playing nearly as well as he did during the week, where he was probably the best player overall in the tournament.
Higgins knew that at some point in the match Day would find his cue arm and come back at him really strongly, and he didn’t dissapoint. In a tight 13th frame Day managed to cut in a fine pink and reduce the gap to just one frame. Higgins then managed a superb long red on the final frame, to win the match against Day, who is still looking to win his first ranking final, something that on the back of this performance he should achieve soon.
Although disappointed with the result of the match, Day conceeded that John Higgins deserved to win as he was the better player on the day.
I thought I would add a short video of the last few minutes of this match for your enjoyment.
Cope grabs a shock victory
October 15, 2008
Jamie Cope beat world number 2 Stephen Maguire to cause the biggest upset so far in the Snooker Grand Prix. The young Stoke player won the match 5-1 and at a canter and really surprised Maguire with his class.
Stephen Maguire had an unusually bad game making many mistakes to let Jamie in, infact apart from a break of 79, Jamie did not make any other over 50 breaks. Jamie however put in a solid performance when he was at the table and never gave Maguire an easy shot.
In other news in the Snooker Grand Prix China’s celebrity Snooker player Ding Junhui who has one the event 3 times has made it through to the final 16. Ding made his way to the last 16 in impressive style thrashing Jamie Burnett from Glasgow 5-0
Potential Snooker Masters Wildcard Players
September 9, 2008
Although there is still 4 months until the Master Snooker tournament starts at Wembley, people are already looking at which wildcard players will be allowed to play in the tournament.
For those who don’t know the Masters Snooker Tournament is only for snookers elite players, that is the top 16 players in the world.
Also allowed into the competition is the winner of the qualifying round, and one outside choice.
A Wildcard player can only take part in the tournament if they have a strong list of achievements in the previous year, or they are very well liked by the crowds
In my opinion the favourite player to become this years wilcard so far is China’s Liang Wenbo. This year Wenbo became the first Chinese player to reach the quarter finals of the Snooker World Championships playing exciting and attacking snooker. Liang Wenbo also has my vote on the popularity stakes, he has achieved celebrity status in his native China with millions of supporters, and his performances in the UK have certaintly won him many fans over here too.
Snooker’s world body would love to have Liang in the masters at his presence at the event would greatly increase the viewing figures of the event, due to Liangs huge popularity in the far east.
Other favourites to make this years Masters as a wildcard include Mark Williams, the former World Champion has dropped out of the top 16. His history in the game and undoubted ability would certainly add some more prestige to the tournament.
Ken Doherty and Stephen Lee who have also dropped out of the World’s top 16 players would make welcome Wildcards, as they are proven quality players who would further increase the quality of the event.
And lastly of course there is the crowd favourite Jimmy White, who is of course local to the Wembley Arena. White was overlooked as a wildcard last season much to the dismay of his loyal fans. Although Jimmy has made a good start to the season, I don’t forsee him being welcomed back this year. If however he maintains some quality performances I am sure he would be in the running next year, and we all know the crowds would certainly want him back.
Stuart Bingham gets off to a bad start
August 26, 2008
Stuart Bingham has got off to a bad start to the new snooker season losing to new player Rory McLeod in the first round of the Northern Ireland Trophy in Belfast.
Basildon born Bingham started the new season at 21st in the world rankings knowing that some good performances in the coming season could push him into the world top 16.
Bingham however never really got started against McLeod and looked a beaten man when he was trailing 4-2. Bingham did actually managed to pull the match back to 4-4 but lost the deciding frame and took an early exist from the season’s curtain opener in Belfast. McLeod will now face Ali Carter in another tough match.
Bingham joins a list of top players that have already fallen at the first hurdle in the tournament including Steve Davis and crowd favourite Jimmy White. Bingham’s next match will be the qualifiers for the Shanghai Masters, where he will be looking to put this bad performance behind
Snooker On The BBC
July 24, 2008
The BBC have secured the rights to show the 2008/2009 season on the TV. Tournaments included in the rights include the UK Championship, the Masters, Grand Prix, Welsh Open and of course the thrilling action from the World Championship at the Crucible.
The usual Gang will be fronting the tournaments with Hazel Irvine and Ray Stubbs hosting with experts John Parrott and Steve Davis. Snooker wouldnt be snooker without the commentary team on board with the random comments from Clive Everton, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, Willie Thorne and Terry Griffith.
Mitchell makes it three in a row
May 27, 2008
Michell Mann has amazingly managed to complete his third tournament victory in less than 2 months by winning the premier league singles trophy. 16 year old Michell’s good consistent performances have made him one of the best players in his age group. More impressive than his wins was the nature of his victories. Mitchell scored a superb break of 104 in his first frame, and manged to win the final within just two visits.
It looks like the future of snooker is bright, with plenty more stars rising through the youth levels. Lets hope they can keep it up and maybe eventually take the professional game by storm.
Wayne Cooper defends Yorkshire and Bradford titles
May 23, 2008
Wayne Cooper has managed to successfully defend both his Bradford and Yorkshire titles last weekend. Wayne beat Jonathon Bigley during on the way to winning the Yorkshire title, after a nervy start Cooper managed to get an easy 4-1 victory.
Wayne had previously won the title twice, but this was the first time he has managed to win the titles back to back having won it last year.
This victory have Wayne extra confidence going into the Yorkshire invitational knockouts which he managed to breeze past beating all his opponents 2-0.
Cooper then made it three out of three by winning the Bradford title. Cooper was playing some fantastic snooker witnessed by a good sized Bradford crowd. Following his title victories Wayne has made it into the records books as the only player to have won the title eight times.
Cooper will now be joining the professional players after winning nearly all the amateur tournaments bar the English championships.
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.
