Steve Davis has finally ended days of uncertainty by officially withdrawing from the Bahrain Championship this week…
As confirmed on Snooker Scene blog.
Of course it was always going to be unlikely that Steve would play in the event due his contracted appearance in the Premier League this Thursday, affecting him and three other players. With him not officially withdrawing however, there was speculation that he might attempt to play his second round match with Dominic Dale before returning the the UK the next day to play in the Premier League on Thursday.
This was always going to be unlikely though, it is a very long flight from the UK to Bahrain and so it has proved to be just too much to be practical. Also with yesterday’s announcement that Steve would be playing today in Blackpool, in addition to reports of an ear infection which would prevent him from flying and is presumably the official reason for his withdrawal, it became very unlikely indeed that he would play.
So how does this affect the draw? The good news for Steve is that following Ronnie O’Sullivan’s withdrawal last week, it looks like Davis will receive second round losers points of 1900 as he has left his announcement so late. The best news of all though is for Dominic Dale who due to his win yesterday against Marco Fu, now advances straight into the quarter-finals, his first since his win in Shanghai last year.
Can Dominic win another new event? Stranger things have happened, though he will have to play much better than he did yesterday.