Category: Players

Are there still upsets in snooker?

matt2745 3 Comments

Lines3

During the past couple of years I have often seen it said that ‘there are no upsets any more’ in the professional game, in particular by professional players on Twitter and on the face of it, my reaction has generally been one of ‘well of course there are’ or words to that effect.

Increasingly however, particularly during the first half of this season so far, I have wondered just how true that is given the ever-increasing depth in the game and some of the results recorded by amateur players of late…

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Should Carter Be Sent To Coventry?

matt2745 5 Comments

Carter

Following his fairy tale victory at the invitational General Cup tournament in Hong Kong yesterday, there has been some debate amongst snooker fans on Twitter as to whether Ali Carter should be awarded a place in next month’s invitational Champion of Champions event, set to be staged at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

On the face of it, the argument would appear to simply be one of sentiment against the rules, however looking beyond the surface there is perhaps another argument to be had, one already discussed here at PSB last month…

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Graham Miles Dies

matt2745 2 Comments

Balls

Sad news today as it was announced that former world number five Graham Miles has passed away at the age of 73 after a battle against lung disease.

Sadly I am too young to remember Graham in action, however you can watch him in action against Alex Higgins back in the 1970’s here, while World Snooker Assistant tournament director Martin Clark has spoken about him at their website here.

If you have any memories of Graham that you wish to share, please do so in the comments section below.

O’Sullivan Closing on Centuries Record

matt2745 3 Comments

ROS

As the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed, with the help of Adam from the snookerinfo website, this season I am keeping a track of the professional centuries records, which you can find regularly updated at this page here.

While it might differ from the normal lists that I tend to follow in that it does not involve rankings, still there are a number of interesting points arising from it, not least Ronnie O’Sullivan’s pursuit of Stephen Hendry’s current record, which looks set to be bested at some stage this season…

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Carter’s Return – Ranking Options

matt2745 4 Comments

Carter

When Ali Carter announced earlier this summer that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and would therefore be away from snooker while he received treatment, the WPBSA were quick to announce that his ranking would be frozen, a decision that received almost unanimous support from those within the game.

What was not explained however is quite how this would work on a practical level, the official ranking list stating that ‘Ali Carter’s ranking position will be dealt with retrospectively upon his return to competition.’

Thankfully, Ali’s return to professional competition is now fast approaching in Bulgaria at the start of October for ET3 and sooner rather than later, we can expect an announcement from the governing body as to just how this will be dealt with.

Click below for my thoughts and theories as to what might happen…

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Tour Survival 2015: The Early Running

matt2745 2 Comments

balls2

While the end of the 2014/15 season feels like a long way off, with a two-year ranking list, in reality we are over halfway through the race for main tour places for the 2015/16 season.

With every pound, dollar or Euro earned during this season potentially crucial, already some eyes will be turning to the latest provisional end of season rankings and even from a quick glance, there are some surprising names who despite being apparently safe on the official ranking list, are in fact in the danger zone due to the points that they will be losing over the coming nine months.

So with a couple of ranking events down and two of the season’s six European Tour events completed, below I take an early look at how the race for main tour places next year is shaping up and how players can survive – assuming that there are no as yet unannounced changes to the tour qualification structure…

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November Start For Malaysia’s Thor?

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balls

A brief line today from Malaysia as it has been reported by the New Straits Times Online that Asian Champion Rory Thor does intend to take up his place on the main tour and will head to England in ‘November or December’ in order to do so.

Thor is Malaysia’s first professional player in a decade and it will be interesting to see how the 26-year-old gets on, with a possible debut at York’s UK Championship in the offing.