As so often happens to players who go on to lift a title, Neil Robertson suffered a major scare in the opening round of the Bahrain Championship.
He led Marcus Campbell 4-1 but only beat him 5-4. Similarly, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ricky Walden were taken to deciders in their opening matches in Belfast and Shanghai respectively.
Of course, Robertson hasn't won the title yet but, like so many Aussie sportsmen, he is super confident and well aware that Matthew Stevens has lost five of his previous six ranking finals.
So I would make Robertson the favourite.
My main hope, though, is that the final is high quality and brings in a big crowd after what has been a disappointing turnout all week.
12 comments:
There is a much better chance of a good crowd today as Saturday is the weekend day in Bahrain.
Friday is the religious day and it's rare to see people out and about before the evening.
I think it's going to be a cracking good final. Both players back to form and with renewed confidence, so although I've no doubt it will get twitchy as they approach the winning line, I think we could see some good open flowing snooker for most of the match.
and I'm not biased at all Cymru Am Byth - Come on Matthew!
I still see lots of empty blue seats :(
Intermission came timely for Robertson who is looking nervous
at 4-3
This is the first snooker i've watched on Eurosport, and all I can say is...thank goodness the BBC cover all the main events.
Maybe it's not completely their fault (are Eurosport responsible for the camerawork & editing, or does a local company do the feed and they just broadcast it?), but the camerawork is appalling - a case in point, Steven's has just made a shot with the rest, and the shot stays on his face throughout, we don't see the shot at all...not even a replay of it...and what's with the complete lack of replays. I know some people criticise the amount of replays on the BBC coverage, but sometimes it is useful to see a shot again, or from a different angle (I'd have liked to have seen a different angle of Stevens going for that tight pot, where he hit the pink). The onscreen graphics are pretty poor as well, they look like something from the late 80's (and their irritating habit of flashing every time the score changes is surely unneccessary too).
Sorry, just had to vent for a bit there :-)
I can hear Mike Hallett's plaintive plea to cameramen and directors - the game is about the cue ball!
the filming in this case IS being done buy the local television company and Eurosport are taking the feed.
this is going to the wire now...
It's not perfect but I'm always reluctant to criticise Eurosport because I'm just grateful that we can watch at all.
Less of the "Singing in Bahrain" puns though Dave :D
What a brilliant game! One of the best finals since a long time. Both players are magnificent.
Congratulations Neil, epic final.
A question Dave, Steve Davis has been given 0 ranking points for the event on the updated WSA rankings. I assume that this will change but if so, will it be 1,400 or 1,900 that he gets?
O'Sullivan has also been given 0.
Eurosport were taking a feed fromthe host broadcasters, Bahrain TV
The director had never done snooker before this week and was obviously not as well versed in the technicalities of the game as his UK counterparts
Matt - I suspect it will take several weeks to sort out as the medical certificates Ronnie and Steve submitted will have to be studied
Ah ok, ta for the quick reply.
Post a Comment