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.
Rookie Craigie puts a good run together
October 30, 2008
Snooker rookie Stephen Craigie has pulled of a great series of victories to reach the quarter finals of the Pontins World-Pro event.
Stephen firstly managed to comfortbaly beat the talented Richard Clark, and then played some great snooker to beat the very experienced Stuart Bingham 4-2. This victory would have given Stephen some great confidence as Bingham was the number one seed.
Stephen then faced former pro player Leo Fernandex in the quarter finals of the event, Stephen played well throughout the match and was narrowly beaten in a great match.
The other players from the North East did not perform too well, Gary Wilson was beaten by Stuart Carrington, and other players were beaten by their southern counterparts.
White and Higgins visit Isle of Man
October 29, 2008
Two snooker legends Jimmy White and Alex Higgins have made a visit to the Isle of man as part of their UK tour. The ‘Whirlwind’ Jimmy White and ‘Hurricane’ Higgins appeared at the Hilton in Douglas to take part in a few frames.
They played three local Isle of Man snooker players including their local champion Michael Curphey in a five frame match. It was not White’s first visit to the Isle of Man, he has been before, the weather however this time was rough and the trip was quite bumpy!
Higgns also enjoyed the trip, and even though Higgins is a shadow of his former self having struggled with alcahol addiction he still played some fantastic shots and had a few tricks for the crowds.
White has been using the tour to try and improve his game which has struggled in recent seasons. White has been pleased with his progress and feels on top of his game at the moment. Infact White is currently ranked at a lowly 65th in the World which means he now has to qualify for the major tournaments.
White however does seem very determined to pick himself up and get higher up the world rankings once more. White even stated that he is concentrating so much on snooker everything else in his life has taken a back seat.
White still wants to be taken seriously in the game, and has told fans that they should not write him off yet!
Higgins happy to see World Series snooker final played in Moscow
October 28, 2008
John higgins has publicly approved playing the Snooker World Series final in the Kremlin in Russia. Higgins has been pushing the game accross the whole of europe and is very happy the final will be played in Moscow, a landmark that could push the game onto countless more fans.
Higgins stated that “Not only will this help market the game the venue is awsome, it is the best venue he has ever played in”
The Snooker World Series was brought in to effect to take the game to different countries accross europe, and this is now what it has achieved. During the World Series fans around Europe have had their chance to see their stars in action accross Europe, including matches in big cities such as Berlin and Warsaw.
The World Series has certainly been getting lots of coverage through Europsort and have had literally thousands of tickets enquiries from new fans all over europe. To avoid disappointing fans the World Series will be extended beyond the original finish date so that they can play in another venue in Moscow.
Back to the action, and Ding Junhui was the star of the Warsaw sem-finals of the series beating off old favourite Steve Davis comfortbaly 5-1. Doherty also managed to beat some good players including Mark Selby to make it to the final.
The final was a tight affair between to two, and they looked to be going to 5-5, but then up stepped Junhui to make a great 64 clearance to win the match 6-4
Micheal White hits top form
October 27, 2008
Michael White has won the Welsh snooker event in Cardiff. White played fantastic snooker to beat Gavin Pantall 3-1 in the final of the tournament
White played brilliantly all tournament completing high breaks of 103, 53 and 65 beating one of the tournament favourites on his way to the final. White hopes that his continued progress in the game will push him into his dream of becoming the Snooker world champion one day
In one of the biggest surprises in the tournament former pro snooker player Lee Walker lost to Pantall in the semi-finals. After the tournament White kept improving and improving and followed this success by claiming the Welsh under 21 snooker crown, beating Jak Jones comfortably 3-0 in the final.
He was in top form in all of his matches in that tournament too hitting a high break of 123 in the process.
Local Peterborough player makes fantastic century break
October 24, 2008
Peter Darling a player in the top flight of the Peterborough league has put together a fantastic century break. Darling made a break of 102 which is the highest break in the league this season, this break put his table topping team to a 4-1 victory over local rivals Rileys Orton
There were also other players in great form including Gavin Cork who made some fantastic high breaks, including a break of 73 and a break of 37. In the 2nd division of the league Conservative Club B beat Rileys Thorto C thanks to great play by Rob Dean.
It was also good news for Rileys Q Club C as they moved of the foot of the table by beating New England C
Chance to see Steve Davis and Jimmy White in action
October 23, 2008
Jimmy White and Steve Davis, two snooker legends will be playing each other next week, and you have the chance to get tickets to witness them in action!
They will be playing eachother at the Meres leisure centre in Grantham on October the 30th. For those of you who really enjoy watching snooker but have never had the chance to watch your favourite players live this is a fantastic opportunity.
John Virgo will also be making a guest appearance on the evening. The evening starts at 6.40pm where you can watch an amateur game, this will be followed up with Steve Davis performing some of his famous trickshots.
The big Davis vs White class is due to start at 9pm and will last for roughly an hour and a half, after the match you should be able to get your autograph from both of the players.
Tickets are available now, with balcony seats being charged at £17.50 and tiered seats at £19.50.
Call 01476 562291 to get yours now!
Higgins would not miss crucible if the World Championships move
October 21, 2008
John Higgins has claimed that he would not miss the Crucible if the snooker World Championships was to move to the far east. The recent Snooker Grand Prix winner and two-time snooker world champion insists that snooker has a far greater future than it had before, and is happy for the game to be marketed to other countries outside of the UK.
It was suggested earlier this month that the Crucible Theatre would lose the right to hold the Snooker World Championships when it’s contract expires after 2010. Higgins however would be happy to see the Snooker World Championships move to a bigger and more lucrative venue in China, with the potential of attracting more people hence more money.
Higgins is confident that the game of snooker will get stronger and stronger and has even recently helped establish the Snooker World Series, which is bidding to attract people outside of the UK.
Higgins admitted that ‘The Crucible has been a great arena, but backstage it is very dated and a bit of a mess’ Although they are undergoing a multi-million pound face lift they are not guaranteed to hold onto the World Championships.
Higgins wants to see more being done to exploit snookers vast potential in mainland europe and the far east, and thinks a rethink of the promotion of the game would be great for the future of the game.
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
