Отправлено: 30.03.08 20:46. Заголовок: ПРЕСС-ЦЕНТР 5

Продолжаем делиться новостями
А обсуждать их надо здесь Ru

 Отправлено: 10.09.08 09:06. Заголовок: Матчевая встреча Рос..

Матчевая встреча Россия – Англия переносится
/ 27.08.2008


Запланированная ранее в первые выходные сентября матчевая встреча между российскими и английскими мастерами бильярда переносится на более позднее время, заявил нашему корреспонденту продюсер бильярдных трансляций ТК «Спорт» Михаил Назаров. Точные сроки он назвать пока не готов, но предположительно, матч все же состоится в ноябре-декабре 2008 года.

Напомним, что в ранее анонсированной матчевой встрече должны были принять участие по три спортсмена с каждой стороны. В первый день предполагалось играть в снукер, во второй – в невскую пирамиду. Этот событие прежде всего кажется привлекательным с точки зрения необычности формата его проведения, и жаль, что реализация проекта откладывается как минимум на позднюю осень.

По материалам журнала "Бильярд Спорт"

 Отправлено: 10.09.08 13:14. Заголовок: Страна должна знать ..

Страна должна знать своих героев!!! - «Рашн гелз», или «Color and Life of Snooker»

 Отправлено: 14.09.08 13:50. Заголовок: Снукерная сенсация в..

 Отправлено: 14.09.08 13:57. Заголовок: Ronnie O'Sulliva..

Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins had to settle for a point apiece on the opening night of the new Premier League season in Grimsby.

The big guns drew 3-3 in a repeat of last year's final in the second match after Mark Selby had opened the 2008 campaign with a 4-2 win over Ding Junhui.

Higgins produced a break of 74 to save himself from defeat after O'Sullivan had fought back from 2-0 down to seize control.

The Rocket managed scores of 72 and 85 before knocking in a crucial clearance of 43 in the fifth to make sure he could not be beaten.

Honours even
However, Higgins refused to lose, comfortably taking the final frame to make sure honours ended even - an outcome both players seemed happy with.

"I'm delighted with a draw," the Scotsman, who had needed a snooker to take the opening frame before dominating the second, said.

"It's a point gained. I was 3-2 behind so all I could do was draw the game."

A relaxed O'Sullivan was in agreement with his rival, who he beat 7-4 in the final last time out, telling Sky Sports; "It's just a point.

"We've got six matches to play so it is early days. I'm not disappointed because I could have lost the game. At 2-0 down John could have ran away with it."

The 3-3 result means it is Selby who tops the table after week one, the debutant reeling off 343 points without reply to win four frames on the spin.

He had found himself 2-0 down as opponent Ding pinched the opener before knocking in a break of 100 that doubled his lead and also clinched a Ј3,000 reward for reaching a century.


Superb comeback
But from then on the man from China was rooted to his chair as current Masters champion Selby produced a superb comeback.

The Jester from Leicester managed to knock in 86, 80 and 73 in the next three before finally getting a century in the final frame, a run of 104 making sure of victory.

"I had a few chances in the frames I won (to make centuries) but i'm not complaining," he said afterwards. "It's a debut win and I'm chuffed to bits.

"To be fair I've gone 2-0 down and only really played one bad safety shot in the first. In the second Ding has potted a great red and made a century.

"After that I seemed to perform - I'm really happy."
[url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12243_4132492,00.html]отсюда[/url]

 Отправлено: 14.09.08 13:59. Заголовок: Betfair Big intervie..

Betfair Big interview: Joe Perry
здесь

 Отправлено: 14.09.08 14:40. Заголовок: WE WON'T ROCK YO..

WE WON'T ROCK YOU
There will be no evening play on the opening day of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix – because of a Queen concert at the same venue.

It is feared the noise from the concert, in which Paul Rodgers takes the place of the late Freddie Mercury, will bleed through to the snooker arena at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow.

Therefore, there will be only two matches played. They start at 12pm and feature John Higgins on one table and Joe Perry on the other.

The SECC say the soundcheck for the concert will start between 4-5pm so if the matches drag on the players may be forced to demand ‘Don’t Stop Me Now.'

(I’m sure there are many, many more puns available)


posted by Dave H at 11:55 AM здесь

 Отправлено: 16.09.08 17:48. Заголовок: Thorburn makes surpr..

Thorburn makes surprise visit to Accrington
здесь

 Отправлено: 16.09.08 17:50. Заголовок: A sporting week in r..

A sporting week in review..
By Shaun Murphy(Shaun Murphy)
здесь

 Отправлено: 17.10.08 12:37. Заголовок: Темки Мастерс еще не..

Темки Мастерс еще нет, поэтому сюда.

Masters Snooker Returns To Wembley

http://www.worldsnooker.com/news-7306.htm

 Отправлено: 18.10.08 18:32. Заголовок: Вдова Пола Хантера н..

 Отправлено: 20.10.08 21:31. Заголовок: Snooker legends to m..

Snooker legends to make Island visit

06 October 2008
SNOOKER legends Jimmy White and Alex Higgins will be on the Island later this month to take part in an exhibition match at the Hilton on Friday, October 24.
Two of the game's most flamboyant characters, White and Higgins will be joined on the evening by former professional and now BBC snooker pundit John Virgo.

The co-presenter of Big Break will perform his 45-minute comedy snooker routine, which features send-ups of many snooker players past and present as well as various trick shots.

Tickets for the evening, which includes a three-course dinner, are priced at £60 each or £100 for VIP seating and an early champagne reception with White, Higgins and Virgo.

Tickets can be bought from Treads in Castle Street or by calling Neal Clague on 201717 — buy soon to avoid disappointment.

------------------------------------------------------------------

So Jimmy it's another trip to the Island for you, how have you found the place in the past?
To be honest it's always been a bit of a blast. You lot like a tipple or two, don't you? Not that I'm not a little partial myself of course.

What brings you over?
Myself, Alex Higgins and John Virgo have added it to our UK tour that we have been on for three or four years now.

I know evening promoter Neal Clague well through snooker circles as he manages Stephen Lee and Dominic Dale and put it to him that it was about time we paid the Island a visit.

You were booked for a similar event a few years ago but never made it. What happened?
I was suffering form a really bad back and had to ease up on the exhibition stuff. I've still got the doctor's note somewhere (laughs)! Luckily enough my dear old pal Paul Hunter stepped in for me at the last moment.

Being honest, it was one of the last occasions Paul was unaware of his impending sickness and I believe it was a superb night. He really was a diamond that kid. Sadly, sorely missed now.

How's your form this season?
It's been great. Up to a level that I know I can still play at. I've qualified for two events and won nine matches in Pontins to do that. There's life in me yet to play this game...trust me.

How is Alex Higgins's health? Все понимаю, но что так с Алексом все носяццо, все равно,что пострадал не на поле брани с алкоголем, а защищая национальный флаг.
He's ok. He had a chest infection a few months ago which hit him hard but he's ok now. He drew 3-3 with me a few weeks back in Telford and played some great stuff. Genius doesn't leave you and that man is exactly that.

So what can we expect on the evening?
Hopefully some great Snooker and a top laugh. Virgo's stand up is hilarious! I just hope eases up a bit on me more than he did last time (smirks).

Thanks, Jimmy.
It's a pleasure. See you there...

отсюда

 Отправлено: 22.10.08 18:20. Заголовок: Higgins eyes expansi..

Higgins eyes expansion
Eurosport - Wed, 22 Oct 12:28:00 2008

EXCLUSIVE! John Higgins has said he is confident of expanding the World Series next season as he prepares to host this weekend's event in Warsaw.

The inaugural 2008 series opened in Jersey before moving to Berlin and will finish in Moscow later in the year. Co-promoter Higgins said that interest has grown now that the project is up and running.

"Since the event started, other countries have seen the event on Eurosport and expressed an interest in hosting an event," he said.

"Even places like Spain and Italy who I never would have thought would be interested in hosting a snooker event have been in touch.

"I see examples of the sport's growing popularity all the time. I was in Portugal recently and people were recognising me and that never would have happened 10 years ago."

This weekend the tournament returns to Warsaw, which hosted the tour's pilot event last year, and a top quality line-up awaits the Polish fans.

Six-times world champion Steve Davis, reigning Warsaw champion Mark Selby, Chinese sensation Ding Junhui and former Crucible victor Ken Doherty will line up against four local players at the event.

One tour pro and one Polish player, as selected by Higgins, will then move on to the Grand Final in Moscow at the end of the year.

"It gives us a chance to bring in local talent," said Higgins.

"It is a dream for some of these guys to play against their heroes in the type of match conditions we are used to on the tour.

"I look at someone like Ding Junhui who came out of China and became a world star and I wonder why we can't have someone from Poland or Germany or the Czech Republic do something similar in five or 10 years time?

"But we have to give them a chance. With the way that snooker is organised at the moment it would take someone four or five years to break through the log-jam. With the World Series we are trying to offer them little short-cuts and a little taste."

Higgins admitted that there have been some teething problems with the tour so far this year, but he is expecting decent crowds in Poland.

"Obviously it is a new series and there will be a few blips but that is to be expected," he conceded.

"There were some problems in Jersey - they didn't come through with some of the things they promised us - and we probably won't be going back, but on the flip side the tournament in Berlin was an enormous success.

"We had packed houses of 1200 at every event and people there were saying they were the biggest crowds they had seen at any snooker event in Germany for 10-15 years.

"We hope to have something in between in Poland... with a marketing push we hope to have around 90 per cent of the tickets sold by the time the tournament starts."

The Grand Final takes place in Moscow from November 21-23, and Higgins has said that it is a calculated gamble to have the finale in Russia. However, he is of the belief that not enough of these types of risks have been taken by the sport in the past.

"Russia is a massive potential market; I'll admit the interest level in snooker is quite low there at the moment, but you have to start somewhere and if we keep coming back interest will grow," he said.

"Even back home in the UK we have been struggling to get column inches for big events, and for too long we have been happy to have events only in the UK.

"World Snooker is doing some good work in Asia, but nothing is being done in mainland Europe and that is why the World Series is trying to tap into this market.

"A lot of people would love to go to the UK for the big events but they can't afford to. However, someone in Europe with a car might be able to get to somewhere like Poland or Germany.

"The interest level is growing, and with Eurosport's backing, we are giving snooker fans a chance to see their heroes."

The World Series of Snooker starts on Saturday at 13:00 (British time). You can watch all the action on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe. Поэтому даю ссыль

Or watch the action on British Eurosport - available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521 or British Eurosport 2 - available on Sky 411 and Virgin Media 525.
Seán Fay / Eurosport http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/22102008/58/higgins-eyes-expansion.html

 Отправлено: 09.11.08 09:41. Заголовок: Что пишут в Бристоль..

Что пишут в Бристольских газетах про свою молодую снукерную звезду Джадда Трампа.

click here

 Отправлено: 25.11.08 20:45. Заголовок: Davis: Hunter legacy..

Davis: Hunter legacy is on a strong Foundation

10:52am Tuesday 25th November 2008 www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk


By Steve Tinniswood »

SNOOKER legend Steve Davis is the game’s most successful player.

The six times world champion has won more honours than anyone else in the game he dominated during the heady heights of the 1980s.

However, it was smiles on faces rather than silverware that was up for grabs on a recent trip to East Lancashire — and the ‘Nugget’ was simply blown away.

Davis has lent his support to the Paul Hunter Foundation which is being run in Lancashire by the North Lancs Training Group.

The Foundation programme in the county was launched in September and has gathered momentum to such an extent that it is working with hundreds of children on a weekly basis.

“There is nothing like this anywhere else in the country,” said Davis after taking part in a four day Functional Skills Snooker Festival at Padiham Snooker Centre. “What is going on here is quite simply unique and it is fantastic to see so many youngsters enjoying and learning from the game of snooker.”

North Lancs Training Group’s World Snooker coach, Chris Lovell, is the brainchild behind the scheme — a Davis was full of praise for the main man.

“This programme could work around the country, the only problem is you would have to clone Chris Lovell,” added Davis. “He works tremendously hard for the Foundation. For me, it is in honour to be working on such a worthwhile scheme and I find it very rewarding.”

Davis said the work that Lovell and his hard-working team — which includes Paul Rinaldi at Padiham Snooker Club — is testimony to what Paul Hunter, who died in 2006 aged just 27, would have wanted to have achieve.

“Paul would have been delighted with what is being achieved” said Davis. “The tragic thing is that all of this has only happened because of his death.”

The mission statement for the Foundation is to give disad-vantaged, able bodied and disabled youngsters an opportunity to play snooker.

And since September, Lovell and his team have done just that. Roadshows are held on a weekly basis at venues across the area to get children off street corners while the mobile Paul Hunter Foundation Academy, which travels from club to club within Lancashire, runs sessions based on fun but also coaching is given to develop technique and improve youngsters’ standard of play.

The Foundation is working with a number of agencies in the area including the police and the Hyndburn Youth Partnership.

And for Lovell, working alongside Davis fulfils a lifetime ambition.

“I watched Steve playing when I was growing up so to be working with him now is a dream come true,” said Lovell. “He is a real down to earth guy and he loves working with the children.”

The pair teamed up to work on the first Functional Skills Snooker Festival which used snooker to help with numeracy and literacy skills.

Schools from across Hyndburn, Ribble Valley and Rossendale took part in a series of fun event with prizes up for grabs.

One such winner was Bilal Yousaf (below) of Mount Carmel High Schoo, “The whole emphasis was on fun and it a great way to learn” added Lovell. “We played a number of games with prizes such as watches, ipods and televisions up for grabs.”

Lovell, who met Paul Hunter when he took part in the NLTG Charity Snooker event, said that the Foundation is already beginning to pay dividends.

“What we are doing is just the tip of the iceberg,” he added. “We’ve found that anti-social behaviour is dropping in the areas we are working in on the nights we hold the roadshows and that is exactly what we are trying to do.”

 Отправлено: 25.11.08 20:56. Заголовок: А теперь и на англи..

А теперь и на английском языке отчет.


Today saw the second and final day of the fourth World Series event this season as John Higgins, Shachar Ruberg, Ding Junhui and Mark Selby went for the trophy…


Winning his second event of the inaugural World Series that he helped to establish, John Higgins showed his class today with a faultless display of snooker during his two matches.

In his semi-final he met the 14-year-old Shachar Ruberg from Israel who impressively defeated Sergey Vasiliev in yesterday’s quarter-final match, but had no answer for the quality and experience of Higgins. Winning 4-0, John booked an appearance in the final against the winner of the Warsaw leg, Ding Junhui, who saw off world number four Mark Selby in the first semi-final of the day.

The final started off as a close encounter as your would expect between two players like Ding and John, with both of the opening two frames going to the final few balls. Crucially though, Higgins was to take both of them and from there just got better and better, limiting Ding to 20 points in the next three frames and running out a 5-0 winner. After his disappointing form in the Premier League since he won the Grand Prix, it is good to see Higgins back in decent form in advance of the upcoming UK Championship, an event he will be trying to win for the third time.

It is a shame that we could not watch the action on Eurosport but hopefully it will be worth it in the end as the Grand Finals which will be staged in the Kremlin next year are bound to be an amazing spectacle.
prosnookerblog.com

 Отправлено: 25.11.08 21:03. Заголовок: Robertson on cue for..

Robertson on cue for Telfordwww.shropshirestar.com
Neil Robertson hopes to build on his victory in the Bahrain Snooker Championship by winning the Maplin UK Championship in Telford next month.

The Australian left-hander won the third ranking title of his career last Saturday by beating Matthew Stevens 9-7 in the final of the first world ranking tournament ever staged in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

And Robertson is now looking ahead to the Maplin UK Championship, which runs from December 13 to 21 at the Telford International Centre.

“I’ve lost in the first round at the UK for the last two years so I really want to have a good run in it this time,” said the 26-year-old, considered the best long potter in the world.

“It’s one of the biggest tournaments and I’m determined to win one of those before long. I really liked the venue at Telford last year so I was disappointed to lose to Joe Perry early on.


“I could play Stephen Maguire in the second round this time, if we both get through the first round. I beat him in the quarter-finals in Bahrain which was a very important win for me. He’d won the last six times we played so he had a hold on me, but I’ve shown him now that I can beat him and that will give me confidence for the next time we play.”

Robertson will be in Telford this Saturday for a promotional visit, and will be taking on competition winners and fans on a snooker table in the main concourse at Telford Shopping Centre from 12pm to 4pm.

These include Shropshire Star competition winners Jordan Bentley of Market Drayton, Martin Lewis of Shrewsbury and Phil Ryan of Shrewsbury

“It should be a great day and I’m looking forward to meeting some fans and finding out if any of them are good enough to beat me!” he added.

The Maplin UK Championship is set to feature all of snooker’s top players including defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Maguire, Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy.

Билеты дешевые - Tickets start at just £10.50 (concessions £5)

 Отправлено: 27.11.08 20:31. Заголовок: Higgins eyes Kremlin..

Higgins eyes Kremlin victory
by Johnny Ward , 25 November 2008


John Higgins will take his chance in a tournament to be staged in the Kremlin next March and has already spoken of his desire to do well in Moscow.

The Scot is in excellent form of late and emphasised this by trouncing Ding Junhui 5-0 in the final of the latest leg of the FSTC Sports Management World Series at Moscow's Krilya Sovetov Sports Arena.

Higgins won the opening World Series event in Jersey during the summer and he would be re-writing history should he prove victorious in the Grand Final at the Kremlin in March.

"I would love to make it a hat trick at the Kremlin - that would be amazing," the 33-year-old told the Scottish Herald.

"Having experienced the passion of the fans in this tournament I know that playing snooker in the Kremlin is going to be an extraordinary experience.

"The last three World Series events have been played in front of packed audiences in Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow and the players have enjoyed every moment of it."

Pat Mooney, chief executive of World Series of Snooker FSTC Sports Management, added: "Moscow has been a major success, again underlining what can be achieved by taking the game to different countries in Europe.

"There is no question that the World Series has opened everyone's eyes. Without a doubt it's the passport to the future for snooker."

Higgins' most immediate goal is to win the UK title for the third time next month and the world number five could not be happier with his consistency recently.

"I will go into the tournament with a lot of confidence. I am striking the ball well and playing well." Ню-ню...
www.setanta.com

 Отправлено: 29.11.08 13:49. Заголовок: Battle Of The Kings ..

Battle Of The Kings

Ronnie took part in this exhibition match in Prague with Neil Robertson on Friday 28 November 2008. It was the first time Ronnie had played in the Czech Republic.

The event itself was an enormous success, with a sell out crowd of nearly 2000 people to watch the current World Champion play against the current Bahrain Champion.

Ronnie soon warmed the crowd up with a century break and Neil responded with a 147, the first maximum he has ever made in front of such a big crowd.

The 10 frames were very closely fought but Neil is the form player at the moment and edged it 6-4.

Both Neil and Ronnie enjoyed the tournament immensely.

Neil said: "The people are excellent and I have enjoyed my time here.

"I'm pleased that one of us made a 147 and hopefully we can play more snooker in Prague in the future."

Ronnie added: "The arena is great and it's been a long time since I played in front of such a large crowd.

"It's the first time I've seen people clapping every shot from start to finish.

"The European audiences are very appreciative of snooker and I hear all the time that it is continuing to grow in popularity here."

After the end the players spent time with VIPs and fans signing autographs and chatting.

 Отправлено: 29.12.08 06:36. Заголовок: 2008 awards: The Gol..

2008 awards: The Golden Cues
Местами прикольно.

 Отправлено: 01.01.09 17:19. Заголовок: Snooker: Wee Tony is..

Snooker: Wee Tony is a big example to all youngsters as he makes his name with some of snooker’s greats
Dec 31 2008 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

WEE Tony Nardone – as John Higgins and Graeme Dott know him – has been a great example of what young people can achieve when they put their mind to it.

As the News exclusively revealed a fortnight ago, the 12-year-old became the world’s youngest snooker referee.

Tony is a snooker fanatic and is even a hot-shot at the table as well, having recorded the highest ever break in the under-14s snooker league with an impressive tally of 111.

But credit has to be given to Tony and his family who have managed to support him through his journey and have managed to get the cash together to send him to some of the biggest events on the junior calendar.

For Tony is not a delinquent and he’s not out roaming the streets at night, vandalising property like some youngsters his age.

He is out putting in the practice for his snooker matches and has also been at home studying for his refereeing exams.

He has, obviously, made a bit of a name for himself among some of the top names in snooker with John Higgins and Graeme Dott both going to the same snooker club in Dennistoun. And Tony was interviewed on television by Steve Davis at the last World Snooker Championships.

His achievements so far are outstanding and should be an inspiration to any youngster looking to get involved in sport and shows just what you can achieve when you put your mind to it.

Congratulations to Tony on his latest achievement and, hopefully, we will all be hearing from him in the future, whether he pursues his career as a snooker player or he settles for making a living as a snooker referee

 Отправлено: 01.01.09 17:55. Заголовок: THE BIG THREE Snoo..

THE BIG THREE

Snooker does not have grand slams like tennis or majors like golf but it does have three tournaments prized more highly than all the others.

They are the World Championship, UK Championship and Wembley Masters.

The qualifiers for the UK Championship are underway at Sheffield. The Masters is next month and, of course, the season will end with the annual 17-day Crucible event.

Only seven players have won the ‘big three.’

They are: Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, Alex Higgins, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Let’s have a look at the cumulative number of titles players have won from these three events:

Stephen Hendry: 18
Steve Davis: 15
Ronnie O’Sullivan: 10
Ray Reardon: 7
John Higgins, Mark Williams: 6
Alex Higgins: 5
John Spencer, Cliff Thorburn: 4

And here are the number of finals players have been in from these three tournaments:

Stephen Hendry: 27
Steve Davis: 21
Ronnie O’Sullivan: 14
Alex Higgins: 13
Ray Reardon, Jimmy White: 11
John Higgins: 10
Mark Williams: 9
Terry Griffiths: 8

Behind the stats, here are my observations...

It’s no surprise that Hendry is top and the fact that he is reconfirms his reputation as the game’s greatest ever player.

However, he has not won one of the big three since 1999 when he captured his seventh world title. His last UK Championship success was 12 years ago and it will be 13 years since his last Masters victory when he goes to Wembley next month.

Davis appeared in his first big three final at the 1980 UK Championship and his 21st at the same tournament a remarkable 25 years later.

O’Sullivan is likely to win more and could possibly beat Hendry’s tally.

Alex Higgins enjoyed a good record in the big three and but for his showboating manner could have won more of them.

John Higgins and Williams, like O’Sullivan, could win more although the Welshman will this season have to qualify for the UK Championship and, wildcard aside, won’t be at the Masters.

Only three players have won the big three in the same season.

Davis did so in the 1987/88 campaign, Hendry in 1989/90 and again in 1994/95 and Williams in 2002/03.

There is no prize for winning all three in a single season (perhaps there should be) but doing so is, for me, the ultimate sign of how dominant a player is because they are easily the three most important tournaments in the game.
Девид Хендон читает наш форум. Таким образом он ответил на вопрос о Большом Шлеме.

 Отправлено: 01.01.09 18:15. Заголовок: НОВОСТИ ИЗ ФОНДАЦИИ ..

НОВОСТИ ИЗ ФОНДАЦИИ ИМЕНИ ПОЛА ХАНТЕРА
здесь

 Отправлено: 05.01.09 20:24. Заголовок: More Like this My Se..

More Like this My Searches Social : The Ideal Cue - A Friend For Life !
by SNOOKER TABLES TED ROBERTS on 17-Dec-08 9:12am
There have been many stories relating the problems losing a favourite cue can have on an individuals game. If you are not the same player when having to use a cue other than your own , don't despair you are not on your own !

Alex Higgins spent the majority of his career looking for the ideal cue. However whatever cue he managed to acquire was usually subject to an amount of tinkering to try and perfect it.

Steven Hendry once had a cue stolen whilst playing at a tournament , he was so dependent on this cue that he offered a huge reward for its return. The cue was duly returned and he went on to win many more titles and produced a number of 147 breaks. What would have happened if it had been lost for good ?

John Spencer played snooker at his local club and became used to using a specific cue. John like many others had to complete his national service and went away for a couple of years. During this period his local club went out of business and was closed. He was determined to find his favourite cue and organised a keyholder to get him into the closed premises. The cue was eventually found in the cellar floating in stale smelling water. The cue was taken home by John and he used it to win two of his three World Championships. Its interesting to note that the cue was damaged badly in a car accident and he never produced his previous form again.

If you are looking for a special cue look at our Peradon range of cues and find a friend for life !

http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=118860

 Отправлено: 12.01.09 20:43. Заголовок: http://i025.radikal...

картинка не самая удачная

 Отправлено: 14.01.09 20:46. Заголовок: Smashin' John ne..

Smashin' John nearly did a Ron

JOHN HIGGINS admitted he nearly did a ‘Ronnie’ as he battled to keep alive his Masters snooker title hopes.

The two-time champ was on the verge of a first-round upset, trailing Marco Fu 4-2 at Wembley Arena.


And the Scot came close to copying Ronnie O’Sullivan, who smashed his cue to smithereens ahead of this year’s event.


Higgins — who eventually won 6-4 to set up a quarter-final with Ding Junhui — said: “If I’d had a spare cue I’d have probably smashed it up like Ronnie. That’s how bad I was feeling.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/article2127600.ece

 Отправлено: 14.01.09 20:50. Заголовок: http://s56.radikal.r..

Ronnie O'Sullivan calls for snooker to be given X Factor treatment
You cannot but smile at the perennially mischievous Ronnie O’Sullivan.

By Jim White
Last Updated: 6:44PM GMT 12 Jan 2009

Livening things up: Ronnie O'Sullivan things Simon Cowell could help snooker Photo: PA
Interviewed by Gaby Logan for the BBC’s Inside Sport on Monday night, 'the Rocket’ spoke with increasing dejection about the precipitous drop in interest in snooker.

Nobody was watching the game he loved anymore. What, he often asked himself, was the point of attending tournaments in the middle of nowhere where the prize money was feeble and the crowd consisted of a bored man and his snoozing dog? What was needed was the intervention of an entrepreneurial spirit, he suggested, someone to bring the game into the modern era.

He nominated Simon Cowell as just the man to apply a revivifying touch. It is a magnificent idea. Many of us have long wondered what – beyond occasionally polishing the balls with their white cocktail gloves and once getting in the way of a haymaker from Alex Higgins – is the point of a snooker referee.

What could be better than replacing them with an X Factor style judging panel to pass comment on the performance of the players.

We could have an emotional Sheryl Cole blubbing when Graeme Dott sinks a difficult pink. Or Louis Walsh extolling John Higgins’ incredible journey from the first to the second round of the UK Masters. Or Cowell himself, at the end of a particularly lengthy encounter between Peter Ebdon and Shaun Murphy looking all stony faced as he delivers the opinion: “Really, you weren’t good.” Before adding: “You were brilliant. Guys: that’s three yeses."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/snooker/4224286/Ronnie-OSullivan-calls-for-snooker-to-be-given-X-Factor-treatment.html

 Отправлено: 14.01.09 20:54. Заголовок: Stephen Hendry is ab..

Stephen Hendry is ablaze on the baize
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Stephen-Hendry-is-ablaze-on.4863906.jp
11 January 2009
IT SOMETIMES seems like a different world, but snooker was box office once.
Real box office, the sport that was most likely to knock football off the back pages of the tabloids, the sport which gave us Dennis Taylor's epic 18-17 victory over Steve Davis to win the 1985 World Championship, the sport which dominated terrestriADVERTISEMENTal television. There was a time when Jimmy White, Steve Davis and Alex Higgins were household names jostling for column inches with Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Arc Archie
Gemmell. Our mums could instantly identify players like Terry Griffiths, Ray Reardon, Bill Werbeniuk, Cliff Thorburn and that flareswearing, preening warrior of the baize, Kirk Stephens. Even referee Len Ganley couldn't walk unmolested down Sauchiehall Street.

But for those of us of a certain age, no one has encapsulated our fascination with the game like Stephen Hendry. The whey-faced 16-year-old tyro brought up in Fife burst on to the professional scene in 1985 when the sport was at its absolute zenith, and over almost a quarter of a century dominated the sport in a way that neither Steve Davis before him nor Ronnie O'Sullivan since have been able to rival. He's undeniably the greatest player the game has ever seen: a seven-times world champion with career earnings of over £8m and over 750 century breaks, he has laid down benchmarks unlikely to ever be overhauled.

Hendry turns 40 on Tuesday. It's "just a day like any other, just a number" he says, but even the famously unsentimental Scot senses it's time to take stock, to look back on a career of unparalleled success. And when he looks in his rear-view mirror, he likes what he sees.

"I came into snooker at absolutely the perfect time," he says. "The boom on TV had already started, the money was bigger then that it is now and the profile of the sport was huge. There were big characters like Dennis Taylor doing his trick shots, John Parrott's banter, John Virgo doing his impressions, and Alex Higgins on the rampage.

"People remember those days like they were yesterday. I'm always being asked what happened to Werbeniuk and Stevens and those guys, but those same people could run into players in the street ranked in the top four in the world and they probably wouldn't recognise them."

If the game has changed, Hendry hasn't. He may be chattier and more forthright than ever, and it may be a while since he last won a tournament of note, but the Scot remains the relentlessly driven competitor famous for his daily eight-hour practice sessions. Given the timing of his birthday, it's no surprise that he has nothing planned ("I'm not one for parties anyway, but the wife and I might take a couple of days in London later in the month" he says).

This week is Masters week, the Wembley invitational tournament that has defined Hendry almost as much as the record seven world championships he won after becoming the youngest world champion at 21 in 1989. Hendry beat John Parrot 9-6 at the Masters at Wembley in 1989 to collect his first major title and went on to win it five years in a row, only relaxing his grip when he was beaten 9-8 in the final by fellow Scot Alan McManus in 1994. Even then he was back winning it in 1996 before losing two finals to close friend Mark Williams in 1998 and 2003. But those raw statistics hide some incredible battles, not least the unforgettable 1991 final when Hendry beat Mike Hallett 9-8 after trailing 7-0 and 8-2, and 1998, one of his darkest moments, when he lost 10-9 to Williams on a respotted black in the final frame after leading 9-6.

Even Hendry admits that "it's hard to be bullish when I haven't won a tournament for four or five years", but there are signs that he's capable of an Indian summer. He's still ranked sixth in the world and reached the semi-finals of two of the last three tournaments of last season.

While he remains realistic about his chances, Wembley still pushes his buttons. "I still think I'm good enough to win tournaments and still look forward to the buzz," he said. "Wembley's the second-biggest event after the world championship so if you can't get a buzz from that then maybe it's time to stop. I still know that on my day I'm good enough and I wouldn't bother turning up if I didn't believe that. There have been times when I've thought 'that's it, I'm giving up' but then you wake up the next day and say 'right, that's just being silly' and get back to the practice table."

If that sounds like the mantra of every ageing sports star unable to come to terms with terminal decline then bear in mind that we're talking to Stephen Hendry. This is a man who doesn't regret missing out on "silly things" like parties and drinking when he was young; whose reaction to winning a tournament wasn't to celebrate but "to get back to the practice room so that I'd win the next tournament and then the next one and then the one after that". Hendry defines himself by winning; he's not much interested in the concept of taking part, a trait that has been at the core of his success. Characteristically, when he looks back at his career, he sees it not in terms of experiences gained but of losses sustained.

"It was always about the winning," he says. "When I look back I hardly ever remember the matches I won, but I remember every one that I lost because of a bad shot. Sometimes I'll look back and cringe at shots I've played or shots I've missed. I look back at certain matches – like the loss in the final frame to Peter Ebdon at the world championship (in 2002] – and it still really hurts.

"Being such a bad loser has been a massive ingredient in the success that I've had. I see people taking losses a lot better than me and sometimes I think I should try to be like that, but it's not me: I hate it. Even now I expect to win every time I go out. Unfortunately I haven't mellowed at all. If anything I'm getting worse. You can't sulk around the place when you've got a family, but inside it hurts as much as it ever did."

Hendry hasn't got used to losing, but it plays a larger role in his life now. That, he believes, is because there's more talent in snooker than ever before: he used to turn up at tournaments knowing that he would meet one of four or five players in the semis; now there are so many good players that even the best can find themselves beaten in the first round. It's a development for which he blames himself.

"I've seen lots of change, especially in the way the game is played and a lot of that change is down to the way I played when I came into the game," he says. "I went for everything, safety was a bad word to me, I couldn't even spell it, and that's the way the game's played now. Guys just go for it and the number of century breaks you see now is so much higher than it was back in 1985 when you saw very few century breaks on television and certainly nowhere near as many as you do now."

Some changes haven't been for the better though. Once awash with cash, snooker has been pauperised by poor management and the tobacco ban which robbed the sport of its two biggest sponsors. Five years ago Hendry tried to galvanise his fellow players and rally support for TSN and Altium, two companies who offered to inject big money to revitalise snooker, but was stymied by players like Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins.

"It's come full circle and the guys who resisted change have now realised the implications. John Higgins is trying to set up something and those guys have come around to the ideas we put forward years ago. It's still annoying they turned it down and there was a lot of bullshit bandied around, a lot of lies told, but there was bad feeling in the game at that stage and it was all about the personalities rather than what was right for the game."

On the subject of what is right for the game, Hendry was bemused by the recent match-fixing rumours surrounding fellow Scots Stephen Maguire and Jamie Burnett. He hasn't seen the game in question "although like pretty much everyone else I rushed off and watched one or two of the more interesting shots on YouTube". He is unequivocal on what should happen: "If that is proved to be correct then obviously everyone involved should be banned from the game for life."

Not that Hendry himself is thinking of quitting the game he loves any time soon. His competitive instincts insist he continues to give it a lash. He could retire to the golf course (he's a low handicapper and lives next to Gleneagles) but says he can't summon the same obsession about golf that he has for snooker. Nor is the man who twice played in the World Series of Poker about to risk it all on the turn of a card ("I'm not good enough and my bank-roll's not big enough to play poker professionally").

Nor is tending his garden and watching fitba that appealing ("If any Scottish team was playing in my back garden I wouldn't go and watch them. Scottish football is so bad these days I can't bear to watch it").

Perhaps he'll call it a day when his son Blaine, who at 12 is already a promising player, is ready to take over his mantle.

How scary a thought is that: 50 years of Hendrys dominating the game. Don't bet against it.

 Отправлено: 15.01.09 11:36. Заголовок: http://amagaz2008.bl..

http://amagaz2008.blogspot.com/2009/01/baizing-trail-how-snooker-went-loopy.html

Baizing a trail - how snooker went loopy

 Отправлено: 13.02.09 13:27. Заголовок: Welsh Open Betting: ..

Welsh Open Betting: Time for Day to rise and shine

Eurosport commentator David Hendon thinks the young Welshman can land his home tournament which starts on Monday February 16.

It's about time Ryan Day won a major title. He's certainly good enough in terms of pure ability and has matured as a player in the last few years to become one of the circuit's real dangermen.

Day has already appeared in three ranking tournament finals. He lost the first 9-4 to Shaun Murphy at the 2007 Malta Cup and let slip a 6-2 lead over Dominic Dale who beat him 10-6 in the Shanghai Masters final later the same year. Earlier this season, the Bridgend potter played the best snooker of the Grand Prix in Glasgow but failed to produce that form in the final and lost 9-7 to John Higgins, who freely admitted he hadn't been at the top of his game.

The more finals a player loses, the more anxious they become to finally land a big trophy. Graeme Dott appeared in four finals before winning his first ranking title, the 2006 World Championship. In doing so, he cast aside any doubts, from himself and the wider world, that he wasn't a winner.

Day can do the same at the Welsh Open this week, where he's rated a tempting 19.5 to come out on top. He's already improved to his highest ever ranking, eighth, and is regarded by his fellow players as a likely title winner at some point in the near future. He's also the Welsh no.1 and guaranteed crowd support at an event that has not traditionally favoured home stars. In fact, the only Welsh winner since the tournament began in 1992 is Mark Williams, who captured the title in 1999 and 2002.

If Day is to break this hoodoo he must first beat Michael Judge, who he saw off in the first round of last season's World Championship. Peter Ebdon or Anthony Hamilton await in the last 16 and neither of them have shown any sort of form this season. Day may well meet Mark Selby, the defending champion, in the quarters but he beat him 5-4 on the black with a magnificent clearance at the Grand Prix and won't mind playing him again.

It will be interesting to see what sort of mood Ronnie O'Sullivan is in having just spent three days with his father, Ronnie senior, who was on day release from his life sentence for murder. The world champion will most likely brush aside Steve Davis in the first round but is in a tough little section which includes Marco Fu, who he doesn't enjoy playing, Aussie Neil Robertson, who beat him at Newport on the way to winning the title two years ago, and the always dangerous Higgins. The Rocket's odds would have to be bigger than 3.5 to tempt me.

I'd be more interested in supporting Shaun Murphy at 15.0. Murphy has endured a bit of upheaval off the table this season after separating with his wife but has now moved to Manchester and feeling more settled. He returned to the game's winners' circle at the UK Championship just before Christmas and appears to have a relatively good draw.

As for outsiders, the chances of a surprise winner seem, to me, to be low. Young guns such as Ricky Walden, Judd Trump and Jamie Cope all failed to qualify and a fair number of those who did are experienced campaigners unlikely to trouble the elite.

Where might the first round upsets come? Sadly for his many fans, I don't think Jimmy White will upset Ali Carter, even though the Whirlwind has done superbly to come through four qualifying rounds.

But I could certainly see the tough Dubliner Fergal O'Brien causing problems for Fu and Hamilton taking advantage of Ebdon, who appears to have gone into decline. It may seem odd to tip a player under investigation for match fixing but Jamie Burnett - whose 9-3 defeat to Stephen Maguire at the UK Championship is the subject of a Gambling Commission inquiry - played some great stuff to qualify, firing in three successive centuries during his 5-0 defeat of Mark Joyce before getting the better of Stephen Lee. On this form, and perhaps feeling he has a point to prove, the Scot must be a threat to former champ Robertson.

There are three qualifying matches featuring Welsh players held over to Newport. I'd expect Mark Williams to see off Dave Gilbert and Matthew Stevens to beat Andy Hicks but Dominic Dale, whose form has been erratic since moving to Vienna last year, looks decidedly vulnerable against Chinese hot-shot Liang Wenbo.

http://betting.betfair.com/betting/snooker/welsh-open-betting-time-for-day-to-rise-and-shine-120209.html

 Отправлено: 18.03.09 11:19. Заголовок: Что пишут американцы..

Что пишут американцы из Сан-Франциско

цитата:

The years have not been especially kind to the snooker world since the turn of the millennium. The sport has suffered from masses of infighting, periods of uncertainty after the cigarette ban and a whole barrage of minor incidents most circling around the "Rocket" Ronnie O’Sullivan and his personal life. What the sport appears to lack at the moment is a player strong enough personality wise as well as skill wise to drive the sport into a new era and bulldoze the sport back into the spotlight. Since Stephen Hendry’s fall from grace and Jimmy White’s complete obliteration the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams, and John Higgins traded tournament wins before a period of the last two or so years where each tournament has a new winner. Predictability has gone out of the window and the players appear to be running away from title wins as opposed to striving for them—a link here must be made to the women’s tennis arena where a similar situation was evident recently. Obviously personal issues aside Ronnie O’Sullivan at his best is by far the strongest player; a player of substantial quality, but a player whose past behaviour has left him with a flailing fan base and inconsistent performance. His summarisation at the end of matches is often intriguing but sometimes ungrateful and condescending to his losing opponent. It’s as if he thinks of himself as invincible and cares little about the consequences of his words. Still at least you have to thank your lucky stars that a player of Stephen Lee’s stature doesn’t represent the pinnacle of the snooker world. Here is a player who cares little about the effects of binge eating on his body and produces a display of a "sportsman" being someone who thinks it acceptable that the youth of today, the youth who yearn for role models at such a young age, can accept a player of his appearance and think it ok to put your fitness and health at risk because they can't say no to food. As harsh as it may sound I will never want him to win the World Championship purely for that reason. There are a few new talents that have emerged in the rankings of late, capable of pushing the sport back to the forefront, notably Ali Carter and the sensational Mark Selby. At a mere 25 Mark Selby is the critics’ choice to being the number one rival to Ronnie O’Sullivan for the accolade of "World No. 1." An inconsistency though in those who reach finals is really what is hindering the sport. Ronnie O’Sullivan is the best player, Mark Selby his number two. However what is seen too often is either player reaching a final one week and the following week being knocked out in round two. Again reference must go to the woman’s tennis world and one Ana Ivanovic as a point in case. You could of course attribute this to the game of snooker being a game against another player but also partly a game against yourself. Any player who lacks quality in a match and gives his opponent ten or so chances in each frame is obviously going to be punished for their horrendous shot building or safety play, and any opponent capable of striking a ball would be a sure fire winner. Personally the best hope for the sport itself is for either Ronnie O’Sullivan to calm down, show some gratitude and develop his consistency. Alternatively the refreshing sight of Mark Selby or Ali Carter triumphing in a blaze of glory is a sight worthy of media attention, and a role model in the making.

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 Отправлено: 21.03.09 20:59. Заголовок: Максим Сталев: «Ну..

цитата:

Максим Сталев: «Нужен олигарх – фанат снукера» Сейчас, благодаря телепоказам, в России стремительно растет популярность снукера. Есть ли у него какие-либо спортивные перспективы в нашей стране? Я, наоборот, владею информацией, что сейчас гораздо больше снукеристов проявляют интерес к пулу. Стив Дэвис, к примеру, подчеркивает, что пул ему интереснее. Просто исторически так сложилось, что в Британии играют в снукер. А ведь технический арсенал в пуле гораздо богаче за счет того, что играется практически любой шар (при хорошем знании «бриллиантовой системы»). О каком развитии снукера в нашей стране можно говорить, если меня, обладателя лучшей серии на постсоветском пространстве (в 2000 г. на Чемпионате России Максим Сталев сделал серию в 98 очков. — Прим. ред.), не пригласили на московский тур Мировой серии снукера. Это расстраивает. Я не уверен, что у снукера есть будущее в России. Одними стараниями кучки фанатов ничего не сделаешь, нужно другое отношение со стороны Федерации бильярдного спорта России. В том же 2000 г. за 1-е место я получил 15 тыс. руб., серебряный призер Юрий Пащинский — 14 тыс. руб. и так далее по убыванию. А мне говорили, что первому месту отдадут половину призового фонда. Я, собственно, поэтому туда и поехал… Должен появиться какой-то олигарх, фанат снукера, готовый отдать часть своих денег на развитие этого вида бильярда в России. Что касается массового спорта, то откуда взяться интересу к игре, если в России практически нет никакой снукерной школы? Спрос отсутствует еще и потому, что игра технически сложна: маленькие шары, специфическое сукно, на котором шар в одну сторону катится одним образом, а обратно — по-другому, тонкий наконечник кия.

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 Отправлено: 09.04.09 16:38. Заголовок: World Snooker draws ..

World Snooker draws Twenty20 inspiration for 'Super6s' revolution

• New shorter format to be trialled
• 'Very positive response' from players

Fewer balls, six-minute matches and -moving its world championship around the world – snooker is about to undergo its own Twenty20-style revolution.

The sport's governing body is going to launch a new short form of the game, provisionally called "Super6s", at the world championship later this month. Each frame would have the same number of colours but only six red balls.

Sir Rodney Walker, the chairman of World Snooker, also revealed yesterday that he would consider moving the world championship from its traditional home at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre with Manchester or China a potential new host, and in a further move to increase the game's popularity he also wants a major shake-up of its ranking system, with the creation of more less-important tournaments.

The Super6s will be trialled with a contest between a legends team of former players-turned-pundits and rising stars away from the main Crucible arena, where Ronnie O'Sullivan will be defending his title. It will be broadcast digitally by the BBC and viewers will be invited to offer feedback.

"As an observer of snooker you cannot churn out the same diet year after year," Walker said. "Look at what Twenty20 has done for cricket. It brought in a whole new audience so what we have in mind we think would be appealing to a younger audience. We'll ask them to tell us what they think of it via the red button. The working party who looked into this thought that a six-ball tournament with matches that take an average of six to seven minutes to play, with maybe the best of five, best of 10 frames [could work].

"We think it would give players other than top-rank players chances of winning because once you get on the snooker table with fewer balls, other people might have a chance."

Walker added that many of the sport's prominent players had been consulted and there had been "a very positive response". There was also a similar reaction, he said, to the idea of revamping the ranking -system through the creation of more minor tournaments which carry "less ranking points and lesser prize money" so that players could select when they compete.

"What I want to do is completely rehash the way it works – give much higher ranking points to competitions like the World Championships [and other] fully prized events, but then look at putting on low cost ones that carry fewer points and lower prize money," he said.

"Having discussed it with a number of players there's quite an appetite for that, providing we can put on tournaments with something to play for." This, he said, would allow players greater flexibility. "Consider golf, where you can opt in and out because by not taking part the consequences are not that great. But you wouldn't opt out of the tournament that carries five times as many ranking points."

отсюда

По мне так хоть 6 красных, хоть 1, лишь бы больше турниров.

 Отправлено: 09.04.09 16:50. Заголовок: перевод статьи на то..

 Отправлено: 14.04.09 14:27. Заголовок: What's wrong wit..

What's wrong with snooker's wonder kid Ding?

 Отправлено: 14.04.09 23:04. Заголовок: How Ronnie O'Sul..

How Ronnie O'Sullivan is trying to run off 'them demons'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/apr/14/ronnie-osullivan-exclusive-interview-snooker

 Отправлено: 16.04.09 14:44. Заголовок: Disciplinary Hearing..

Disciplinary Hearing took place on 7 April 2009 to establish whether Mr Jin Long, a member of the Association, was in breach of the Association’s Disciplinary Rules following allegations that he conceded frames in his matches against his opponents on 23 November 2008 during the Masters qualifying event and on 2 December 2008 during the Maplin UK Championship qualifying event whilst there were still available points on the table.

Mr Long was not present at the hearing.

Mr Long was found to be in breach of the Association’s rules in relation to the first matter and was ordered to pay a fine of £150.

In relation to the second matter the Committee considered the information presented to it at the hearing and did not find Mr Long to be in breach of the rules.

There will be no further comment on this matter.

http://mxmbilliards.com/2009/04/09/world-snooker-association-hearing/

 Отправлено: 16.04.09 14:58. Заголовок: williams hopes to po..

 Отправлено: 23.04.09 11:31. Заголовок: Часть комментариев ..

[url=http://rightsideoftheblue.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/day5-afternoon/][/url]
Часть комментариев Дениса Тейлора, Джона Вирго и Клайва Эвертона.
The bbc showed the budget for hours when there should have been snooker on, and then they took us to the snooker and the first thing Rishi said was ‘we’re going to concentrate on the horse racing to begin with’. Oh, whatever.

The bbc showed the budget for hours when there should have been snooker on, and then they took us to the snooker and the first thing Rishi said was ‘we’re going to concentrate on the horse racing to begin with’. Oh, whatever.

Robertson vs Davis

Robertson won it quite easily today, I think they were at 7-2, and Robertson won three frames to make it 10-2. Steve Davis was quite often in when I glanced across but then missing when he was still in position and everything. I mostly watched the other match, but I heard bits from this one. They had Dennis Taylor and Clive Everton commentating. Dennis says that Steve likes Indian food. Clive says that he has breakfast with Steve but doesn’t tell us his preferred menu. Clive calls Steve ‘Steve’ when he has breakfast with him, but ‘Davis’ when he’s playing. This is because Clive is professional through and through and also BRILLIANT. Clive and Dennis love Steve, and think he is a great professional and will be playing this frame at 8-2 down just the same as if he were at 5-5. I think he probably ought to be playing it a bit better than if he were at 5-5, but there you go.

Mostly Dennis and Clive seemed to realise the match was going to be over Quite Quick, and struggled to fit in enough nice things about Steve Davis in just three frames. He’s a gentleman, a true professional, and even if this is the last session he ever plays at the crucible, it will always remember him extremely fondly. Dennis said that as he was commentating on the other table during the first session of this match, he could glance over and see just the end of this table, and saw that Steve was sometimes missing blacks from the spot and he had a bit of a worry about him. Clive quickly jumped in with the exact number of blacks missed from the spot, I don’t know, about five or something. I just like the thought of Dennis being a bit distracted from Ebdon/Bond, by Steve.

Then when he really had lost and Robertson was just finishing his final break, Clive did a proper finishing up thing, and it made me so sad that they have fired Clive Everton and aren’t going to let him commentate forever. Because he does things like that and is just very nice. He said:

“In decline, in inevitable decline, he has never lost his dignity, his professionalism, his sportsmanship. He’s never going to win another world championship. But he’ll always be, as to many others I’m sure, a true champion to me.

OH CLIVE. Then they sort of remembered themselves and said some nice things about Robertson and how he won well.

Higgins vs Holt

I sort of lost at being calm during this despite having told myself all the important things it is important to remember when John Higgins is playing. Mainly that if he isn’t a few frames behind he doesn’t bother to play. So it’s not even that I wasn’t expecting it. I was just cross about it all the same.

He won the first frame quite easily, I think he got 80 something. And then Michael Holt won the next three and it was just AWFUL and John Virgo does not help. John Virgo thinks *everything* is *very* worrying. And also he has no real memory for the other million years John Higgins has spent being rubbish at snooker and seems to think it’s a New Thing. And generally OH GOD John Virgo is hell when he is commentating on a match I care about.

Terry Griffiths actually said, and I have NEVER heard another commentator say this or notice this or bother to be right about anything ever, Terry Griffiths said: “I have actually noticed with John that he tends to pick up his game a bit later in the sessions usually.” It’s incredible to actually hear a commentator say the thing that you’ve been shouting at them for the last ten years. Mind you, no matter how much I knew that it made me no calmer, so whatever. Terry Griffiths also said that John Virgo had always been quite a grumpy person.

I really like Michael Holt, it only makes things worse. I am not sticking up for him even a little bit, but I would be against anyone else. I worry about him a bit because of the face pulling and the talking about stuff and I sort of think it shows that a tiny bit of his mind is on how he looks and not on what he’s doing. Not that, but sort of like that. His brother told him that he’s only really been a professional for six months and before that he was just an idiot with a cue. That seems a bit true really, he looks much better than he used to and that’s not fair just this once. Less of that.

Anyway, then there was a mid session interval and John was a bit happier. But not a lot happier. I flicked over to the bbc coverage to see if they’d left horses, but no. But I watched John Parrott and Rishi talk about horses for a bit, it’s quite nice seeing John Parrott talking about anything. Not seeing him, but hearing him anyway.

After the mid-session I think john Higgins got the first frame and then lost the second, so it was 4-2. But then John Higgins vaguely remembered that he was a world champion and tried a bit harder. Terry calls Michael Holt ‘Michael White’ and John Virgo asked him why, and Terry says it happens all the time and most people are more polite than to say so.

John Higgins did some nice clearances, and missed a bit less, and at one point played for the black when the commentators were very doubtful that the black would actually pot when it was back on its spot because it wasn’t quite going to fit on its spot. And I doubted him a little bit as well, but only because I’m horrible, and actually he is a professional snooker player so it was okay. Then John Virgo blamed the camera people and how they couldn’t get behind the shots because the crucible is so small. At one point Holt called a foul on himself and John Virgo said that he was sure Michaela would have noticed, they are all so in love with Michaela and how she is invincible.

The last frame, when they were at 4-4, was weird, and all the reds got bunched down under the black spot and there were lots of touchy shots, but Higgins was a bit great and managed okay. And then Holt played for snookers for a bit, and they had some smiling and Holt was lovely and i felt a bit guilty for hating him so much for the last couple of hours. But never mind.

It’s 5-4 to John Higgins. Not that that means anything, he can lose from five frames in front, so who knows. I fear it just means he will forget to care about the next session. Which is tomorrow. Hm.

 Отправлено: 23.04.09 11:53. Заголовок: Russian roulette - I..

Russian roulette - Image
April 21st, 2009 by admin
Image

Betfred - New Sponsor for World Snooker Championship
Betfred.com Replaces 888.com as Snooker Tournament Sponsor; Tournament Renamed Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Independent UK bookmarker Betfred.com has recently announced its sponsorship for the next four years of the World Snooker Championship, replacing 888.com as the former sponsor. The tournament will now be known as Betfred.com World Snooker Championship. The event will be televised this Saturday, April 18, and will finish on Monday, May 4, at the Crucible Theater located in Sheffield. This tournament is definitely one of the most anticipated events in offline and online gaming, as it features top snooker players such as Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Stephen Hendry, Ali Carter, Steve Davis, and Shaun Murphy. Just last year, its 127 hours of BBC Sport coverage was watched by 24.5 million people. Aside from that, it was also watched by the rest of the world, with 60 million viewers from Eurosport and 10 million viewers from CCTV5 in China. Both Betfred chairman Fred Done and World Snooker chairman Sir Rodney Walker expressed their happiness in this partnership. Furthermore, according to Walker, the four-year agreement is proof of snooker’s popularity not just in the UK but all over the world as well, much like the popularity of casinos and games like online blackjack and online roulette. Since August 2008, the World Snooker Association was already on the lookout for a sponsor to replace online casino 888.com, which withdrew its sponsorship two years earlier than previously agreed. The casino company was facing economic hardships, hence its withdrawal decision.
http://fairfield-montana.com/2009/04/21/russian-roulette-image/

 Отправлено: 24.04.09 10:42. Заголовок: Что пишут ирландцы ..

Что пишут ирландцы

Maguire sees off Burnett, Rocket misfiring

Thursday, 23 April 2009 22:35
Stephen Maguire tonight insisted nothing would distract him as he bids for his first world title.

The Glaswegian had experienced a disruption to his build-up for the Betfred.com World Championship.

He was interviewed by Strathclyde Police last week after their economic crime unit opened an investigation into the result of his December match against Jamie Burnett at the UK Championship.

But world number two Maguire shrugged that aside as he beat Burnett 10-5 to secure his place in the second round at the Crucible, where Mark King will be his next opponent.

'I'm just here to play snooker,' Maguire said. 'I don't read much of what's going on.'

He explained: 'I'm distracted by nothing. I've been practising hard.

'Practice has gone well and it's paid off in the first match.'

Maguire made three centuries in the match, including a total clearance of 127 in the final frame.

'I played well and scored well,' he added. 'My long-potting was great.'

Beaten Burnett, a good friend of Maguire, refused to comment on the police investigation.

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association have also been conducting their own inquiry into the result of the match at Telford last December, which Maguire won 9-3.

Bookmakers had alerted snooker chiefs to what they considered to be unusual betting patterns prior to the match.

Both players have previously denied any wrong-doing and have pledged to assist with the investigations.
Burnett said he had been focusing 'as much as possible' on his Crucible opener.

He added: 'I knew I had a hard game so I knew I had to concentrate on that and that's why I put in so much work.

'How other people see me and Stephen is up to them. I'm not going to act any differently towards Stephen for any reason.

'Before the match we were friends, during the match we were friends and after the match we're friends.

'How other people look at it is just up to them.'

Ronnie O'Sullivan appeared out of sorts as he began his second-round match against Northern Ireland's Mark Allen.

The 33-year-old defending world champion had been frustrated with his opening performance against Stuart Bingham and gave himself marks of five out of 10.

Tonight's display was worse, yet somehow O'Sullivan managed to emerge on level terms at 4-4 with the man from Antrim, with two sessions still to come in the best-of-25-frames clash.

O'Sullivan missed three attempts to pot the blue before getting 20 points on the scoreboard.

He should still have pinched the opening frame but missed the final pink, and Allen made the pot required to go 1-0 ahead.

Allen, 23, was soon 2-0 up following more erratic play from O'Sullivan.

He was back in front in the third frame but missed a long blue to halt a break of 53.

O'Sullivan took advantage, clearing to the pink, before winning the next with a break of 67 to level up at 2-2.
He went 3-2 ahead but Allen responded to win a scrappy sixth frame.

Allen stormed into a 4-3 lead with a classy break of 119, however, O'Sullivan responded with 93 in the final frame of the session.

They resume tomorrow afternoon and the match will conclude on Saturday.

Earlier, John Higgins, the man O'Sullivan has pinpointed as his biggest rival for the trophy, raced into round two by brushing Michael Holt aside.

Higgins, champion in 1998 and 2007, had been 4-2 behind against Holt at one stage yesterday but he lost only one more frame as he emerged a 10-5 winner.

Higgins made breaks of 131, 68 and 80 today, winning the closing four frames in rapid fashion to set up a clash with Jamie Cope in the last 16.

Higgins expects a tough match against a player he has lost to before.

Cope, 23, has an attacking instinct and has made two 147 maximum breaks in competition.

Higgins said: 'He thumped me in the UK Championship two years ago, he beat me 9-3, totally destroyed me and played great.

'He's young, he's exciting, he likes to go for his shots and it's a game to look forward to.'

Holt was despondent afterwards, reflecting on his failure, at the age of 30, to break into the top bracket of players.
He said: 'It's just 10 years of failure basically. I believe that I'm good enough.

'It's 10 years of nothing. It's embarrassing.'

Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui were tied at 4-4 after the first session of their second-round duel.

Hendry came from 3-1 down to lead 4-3, before Ding won the last frame with runs of 58 and 32.

Ding made the highest break of the session, 112 in the second frame. They will play to a finish over two sessions tomorrow.


http://www.rte.ie/sport/snooker/2009/0423/worldchampionships.html