tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post7730199346088931226..comments2024-02-03T12:04:16.336+00:00Comments on SNOOKER SCENE BLOG: HITTING THE GROUND WALKINGDave Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08037719321756898982noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-53237715518318503402012-02-27T15:37:54.604+00:002012-02-27T15:37:54.604+00:009.07. These cows are small. Those ones are faaaar ...9.07. These cows are small. Those ones are faaaar away. Different tournament, no defending champ. World champ is seeded one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-82573260799194275962012-02-27T09:07:03.921+00:002012-02-27T09:07:03.921+00:00I think the reason they haven't seeded the def...I think the reason they haven't seeded the defending champion is because they probably see it more as a continuation of the Hainan Classic, which it has replaced, and which Higgins won.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-29760669213544204512012-02-27T08:41:45.427+00:002012-02-27T08:41:45.427+00:00Its pretty obvious that its a different competitio...Its pretty obvious that its a different competition. Different slot, different country and different format. <br />The World open title is used to give the tournament a bit of credibility. The previous World open, or Grand Prix is now defunct. This is a new tournament.<br />Unless your Neal Robertson, It shouldnt bother you where hes seeded.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-84215833931501528132012-02-27T08:21:52.186+00:002012-02-27T08:21:52.186+00:00if i was bazza and some asians wanted to put money...if i was bazza and some asians wanted to put money into a comp where the WO used to slot in the calendar id let them use the name they wanted and choose whether its a new comp or a continuation of the old one.<br /><br />dont think thats rocket science.<br /><br />we either have a WO or we take what was on offer.<br /><br />we took what was on offer and its better than not having any snooker on and watching someone rattle around a bobsleigh course on the top part of a skateboardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-47442809704798250382012-02-27T08:14:19.222+00:002012-02-27T08:14:19.222+00:00Not sure Tom Ford will get a bye as he is 1-3 at t...Not sure Tom Ford will get a bye as he is 1-3 at the break!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-42679031643056628952012-02-26T23:42:23.862+00:002012-02-26T23:42:23.862+00:00It's almost as farcical as David Gray between ...It's almost as farcical as David Gray between stripped of his number 1 seeding when they renamed the Scottish Open. I doubt Robertson cares that much: he's in the easiest quarter with what looks like a straight run to the semis. Higgins as the top seed will most likely have to navigate Ding/Maguire in the QF.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-55052377399180903262012-02-26T21:11:38.365+00:002012-02-26T21:11:38.365+00:00The comparison with tennis is not really fair. Sno...The comparison with tennis is not really fair. Snooker has 90% of its top players living in /coming from the UK. As a Dutchman I would not be intetested in seeing a bunch of Dutch wildcards in the manner it's happening at the W.O. now.<br /><br />But that is not the point anyway. It's the lack of showing top players on TV in the early stages, to get people interested and watch the rest of the tournement.<br /><br />I also don't understand why Robertson isn't defending champ .. it's still the world open. Could it have something to do with the BBC dropping the Grand Prix maybe? What 'status' will this event have in the future?Gerardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-38877513061427598602012-02-26T18:59:29.806+00:002012-02-26T18:59:29.806+00:00Hossein Vafaei's match will not be shwon on TV...Hossein Vafaei's match will not be shwon on TV, in Iran or anywhere else<br /><br />Tomorrow's TV matches:<br />Sam Baird v Jin Long<br />Robert Milkins v Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon<br />Jimmy Robertson v Zhou Juelong<br />Joe Perry v Rouzi MaimaitiDave Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08037719321756898982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-83637515336873054582012-02-26T15:58:14.482+00:002012-02-26T15:58:14.482+00:00In response to a few points above...
"I can ...In response to a few points above...<br /><br />"I can easily imagine the matches featuring Chinese players get higher ratings, after all, Henman used to get the highest ratings on British TV for his matches."<br /><br />Yes, but that was Henman. What sort of ratings do you get for British players outside the top hundred?<br /><br />* * * * *<br /><br />"You get British wildcards at Wimbledon, so it's hardly a snooker anomaly. At the moment the wildcard system is the only chance Chinese players have to enter a tournament in their own country..."<br /><br />The British wild cards at Wimbledon go into the first round, so nobody who's earned a place in the draw by right has to play an extra match as a result.<br /><br />Plus, they don't play their matches before anyone else. At Wimbledon you get the defending champion first up on Centre Court on day one, which is the sort of attention-grabbing start any event could do with.<br /><br />And the wild card system isn't the only chance Chinese players have. They can play their way on to the tour and then go through the qualifiers.<br /><br />* * * * * <br /><br />Just another point this all raises though; next season it looks like there'll be five major ranking events in China - possibly as many as the rest of the world combined, and two more than Britain.<br /><br />So should all the qualifiers still be played in Britain? Is there an argument for having a month of qualifying competitions for the five Chinese events, in China?<br /><br />I can see the arguments on both sides, but it's something which perhaps merits talking about.<br /><br />As for the wild cards though, that really does look like an outdated idea now.<br /><br />For sure, Ding Junhui got in that way seven years ago and famously went on to win it, which was a great boost for snooker there.<br /><br />But they've become more and more of an anomaly as the years have gone on since then, and the time is now probably right for them to be scrapped.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-14855941540889012822012-02-26T13:34:05.771+00:002012-02-26T13:34:05.771+00:00Does not entirely agree with you Dave,Hossein Vafa...Does not entirely agree with you Dave,Hossein Vafaei is the current<br />IBSF world champion and still a junior, seems a good opportunity to<br />flash the game in Iran and there are four new chinese players that might be interesting to watch.<br />Asia is getting stronger in Billiardsports by the day, so why not play ball when it seems to be in the long term interest for the professional game?kimballnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-85760072225432073152012-02-26T12:11:50.309+00:002012-02-26T12:11:50.309+00:00Re: Anonymous 9:29am
7 years ago when the China O...Re: Anonymous 9:29am<br /><br />7 years ago when the China Open first held in Beijing, there were actually 16 wildcards offered. All the qualifiers need to play one more match. But that was the only time doing this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-11735708943809119022012-02-26T10:54:13.008+00:002012-02-26T10:54:13.008+00:00Dave I know that Dougie Donnelly does a lot of gol...Dave I know that Dougie Donnelly does a lot of golf work out in far east, why not team up with him for Eurosport?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-8891123692310921792012-02-26T09:41:14.825+00:002012-02-26T09:41:14.825+00:00These players are not professionals. If some plan ...These players are not professionals. If some plan in the future can be worked out so that there is a Chinese qualifier for Chinese players that may be different but just parachuting a load of players in (not all Chinese) does nothing for the event as a TV spectacle.<br /><br />And it's not at the behest of Chinese TV. Why would they show a Thai player over a Chinese (as is happening tomorrow)?<br /><br />The actual answer is that World Snooker has merely gone down the draw by match number.Dave Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08037719321756898982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-82167586957277017792012-02-26T09:29:22.371+00:002012-02-26T09:29:22.371+00:00You get British wildcards at Wimbledon, so it'...You get British wildcards at Wimbledon, so it's hardly a snooker anomaly. At the moment the wildcard system is the only chance Chinese players have to enter a tournament in their own country, so you can't really scrap it unless you install some kind of qualification system in the host country.<br /><br />I'm not being funny here Dave, but how would you address the problem? Would you advocate maybe 16 Chinese wildcards so all the qualifiers have to play a Chinese player? On one hand that would level the 'unfairness' but on the other it would drag out the wildcard round even longer, which you perceive as a real problem. You could go the other way and only have 8 British qualifiers to complement 8 wildcards, but then just moves the problem up a level by resulting in easier matches for some of the top 16 players. Ditching the wildcards altogether seems inherently unfair if there is no way to qualify for a tournament in your own country.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-44573788934162912432012-02-25T19:42:04.678+00:002012-02-25T19:42:04.678+00:00is it really that big a deal?
I can see the argum...is it really that big a deal?<br /><br />I can see the argument of course but this blog regularly talks about the huge advantage UK based players have. This despite the fact Hearn has failed to get one new tournament in the UK. <br /><br />The sympathy on here for people who go round the world hitting balls never ceases to amaze me.NewsBrainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04667082818265414145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-68690597937956290202012-02-25T18:23:33.174+00:002012-02-25T18:23:33.174+00:00and breathe.......and breathe.......Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-77625183160417831262012-02-25T18:19:25.221+00:002012-02-25T18:19:25.221+00:00I can easily imagine the matches featuring Chinese...I can easily imagine the matches featuring Chinese players get higher ratings, after all, Henman used to get the highest ratings on British TV for his matches. Having a line-up of Chinese players on the first day may be the best way to launch the event, at least for the host broadcaster; after all, the broadcaster isn't going to insist on screening matches that no-one wants to watch, is it? Unless you have the audience figures handy Dave—and I mean for the Chinese broadcaster not Eurosport—then we can't really second guess Barry can we? He wouldn't make a mistake like that unless it's been taken out of his hands.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-12693470409970079992012-02-25T18:15:01.041+00:002012-02-25T18:15:01.041+00:00I look forward to you putting these points to Mr H...I look forward to you putting these points to Mr Hearn in your next interview with him!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-91221997592848626982012-02-25T18:05:11.915+00:002012-02-25T18:05:11.915+00:00I find it difficult to understand why Neil Roberts...I find it difficult to understand why Neil Robertson isn't regarded reigning champ of the World Open? He should of course have been seeded #1.<br /><br />If it's regarded a new tournament, then why did they keep the name World Open?<br /><br />Grand Prix/World open is one of the oldest tournaments on the circuit, so it's name and history shuld have been "kept".Sparkynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-84974728202686552522012-02-25T17:26:13.965+00:002012-02-25T17:26:13.965+00:00Arent you answering your own question really thoug...Arent you answering your own question really though Dave.<br /><br />I raised similar concerns about the German Masters schedule and big names on TV tables then and you just stated that TV dictated the schedule etc. so its clearly the case again here.<br /><br />For the record though i wholly agree, those who have qualified deserve to be in round 1 proper. <br /><br />And i really dont see the advantage of wildcard rounds full stop now, especially in regions like China where the sport is established. Its almost like positive discrimination and inverted racism as if its a notion that the Chinese wouldnt be interested in watching a tournament without "some of their own" involved.<br /><br />Worth noting too that the prize money in the World Open is down too from last year, despite the obvious additional expenses players will incur. <br /><br />Having attended the World Open last year i really enjoyed the 1 table best of 5 format and also the opportunities it gave to club players and amateurs. Id like to see this format reintroduced in some capacity in the future.Witz78noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29605452.post-8501819252314614732012-02-25T16:56:00.330+00:002012-02-25T16:56:00.330+00:00What happened to the S.P.A? Surely the injustice o...What happened to the S.P.A? Surely the injustice outlined above is the very thing that a players union should be championing.kildare cuemannoreply@blogger.com