A year ago ahead of my tenth year visiting the Crucible Theatre for the World Championship, I took a look back at my first three years between 2005-7, recalling the various experiences that had helped draw me to the sport and ultimately end up writing this blog.
Unfortunately at the time I never got round to part two, so with no further delay, now I look back at my next three years as John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson took Crucible glory between 2008-10…
Three days down, two to go at the third and final Asian Tour event of the 2014/15 and it is crunch time in respect of the race for all important places on the Asian Order of Merit, with both Players Championship Grand Finals and main tour places on offer for those in action this week.
Click below for a look at how results so far this week have affected the standings, with the tournament now down to the last 32 stage…
As we reach the semi-final stages of the ongoing UK Championship, the identity of the 16 players who will compete at the 2015 Masters has now been confirmed, with defeat for Mark Davis meaning that nobody else can break into the all-important top 16 places in the rankings.
A year ago at the UK Championship, the talk throughout the first week was dominated by that of the suitability of the venue given the shift to a flat 128 format and in 2014, it has been a similar story, with both the sports hall and main arena coming under fire at various stages of the tournament.
Just as we thought that the subject had been exhausted however, Ronnie O’Sullivan injected fresh life into the discussion following his victory against Peter Lines last night, criticising not only the four-table arena set-up, but perhaps more significantly, the table that he had played his match on.
While last year the debate very much centred on the use of the sports hall, this time the debate seems to be far more wide-ranging, with conditions generally coming under fire and I therefore wanted to take a look at a few of the key talking points, with quotes from various players during their press conferences this week so far…
With the advent of flat draws in snooker, not all of the mid-season seedings revisions that we see in the sport are as important as they once were, but as we head into this week’s UK Championship at the Barbican Centre in York, there are a number of key placings to be determined ahead of the December revision.
In particular, we have a three-way fight for the world number one ranking, while there remain places available at the Masters in January. Click below for a round-up of the various permutations following the ET4 event and links to all of the important lists…
Following a weekend in Germany for the Ruhr Open, the snooker circus heads to York on Tuesday for the start of the second most prestigious ranking event on the calendar, the UK Championship in York.
Click below for my thoughts on the tournament in general, as well as the shape of the draw and confirmation of which opening round matches will be streamed prior to the start of the televised stages at the weekend…
Following Ricky Walden’s victory at the International Championship last week, there are now just two more events to run before one of the most important ranking revisions of the season, as the field for the 2015 Masters is set.
While the situation is now more open than in previous seasons due to the introduction of a prize money based ranking list, it nevertheless remains a race worth looking at and in reality can still be narrowed down to a few key contenders…
Ricky Walden’s win at the International Championship today yesterday brought us to the third mid-season seedings revision of the 2014/15 season, with Mark Selby retaining his spot at number one, but with points to defend at the upcoming UK Championship, he faces a battle if he is going to stay there.
Click below for a round-up of all of the key changes to the seeding list…