24.10.10

CAMPBELL'S OUT OF THE SOUP

Marcus Campbell is the winner of European Players Tour Championship event 3 after he beat Liang Wenbo 4-0 in the final in Russelsheim, Germany tonight.

It is a result which consolidates his place in the top 32 and he will be seeded in this bracket for the German Masters and Welsh Open if he can keep his place after the UK Championship.

Campbell is still best known for his sensational 9-0 whitewash of Stephen Hendry in the first round of the 1998 UK Championship.

It was a great win, a great moment, but something of a millstone around his neck too. In the intervening 12 years he would have hoped for more and better achievements.

The truth is, Marcus has been a journeyman for most of his career but he has enjoyed a noticeable upturn in fortunes in the last two years.

He made a 147 at the 2008 Bahrain Championship, had a solid set of results last season, qualifying for the Crucible for only the second time, and has continued in that vein during this campaign.

So why the turnaround after 19 years on the circuit?

Well, Campbell became a father last year and the arrival of baby Leighton seems to have sorted out his priorities.

With the extra mouth to feed he’s practising more and all the hard work is paying off.

Marcus has spent many years on the tour striving for success. Now he’s getting some he should enjoy it – and keep pressing for more.

Like Barry Pinches earlier in the PTC series, it’s nice to see one of snooker’s battle hardened campaigners having a moment to celebrate.

40 comments:

  1. Betty Logan11:41 pm

    Do you think the reason for Allen's and Carter's withdrawals was that they took one look at the draw, and saw Robertson, Stevens, Ding, Wenbo, Ebdon and Murphy in their section?

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  2. Anonymous8:10 am

    nah, cos it didnt look like dingy was bothered to be there, judging by the way he seemed to lie down to wendy

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  3. Anonymous8:14 am

    ...oh, well done mc. a proud scot

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  4. shaun foster(wigan)9:11 am

    I agree betty i think its about time allen started to let his snooker do the talking for a change but well done marcus and good to see micheal white ken doherty and wenbo having a good run to.i also dont think it will be long before higginson notches up a tournement to

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  5. kildare cueman10:21 am

    This result, although in a PTC, must go down as one of the biggest shock results ever.

    For a journeyman like Campbell to reach the semis is an achievement, but I expected Doherty to comfortably dispatch him.

    In the final I expected Wenbo to win 4-0 and was amazed to see him lose by that score.

    Another thing that amazed me was Ding's petulance in smashing the pack and making no effort when he got in.

    I suggested on this blog some time ago that a disciplinary charge should be introduced for "not trying".

    We've seen it before from Hann and O'Sullivan, and it now looks as if Ding needs to be "in the mood" before he trys to play properly.

    These players should remember that the only reason they earn so much, is that the sheer number of people that want to watch them, dictates the amount of sponsorship that the game receives.

    There is also the chance that Dings lack of interest could be interpreted by some as a match fixing attempt, particularly against his fellow countryman.

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  6. Anonymous11:01 am

    Betty @ 11.41,
    Carter posted on another blog, before the draw, that he was too busy to play this one.
    Allen, though might go on to regret not playing.
    If he loses his first round in the UK there are 4 or 5 players that can overtake him an d knock him out of the top 16.
    This surely wouldn't have been possible if he'd played in them all.
    He might also struggle in the qualifiers. Its not as easy 2nd time round, as many stars will testify.

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  7. Anonymous12:38 pm

    dave, have you seen the footage of ding.wenbo
    ?

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  8. No. Is it on Youtube?

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  9. Anonymous1:04 pm

    yes it is on youtube

    as well as most of mjw's 147

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  10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgYk62vOkc

    Williams max:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN_nn8OnwZ0

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  11. Anonymous1:11 pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgYk62vOkc

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  12. Anonymous1:12 pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgYk62vOkc theres the link dave to wenbo-ding match.

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  13. I never saw the Campbell against Hendry match twelve years ago, but it is still a result that for me is the biggest shock in snooker history.

    I'm guessing Hendry must have been dreadful, I would be interested to hear from someone who saw the match as to what the standard of Marcus was like compared to Stephen that day.

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  14. Anonymous1:16 pm

    i think it is absolutely terrible !

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  15. Congartulations to Marco Fu, who got there first and Anthony Hamilton for becoming the tenth and eleventh players to compile 200 centuries in competition. The '200' club is now the more exclusive club as lots of players are either in the '100' club or poised to enter into it.

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  16. Anonymous1:28 pm

    jamie it wasnt the most shocking thing in snooker history

    one of the best players asking for oral sex at a press conference was more shocking.

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  17. I was there in 1998 but didn't see a ball of it.

    However, Hendry was pretty low in confidence at the time: Higgins had taken his no.1 position and he'd lost to White in thye first round at the Crucible.

    Losing to Campbell in such an embarrassing manner was the best thing that could have happened in retrospect. It forced him to accept he would need to remodel his game, he did, and then he won a seventh world title.

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  18. Anonymous1:35 pm

    anyone think WS will investigate that match?

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  19. Clearly, I was talking about matches.

    In what way, do you mean remodel his game? As to me in the 1999 World Championship, he still seemed as attacking as ever. Are we talking slight technical changes?

    I agree about the confidence thing, but still a huge shock in a match not televised by the cameras I recall.

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  20. Anonymous2:52 pm

    Didn´t Campbell beat Hendry the next time they played?
    The biggest shock I ever saw was when Mark Johnston-Allen beat Hendry 5-0 closely follwed by Danny Fowler destroying Kirk Stevens 5-1 many moons ago.

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  21. Tony Knowles beating Steve Davis in 1982 at the Crucible, would be the biggest upset to rival it.

    The only difference I noticed in Hendry in 1999, is that his confidence was back, I felt around 2005, he started to marginally rein in his attacking instincts.

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  22. Anonymous5:06 pm

    wonder what dave will comment on dings vid, if he does comment that is

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  23. It was obviously a petulant reaction to being 3-0 down, but I don't know if there were off table issues affecting his state of mind.

    World Snooker have the option of withholding his prize money if they believe he failed to give of his best.

    In general, I think the players of today should realise how lucky they are. 40 years ago there was no money in snooker. The top prize in the World Championship was less than £500 before Alex Higgins led the game's transformation into a frontline TV attraction. If the players of that era had tournaments every weekend carrying five figure first prizes they'd consider it a miracle and play in every one. They wouldn't be 'too busy' and they wouldn't be smashing the pack when things went wrong.

    There are a small handful of players on the circuit who have a right to feel that these events are beneath them. The rest should be grateful - and indeed the vast majority of them are, hence someone like Campbell grafts his way to a well earned victory because he has taken it seriously.

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  24. I think Hendry losing 5-0 to Tai Pichit was arguably a bigger shock than losing to Campbell because he was very much at his peak then, although the fact Campbell won 9-0 was remarkable

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  25. Anonymous5:38 pm

    dave, on the one video evidence alone that is what it seems

    however, theres no way of knowing if he acted like that from the start (unless other witnesses report othersie to WS)

    i hope it was just one frame petulance

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  26. According to a poster on snookerbacker.com (the one that uploaded the video) Ding behaved like that pretty much from the start, playing more difficult balls than needed to and deliberately left balls over the pockets.

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  27. If that's the case then I imagine the referee will have reported him.

    I think I could make out Mike Ganley - the tournament director - walking away after the match having watched at least some of it.

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  28. Betty Logan8:22 pm

    There is always the possibility he chucked it so his compatriot would have a chance of getting back into the top 16. They'll stay away from Ding I suspect, since the WSA won't want to sour its relations with the Chinese snooker association.

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  29. Anonymous8:27 pm

    Two matches have been reported to the displinary body, one of which is Ding / Wenbo.

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  30. Anonymous9:32 pm

    the other is mark williams v g.greene

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  31. Anonymous11:42 pm

    You scratch my back
    I'll scratch yours.

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  32. I saw both matches in question live in Ruesselsheim. I think Ding was frustrated about Liang winning the first two frames without any chance. After that it was obvious he wanted to leave the table as soon as possible.

    The performance of Mark Williams in his match against Gerard Greene was ridiculous. He was upfront in the first frame with only pink and black on the table and Gerard needed snooker which he finally got and won the frame. A similar beginning of the second frame as Mark was leading with a high break and lost the frame again. Then it was obvious he lost any interest in winning. After the third frame Mark and Gerard prepared the table for the fourth frame by themselves and started playing behind the back of the referee who was still struggling with the results on the score screen and filling out the written record/protocol. Both players thought it was funny, I thought it was a shame for both and Mark in particular. It really looked as he wanted to make a gift for Gerard by losing as fast as possible.

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  33. Slight correction... Hendry actually lost 5-2 to Tai Pichit

    still a huge shock obviously

    http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/snooker-hendry-beaten-by-former-monk-1427298.html

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  34. kildare cueman8:25 am

    I think the disciplnary body need to get their finger out sharpish.

    All players should be expressly told that being a pro means behaving in a professional manner.

    This practise of "giving up" in front of spectators is unacceptable. I feel it hurts the game, and particularly top pros like O'Sullivan, Williams and Ding should have a bit more cop.

    They are sending out the wrong signals, not only to youngsters watching at home, but to the young pros, who will aspire to emulate these stars.

    You wont always play well, but its still a job, and there are times when you don't feel like working, but you have to plug on.

    Some of these prima donnas should remember who pays their wages, and why.

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  35. Betty Logan1:00 pm

    In an interview last year John Higgins said that the one rule that needs changing is being able to concede frames while you can still technically win them, and I think he's right. If you concede frames now you get fined, so instead we have this "couldn't care less attitude" when the player knows the match is over so just sticks them up so his opponent can finish the match off quickly. It looks suspect because it can be mistaken for match-fixing, and needs to be discouraged, but the governing body has opened this Pandora's box itself by banning concessions. Being able to concede is the basic right of every sports professional in every competitive contest and it shouldn't have been taken away from snooker players.

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  36. Anonymous2:05 pm

    bl

    what do you mean it can be mistaken for match fixing?

    if i deliberately miss balls and leave them easy for my opponent then i am fixing the outcome of frames / match.

    think before you post, (wo)man!

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  37. Betty Logan4:24 pm

    If you deliberately pot balls you are fixing the outcome of a frame! That Stephen Hendry in the 90s eh, what a criminal. Match-fixing (if we go by the generally accepted definition rather than a literal interpretation) is when the outcome of the frames/match is pre-determined. That clearly isn't the case here — or at least I hope not — but a stupid rule is now compromising players and casting suspicion over innocent situations.

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  38. Great point Betty

    Also while we're talking about "rules that are supposed to make the sport gentlemanly but just make it look stupid", when is Hearn going to lose the bow ties?

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  39. Anonymous1:21 am

    youre talking mince, betsy

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  40. Anonymous6:57 am

    well done on the smoke screen and mirrors betsy, but my point was directly aimed at one part of your post and fine you know it.

    that part of your post was idiotic!

    lagally potting balls isnt match fixing. its what is meant to be done.

    sticking up easy pots by missing easy ones yourself is FIXING

    youre either looking for a rise out of me or you are pretending to be a bit retarded.

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