I know you shouldn’t laugh at other people’s problems but I couldn’t help chuckling when I heard that Graeme Dott had missed his connecting flight from Glasgow to Heathrow, where he was due to get another to Shanghai.Why? Because this has happened to Dotty before and it led to a snooker version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
The 2002 China Open was played in Shanghai. Because there was a tournament straight afterwards in Thailand, the players had to fly in via Bangkok.
Then, as today, Dott’s flight from Glasgow to London was cancelled because of fog. This meant that he was too late into Bangkok to make the flight to Shanghai.
He eventually made it some 40 hours after setting off from Scotland.
Understandably exhausted, he went straight to bed where he managed to sleep through his alarm call.
Dotty woke up some 15 minutes before his first round match with Darren Morgan was due to begin and threw on his snooker gear – though famously not any underwear – and ran down to the hotel reception where he hailed a taxi to the venue.
Unfortunately, the taxi went the wrong way and Graeme ended up getting out and running the last half a mile.
He arrived ten minutes late, was docked two frames and lost 5-3.
Naively believing that he may see the funny side, I asked Dott how he felt in the press conference afterwards.
He looked me in the eye and said, “suicidal.”
Wouldn’t it be easier if all the tournaments were held in Scotland?
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