With being away from my desk during the past couple of weeks due largely to the World Championship qualifiers, a few stories have slipped through my net so click below for my round-up of the other hot topics in snooker circles right now…
First up comes the situation over at 110sport which from the outside would appear to be worsening all the time if this latest article from the Mail Online is anything to go by. That said I am far from clued up as to the goings on behind the scenes there so will not comment further.
On the subject of 110sport, the Hainan Classic as backed by both them and Star came to a conclusion last week and unsurprisingly the winner was John Higgins who maintains his excellent record since returning to the circuit last November. Coming through his group with wins against Stephen Hendry, Peter Ebdon and Li Yan, the Scot then defeated Ali Carter 5-3 and finally Jamie Cope 7-2 in the knock-out stages to take the £40,000 top prize. For all the results please click here.
In other news, the final two wildcards for the China Open have now been confirmed since my previous article on the subject at the start of the month.
Marcus Campbell will now take on Mei Xiwen, last on the professional circuit back in 2009/10, while Jimmy White has drawn the short straw and will have to face Tian Pengfei if he is to make it through to the last 32. For those of you who don’t remember, Tian defeated both Mark Davis and Ronnie O’Sullivan in last year’s competition as a wildcard so is not to be underestimated. Click here to view the full draw.
Back on the subject of the World Championship, tomorrow sees the highly anticipated draw for the last 32 stage of the competition from 10:45am GMT. Hopefully I will be able to bring it to you here on the blog shortly after it has been announced, work permitting!
Barry Hawkins is one player who has given his thoughts on it which you can read here. Unsurprisingly he hopes to avoid John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams as he looks to break his Crucible duck at last.
Another player hoping to avoid John Higgins is Dominic Dale who has this week given an excellent interview to Snooker Island on all sorts of subjects. All being well I am hoping to have a piece from him on this blog in the summer time in which he addresses the ranking system and the few other subjects not covered in the SI interview!
For anyone who missed it, we also have an interview up here with Stuart Pettman on his immediate future following his relegation from the tour as well as his new book which you can purchase by clicking the banner on the right-hand side of this page.
As the build-up continues for the Q School, young Kyren Wilson today made a 147 break during his QSP semi-final at the Southwest Snooker Academy in Gloucester, marking the first competitive maximum seen at the venue. He will now face Welsh prospect Daniel Wells in the final.
Also, following today’s PTC final, the action resumes at Crondon Park tomorrow as the 2011 edition of the Championship League comes to a climax with both the final regular group and then the winner’s group taking place over the next four days. For the latest I would recommended the official Matchroom Sport Twitter feed.