3.4.08

PRECIOUS CHINA

This is an interesting story for three reasons:

1) For the way snooker has come to be seen as 'respectable' in China

2) For the suggestion that there may be as many as ten events in China in the future

3) For describing Jimmy White as a 'former world champion' - is the author the only person in the world who doesn't know about Jimmy's many Crucible heartbreaks?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How long before we get a Ryder Cup/Mosconi Cup style event between the UK and China? Hold it yearly, venue alternates between here and China.

Dave H said...

That's a really excellent idea, Dan

I know World Snooker read this blog so hopefully they will take notice

Anonymous said...

Oh come on Dave if it's a good idea World Snooker will try,and fail in court,to ban it!
Des

Anonymous said...

In fact, Jimmy White IS a former world champion as he won the 1980 amateur world championship, though I can hardly imagine the author was referring to that...

Interesting he also calls Ding a world champion. Somewhere midway the story: "...But Ding's fast rise in the sport changed all that. Once he became the world champion as a teenager, people's mindset changed drastically..." Hm, did I miss something? ;-)

cheers,
Eric

Anonymous said...

OK - got it, Ding won the world under-21 championship as a 15-year-old.

cheers,
Eric

Anonymous said...

Maybe it should have been told to the Chinese people also that there was a snooker boom in China, because the attendance was remarkably low at the venue both on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, Ding was out, Ronnie was out, but what happened with the genuine love of the Chinese for the sport? Regards, Gabriel

Anonymous said...

Not willing to but have to admit that Gabriel has some of the point. But it also happens in other sports items, and elsewhere. When the 'big' players are out, the attendance goes down.
I was there Sunday. Although the stadium didn't have a full attendance, some of the audience are really professional. At least it's a good trend.
When i first started to watch snooker (only about one and half years ago), i did hope Ding could perform well in all events. Not because i'm a Ding fan but they wouldn't continue to broadcast the matches if he's out. And before Ding turned up, we could hardly see any event being broadcasted live on TV, only a few edited highlights occasionally.
And the article, maybe the author started to write on snooker no earlier than i started to watch snooker...

Carmen