KEN DOHERTY: THE PRO'S PRO

Ken Doherty took part in a promotional day for the Northern Ireland Trophy with his good friend Joe Swail in Belfast yesterday.

Ken was a perfect choice and not just because this is an Irish tournament.

He is, and always has been, one of the best ambassadors snooker could ask for.

I’ve interviewed Ken many times after he’s lost a match, sometimes when he’s lost in frustrating circumstances to a player he knows he should have beaten.

He has never been anything less than professional and courteous, answering every question properly and never once spitting his dummy out.

His 1997 world title triumph was a surprise in as much as he beat Stephen Hendry in the final but it was also extremely popular, not least back home in Ireland where tens of thousands turned out to salute him as he paraded the trophy in Dublin.

He has been in two world finals since. To get to the last one in 2003, he won one of the best matches I’ve ever seen to come from 15-9 down and beat the late Paul Hunter 17-16.

What was particularly memorable was the sportsmanship between the two players afterwards. I know Ken would have been as gracious as Paul was had the result been reversed.

Two years ago he was ranked second in the world, his highest ever position. Last season he was fourth but he heads into the new campaign 18th, out of the top 16 for the first time in 15 years.

He doesn’t complain about this or blame anything other than his own results. He will simply turn up at the qualifiers in those events where he isn’t starting out at the final venue and play.

Ken is as down to earth as anyone on the circuit but he is the only snooker player I know of with an interest in renaissance art, in particular the painter Caravaggio.

He married an Australian psychiatrist, Dr. Sarah Prasad, and the couple have a young son, Christian.

I have no doubt that Ken will move into the media and commentary in the next year or two. His genial manner is perfect for it.

But I hope he continues to play for the foreseeable future and would personally be very happy to see him return to the top 16.

Snooker needs players who demonstrate a commitment to their sport beyond merely turning up and pocketing the money.

Ken Doherty still has much to give to a sport he has done more than most to promote during his 18 years on the circuit.

CHRIS SMALL'S BATTLE ENDS - WITHOUT A PENNY

Chris Small, the 2002 LG Cup champion and one time world no.12, has abandoned his long battle to receive money from the WPBSA benevolent fund.

Chris retired from the professional game three years ago because of a debilitating disease of the spine, ankylosing spondalytis.

Despite this, he has not received a single penny from the benevolent fund - which was set up to help players in this very position.

The full story appears here in tonight's Edinburgh Evening News.

It says the WPBSA wanted him to provide a medical certificate proving his illness, which would have cost him £250 - a not insignificant sum for someone relying on state benefits.

This begs the question: did they think that despite quitting snooker and spending long periods of time in a wheelchair he was somehow putting it on?

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 3

1997 - RONNIE O'SULLIVAN MAKES MAXIMUM IN RECORD TIME

There have been over 1,000 century breaks made at the Crucible, thousands and thousands more elsewhere and 63 officially ratified 147s since Steve Davis made the first in 1982.

But there’s never been anything like the five minutes, 20 seconds of genius served up by Ronnie O’Sullivan one Monday afternoon in April 1997.

O’Sullivan, at the time 21, had struggled in the opening session of his first round match against Mick Price and trailed 4-3 before winning the last two frames to get his nose in front.

Breaks of 91 and 86 made it 7-4 and the result no longer seemed in doubt. At 8-5, O’Sullivan knocked in a red from distance, the cue ball flicked off another red and knocked the black towards a corner pocket.

From then on it was perfection. On 49, he went into the pack and the table was at his mercy. On 89 he split two reds that were impeding one another.

After that he never looked liked he would miss. There was barely time for the audience to contemplate it in any case.

Why does this 147 rate higher than any other? Because it was the perfect demonstration of sheer natural talent.

O’Sullivan made the game look ridiculously easy. Anyone who has ever played snooker – at any level – knows that it isn’t.

Also, the break was one of those moments that lifted snooker from the sports section of newspapers and gave the game wider currency.

It is something we have come to rely on O’Sullivan for more and more over the years, often to his detriment.

That afternoon in 1997 he had an average shot time of under nine seconds and earned £530 a second for the maximum.

It was worth every penny. O’Sullivan failed to make good on this moment of brilliance by losing in the next round. He would not win the title until he was 25.

But in terms of what can be achieved on a snooker table, this break stands above any other.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

In the last week alone, this blog has been read by people in 41 different countries.

This is one illustration of snooker's global appeal. It isn't properly represented by the the composition of the professional circuit - of the 96 players, only 13 are from outside Great Britain and Ireland.

However, there is far more to snooker than the pro game and it is good to know there is so much interest around the world.

For the record, we have had visitors from the UK, Germany, Ukraine, Ireland, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, Finland, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Canada, USA, Israel, Norway, Belgium, Lithuania, France, Spain, China, Switzerland, Australia, Latvia, Netherlands, Sweden, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, Singapore, Belarus, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Malaysia, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritius, Brazil and Denmark.

IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK

The sun here in the UK may have finally shown up but there’s still plenty going on in Snookerland...

Mike Russell has won the World Professional Billiards Championship for a ninth time. Russell, 39, first won the title in 1989 and his 1,821-1,342 defeat of Geet Sethi further confirms him as the finest player of his generation.

In most sports, nine world titles would mean fame and riches but Russell will be back shortly in Qatar where he coaches the national team.

Mohammed Elhamy of Egypt is the new African champion. He won the title on Sunday in Libya.

Snooker and the world has come a long way since 1986 when Ronald Reagan ordered bombing raids on Tripoli.

Anne Marie Reilly is to referee at the Northern Ireland Trophy qualifiers next month. She becomes the third woman, after Michaela Tabb and Patricia Murphy, to join the roster of officials.

Tabb took charge of the Saga Insurance Masters final last season and must surely be a hot favourite to referee the world final if not next year then in 2010.

Still on refereeing, we may be seeing less of Alan Chamberlain on our screens this season as he has now reached the official retirement age of 65. He will still be involved but probably in a reduced role.

Alan has been on the circuit for the best part of 25 years and refereed the 1997 Crucible final as well as several Wembley Masters finals.

A presentation was made to him at the Crucible earlier this year when he was handed a painting made up of former world champions.

This last week he has been running the World Billiards Championship in his usual efficient way.

There will be a big pro-am in Belgium from September 19-21 for which the winner will receive 5,000 euros.

Plenty of top players will be taking part, including former world champions Ken Doherty, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy, reigning Masters champion Mark Selby and world no.2 Stephen Maguire.

Joe Swail has launched his own website and very nice it looks too.

The Paul Hunter English Open is underway in Leeds and runs until August 3, the same day the second PIOS event of the season begins in Prestatyn.

June Davis, the widow of the great Joe, died last week on her 98th birthday.

She had a fine career in her own right as a singer, notably in Jack Hylton’s dance band.

A snooker playing dog that appeared on the ITV programme ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ has been run over by its owner.

Never let it be said we don’t cover all the hot topics here.

TO RUSSIA WITH CUES

The Grand Finals of the World Series will be staged in Moscow for at least the next three years.

FSTC Sports Management, the promoters, have signed a deal with IMM Group, responsible for tennis's Kremlin Cup.

The Grand Finals take place on November 29-30. They were originally due to be in Hamm, Germany but the schedule has been altered after World Snooker changed the dates for the Shanghai Masters.

The Moscow leg had been planned for September 27-28 after FSTC were informed the Shanghai event would not start until October 1.

However, it now begins on September 29 and it was felt this was far too tight a schedule for players involved in both tournaments.

Therefore, the September leg has been scrapped but this blow will be softened by the news of Russian investment.

John Higgins, who won the first World Series tournament in Jersey, likened it to Roman Abramovich's involvement with Chelsea.

“This type of relationship with Russia has not done Chelsea any harm and we are looking forward to the potential this offers the game for years to come," he said.

“This is exactly the type of opportunity we believed existed when we first discussed the concept of the World Series of snooker.

“While I knew snooker was popular in these regions, I really did not know just how big.

“The commercial potential this brings to both the players and the game itself is incredible.”

It's not all bad news for snooker fans in Hamm. There will now be an exhibition on the weekend of November 29-30 featuring Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The Warsaw leg of the World Series on October 25-26 remains in place.

NEW VENUE FOR GRAND PRIX - NOW LET'S HAVE AN OPEN DRAW

The Royal London Watches Grand Prix has a new venue and will revert to a knockout format this year.

It will be moving from the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, which has staged it for the last two years, and is heading to the SECC in Glasgow, a first rate venue that hosted the 2004 Players Championship.

For the last two seasons the early stages have been played in groups. This received a mixed response from snooker fans but most players were against the round robins.

World Snooker’s official press release states: “We would like to thank all the staff at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre for their co-operation and assistance during the last two years. Snooker has a rich history with the AECC and the Royal London Watches Grand Prix has been well supported during this time.”

This is being kind to say the least. Crowd figures were very disappointing – the main reason the tournament is moving to Glasgow.

Aberdeen is a bit out of the way for many – and the venue is not in the city centre – but it attracted huge crowds for the Scottish Open from 1997 to 2002.

Interest failed to pick up again, although some put this down to poor marketing. I well recall Ronnie O’Sullivan coming into the press room at the 2006 event demanding to know why promotional posters for the tournament had only been put up the day before it started.

He had a point.

I think Glasgow will be better supported as it is more accessible and it is good to see this tournament, which began in 1984, continuing.

This was by no means a certainty just a few months ago when it was very nearly turned into a World Cup event.

Most would welcome a World Cup but would not want to lose one of the few long running tournaments the game still has.

But here’s my suggestion: let’s do something different and use a random draw format – like the FA Cup – instead of having seedings.

It would give it a unique identity and cause great excitement for players and fans alike as they wait to find out the various pairings.

This format was used three times for the British Open in the early 1990s.

People often say it didn’t work because Bob Chaperon ended up winning the title but they ignore the fact that the other two winners were Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White.

I think this would, together with an excellent new venue, re-energise the whole event.

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 4

1982 - ALEX HIGGINS WINS SECOND WORLD TITLE

The 1982 World Championship was expected to conclude with a Steve Davis-Terry Griffiths final.

These two players had dominated the season, contesting four finals, but neither survived the first round. Griffiths fell 10-6 to Willie Thorne while Davis fell victim to arguably the biggest Crucible shock of all time, a 10-1 defeat to Tony Knowles.

With Cliff Thorburn also a first fence faller it left the championship wide open.

Step forward one Alexander Gordon Higgins.

He had won the title for the first time a decade earlier. This had had a huge impact on snooker, bringing in fans excited by his lightning fast style of play and combustible personality.

A litany of disciplinary transgressions did nothing to dilute his popularity. He was known as the people’s champion and, for a second time, he was about to become world champion.

A routine 10-5 win against Jim Meadowcroft was followed by a nerve-wracking struggle with Doug Mountjoy in the second round which he finally won 13-12 before Thorne was dispatched 13-10 in the quarter-finals.

The 69 break Higgins made to stay in his semi-final against Jimmy White has been repeated endlessly since.

Quite right too. It is an extraordinary break. As John Spencer said on commentary, it could be argued to be one of the worst breaks ever made because Higgins is hardly ever in position, but the balls he knocks in under pressure make it one of the best ever seen.

It brought the match to 15-15 and Higgins comfortably won the decider to reach the final.

He was up against Ray Reardon, an authority figure in the same way Higgins was anti-establishment.

Reardon was 5-3 up after the first session but Higgins pulled 10-7 clear after the first day.

He failed to pull away further during a tense final day and, at 15-15, Reardon was still well placed to win a seventh world title.

However, Higgins, roared on by his vociferous supporters, powered through the last three frames, limiting Reardon to only nine points.

His 135 total clearance in the last frame was his highest ever break at the Crucible.

It is the scenes that followed, though, that live longest in the memory: Higgins in floods of tears as he beckoned his then wife, Lynn, and baby daughter, Lauren, on to the Crucible stage.

The image of the three locked in a tearful embrace with the World Championship trophy is one of the most iconic in snooker history.

It represented an all too brief moment of contentment for this most troubled of stars.

CARPET BAGGERS

World Snooker’s latest competition reminds me of a line in Fawlty Towers when Basil is explaining to a guest about the refurbishment of the bar area.

“We thought the carpet would go with the curtains,” he tells him.

“Yes,” replies the guest, “one of them will have to go.”

World Snooker’s competition will see one lucky individual win a piece of carpet that has been well trodden in the Crucible foyer since 1987.

The carpet is described by World Snooker as “iconic.” This is, I would suggest, true as it very much resembles the coat worn by Joseph in the musical of the same name.

Its dizzying array of colours reminds me of those magic eye pictures that were all the rage in the 1990s.

You remember them: you stared at them for 15 minutes and either saw a 3D image or got a headache.

If you would like to enter the competition, email competitions@worldsnooker.com with ‘carpet’ in the subject line and tell them who the current world champion is.

For the record, I’m not entering.

I’m holding out for when they start giving away the blinds in the press room.

LET'S TO BILLIARDS

I recall Rex Williams once soberly informing me that “there is no such thing as a snooker table, only billiard tables.”

Rex won the World Billiards Championship seven times so who was I to contradict him?

The point he was making, of course, is that the three-ball game predates snooker. By some distance, actually, as it is believed to have been invented in the 15th century, whereas snooker came along, and was partly derived from billiards, in the late 19th century.

Barry Hearn, the gregarious manager of Steve Davis and notable others, best summed up why billiards failed to match snooker’s appeal on TV in the 1980s.

“Not enough balls,” was his verdict.

To put it another way, billiards is a game of considerable skill. It consists of cannons, pots and in-offs and requires pinpoint accuracy.

Where it falls down as a spectacle is that the top players are simply too good. In snooker, the variances of the game mean that players miss or suffer bad luck or call on the greater retinue of shot options to make one frame different to the next.

To the untrained eye, billiards is the same thing over and over again.

There have been changes over the years and needless to say they haven’t all gone down well with traditionalists. Some of them are obvious – changing the white ball with a spot to a yellow ball.

There is also a rule about having to cross the baulkline after a set number of points to stop players playing the same few shots in a particular area of the table.

It was long before this restriction was introduced that Tom Reece compiled the highest break in the history of billiards in 1907.

Making heavy use of the anchor or ‘cradle’ cannon, Reece made a break of 499,135 over the course of five weeks.

His opponent, Joe Chapman, would arrive each day, take off his coat, sit in the non-striker’s chair and watch as Reece went further and further ahead.

Talk about soul destroying.

The first World Billiards Championship in 1825 consisted of a challenge between Edwin Kentfield and Jack Carr.

Kentfield took the title after only one game. Carr could not continue as he died shortly before they were scheduled to play the second.

Billiards is particularly strong in India, where Geet Sethi and Pankaj Advani are regarded as among the country’s top sportsman.

Snooker Scene editor Clive Everton this year won his 15th Midland amateur title a mere 46 years after he won his first.

Clive also won a billiards event in Canada in the early 1980s that had a field of variable quality. He beat Long John Baldrey’s pianist in the first round and Steve Davis in the final.

Mike Russell is the best player of the last 20 years and will be aiming for a ninth world title at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds from tomorrow until Sunday.

Professional billiards has declined to such an extent that this is now the only tournament on what can hardly be called a circuit.

The ‘B’ in WPBSA refers to billiards, which is possibly the only reason the World Championship is on at all.

There is a thriving amateur scene in England but the three-ball precursor to snooker has, sadly, been allowed to wither and almost die.

Even so, it is good to see billiards just about surviving.

The game is a link to the past. If you needed any further convincing: the quote in the headline is taken from Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Despite the acres and acres of coverage afforded it in the media, the Open Golf Championship drew a peak viewing audience of 4.7m on the BBC, just 500,000 more than the peak for this year’s world snooker final.

Actually, they are not like-for-like figures because the golf was shown on BBC1 and the snooker on BBC2, which is still considered a minority channel.

Also, while events at Birkdale were closely fought until Padraig Harrington turned it on over the last few holes, the Crucible final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter very quickly turned into a procession, so the final session was decidedly low on drama, which would have meant a lower audience than for a close finish.

So why does a sport like golf attract 20 times the media coverage that snooker does?

Some of this is snooker’s own fault, in terms of how it’s marketed and promoted, but most of it is a form of cultural snobbery.

Golf is a middle class game. It is the sport presidents and high-powered businessmen play. It costs fortunes to join many clubs and the game revels in its own elitism.

Snooker is traditionally working class, but in reality is open to all. Many, many people look down on it for this reason and because it does not require physical fitness, as if this negates the considerable skill required to play it at the top level.

The media get very excited about the World Championship but little else. Sometimes you can’t blame them as very little happens between tournaments, especially as players are threatened with disciplinary action for even the mildest of statements.

However, look at the BBC snooker homepage. It hasn’t changed since June 8, even though there have been three tournaments played since (the Jiangsu Classic and two in the World Series).

For a period in the 1980s, snooker was the most popular sport on British television. Figures have declined but are still satisfactory and often more than satisfactory. On Eurosport, they are on the up-and-up.

Yet this doesn’t translate into finding top class sponsors for new events.

It’s easy to blame World Snooker for this – and they are to blame for some of it – but they are fighting against the same cultural stigma the game carries.

Chief executives would rather stand on the first tee alongside Tiger Woods in a pre-tournament pro-am than go anywhere near snooker.

Golf carries more prestige and, because it is popular in America, affords opportunities for brand penetration and all the other horrible marketing buzzwords major corporations use.

What’s the solution? Snooker should not apologise for appealing to every sort of person, regardless of class or background.

But the time has come to look at ways of changing the game’s appeal and think globally. This does not just mean China but also continental Europe and beyond.

Going to venues such as the Newport Centre is not going to persuade anyone with money to invest to get involved.

The promoters of the new World Series have the right idea in terms of merchandising and bringing fans closer to the players, as witnessed recently in Berlin.

The sport may even have to embrace shorter formats such as the shot-clock used in the Premier League or the 6-red version of the game, which proved popular recently with players who competed in an event in Thailand, in the same way cricket had to turn to one-day internationals and 20/20.

There is nothing wrong with snooker as a game. It is still played and watched by millions around the world. Its top players are household names from Birmingham to Beijing to Berlin.

But it has been allowed to stagnate, as witnessed by the skeletal calendar for the new season.

The sport needs to send out a message to sponsors that it is worth getting involved with, and this will only happen when it first acknowledges that a change of approach is required.

Just stumbling on the same old way isn’t going to work.

MAGUIRE SET FOR O'BRIEN REMATCH

Stephen Maguire faces a rematch with Fergal O’Brien, who he beat in the final of last year’s Northern Ireland Trophy, in his opening match of this year’s Belfast event.

Maguire, whose preparation for the tournament has been affected by a suspected cracked rib, won the title at the Waterfront Hall in 2007 with a 9-5 defeat of O’Brien and will face him again if the Dubliner comes through his first round match.

Other interesting clashes in the last 32 could include Ronnie O’Sullivan v Ken Doherty and Shaun Murphy v Mark Williams.

Doherty and Williams each dropped out of the elite top 16 last season and so have to play in the round of the last 48.

Jimmy White starts out in the very first qualifying round on August 15 against Thailand’s Atthasit Mahitthi.

You can view the full draw here.

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 5

1982 - STEVE DAVIS MAKES FIRST TELEVISED 147

Steve Davis in 2008 seems happy with his status as a snooker legend. Unlike Stephen Hendry, he does not enter tournaments believing he is among the likely winners. His love of competition is enough.

The Steve Davis of 1982 was a different animal entirely. He was yet to be the official no.1 in the world rankings – still worked out through an arcane countback of World Championships – but everyone knew he was the best player. He was world champion after all.

The first tournament of the year was the Lada Classic, a tournament broadcast by ITV who three years earlier had missed a moment of snooker history when their cameramen took a lunch break as John Spencer compiled what would have been the first televised 147.

As it transpired, Spencer’s break would not have counted as the pockets were not ratified but ITV learned their lesson. They recorded every ball thereafter.

Fast forward to January 11, 1982 and the Oldham Civic Centre, about as unlikely a venue for sporting history as you are ever likely to find. It was the quarter-finals and Spencer was in action against Davis.

Jet-lagged having only just arrived back from a round-the-world tour with manager Barry Hearn, Davis entered the interval level at 2-2.

Frame five and Spencer played a dreadful break-off shot, leaving Davis a red to the right middle. He potted it and coolly set about stamping his authority on the match.

No better way than taking blacks with every red.

The 15th red was missable from distance in any scenario, let alone the chance for a 147 but he slotted it home and had the colours on their spots.

In went the yellow, in went the green, in went the brown but he was high on the blue and watched anxiously as the cue ball came to rest just a few inches below the pink.

Using the rest, he knocked it in and finished on the black, potting it with tremendous poise to a rapturous reception.

This was a genuine moment to savour. It was history in the making and, given this, David Taylor’s excitable commentary at the end, shouting over the always languid John Pulman, was just about excusable.

There’s a fashion among arriviste snooker followers to believe that the game only reached a decent standard four or five years ago and that the top players of the 1980s or even the 1990s were somehow inferior.

It’s nonsense. Davis’s break is a perfect illustration of the talent and temperament of a player who could have lived with any other of any era.

Here's the break.

MAGUIRE'S BIG BREAK

Stephen Maguire’s preparation for the defence of his Northern Ireland Trophy title has been severely affected after he suffered a suspected cracked rib playing badminton.

Maguire, the world no.2, sustained the injury before last weekend’s World Series event in Berlin where he was in pain on certain shots.

He is awaiting the results of an x-ray and hoping to make a full recovery for the Belfast tournament, which takes place from August 24-31.

“I fell and my hand went into my rib,” Maguire said. “It might be cracked. There are shots I can’t bend for.”

Maguire, 27, defeated Fergal O’Brien 9-5 to win the Northern Ireland title at the Waterfront Hall last year and followed it up by beating Shaun Murphy 10-9 to win the China Open in Beijing in March.

MURPHY'S LAW

According to this newspaper story, Shaun Murphy is to become a school governor.

Let's hope the teachers don't forget their chalk!

SELT DENIES BRIBE CLAIMS

Matt Selt has told the Guardian that claims he offered a bribe to an opponent were the result of 'Chinese whispers.'

Story here.

THREE WORLD CHAMPIONS

The summer is traditionally a downtime for snooker's great and good, but that doesn't stop them making the news.

The Sun reports that Alex Higgins, no exactly a strabger to aggravation over the years, was throttled so badly in a row outside a pub that he couldn't speak for a week.

Steve Davis, not short of a few quid following a glittering snooker career, pocketed more than $28,000 at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is living on his own in a rented apartment after the breakdown of his relationship, reports the Sunday Times.

In their own ways, all three stories are revealing about the personalities of these world champions.

They also prove that snooker is still thought to be worth writing about, even when there are few tournaments to report.

GOLDEN GRAEME

Graeme Dott is a wee Glaswegian but has a big heart and once again demonstrated his considerable fighting qualities by winning the World Series event in Berlin last night.

Three months ago, Dott was sat at home barely able to move.

Diagnosed with depression, the last thing he wanted to do was play snooker.

He was moments away from withdrawing from the 888.com World Championship in April before his manager, Pat Mooney, asked him to give it another week.

Graeme went to the Crucible in the end and, though he lost 10-7 to Joe Perry, put up a good account of himself.

Even so, it was a season to forget. He lost 15 and drew one of his last 16 matches, fell from second to 13th in the world rankings and is languishing in 39th place in the provisional standings.

But what does any of that matter compared to his health?

Dott is still on medication for his condition but no longer seeing a psychologist. He seemed in a positive frame of mind in Berlin and played well against a below par Shaun Murphy to record a 6-1 win and secure the title.

Good for him. I dislike how Dott has attracted so much uncalled for criticism for the manner in which he won the 2006 world title.

That final was not the greatest spectacle but he was up against Peter Ebdon, an arch grinder, and the stakes could not have been higher.

And it had 2.8m BBC2 viewers gripped at just before 1am.

You may have read that 14m watched this year’s final but this is misleading to say the least. This figure has been arrived at by adding together the cumulative audience for all four sessions of the final but as this is reasonably likely to include people who watched more than one session, it involves double, triple and even quadruple counting.

The actual number of people watching BBC2 when Ronnie O’Sullivan potted the final balls was 4.2m.

I don’t clarify this to play down the interest in this year’s final – it was a runaway with little in the way of drama in any case – but to point out that Dott’s triumph was not much less of a draw than that of O’Sullivan.

All that history will record is that this diminutive Scot was world champion. There are currently only 22 names engraved on that famous silver trophy so he has every justification in being proud to be one of them.

Dott has been through a dark period but ended the weekend full of smiles.

Anyone not cheered by such a sight must have a heart of stone.

The end of the final is here.

BERLIN TAKES MY BREATH AWAY

The World Series event in Berlin has attracted huge audiences of as many as 1,500 at a time, proving that reports of the snooker boom in Germany were not over-hyped.

The annual Paul Hunter Classic pro-am in Furth attracts many top players but the Berlin tournament is the first professional event staged in Germany since the 1998 German Masters.

This leads to one pertinent question: why has it taken ten years to get an event on in Germany?

In fact, it’s so pertinent I’ll ask it again: why has it taken ten years to get an event on in Germany?

Were it not for the World Series, it could easily have been another ten years, despite the huge growth in interest in recent times. Germany does not seem to feature in World Snooker’s plans at all.

Ten years ago, 5,000 people played snooker regularly in Germany. Today, that figure has quadrupled to 20,000.

Television audiences on German Eurosport have risen for each World Championship since 2003.

In one week of this year’s Crucible event the top ten rated programmes were all snooker.

What impressed me about the packed house yesterday was how fair the spectators were.

Of course many if not most of them were hoping the local wildcards would spring an upset but they warmly applauded John Higgins, Graeme Dott, Stephen Maguire and Shaun Murphy.

Put simply, they just wanted to see top class snooker close-up. The World Series has given them this chance.

Lasse Munstermann was the only local player who came close to causing a shock but failed to take his chance to beat Higgins and lost 4-3.

This raises an interesting quandary for the World Series organisers. Some felt the local aspect of this new innovation was one of its plus points but in fact most first round contests so far have been a series of mismatches.

It’s true that Gary Britton beat Ken Doherty in Jersey and Munstermann gave Higgins a scare but, unsurprisingly, most of the wildcards have been overawed and outclassed.

It is hard to see how the Moscow and Warsaw wildcards will not suffer similar fates.

However, this is not a criticism. The large crowds in Berlin were in part for the local players and I’m sure German snooker fans are grateful that the World Series has come to town.

Snooker tournaments should go to places where the game is popular.

There are few places in which it is as popular as Germany.

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 6

1994 - HENDRY BEATS WHITE...AGAIN

Sport thrives on rivalries and rivalries thrive on contrasting personalities.

With Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White, these contrasts were plain for all to see. Hendry, the imperious master cueman – quiet, dedicated, professional and deadly under pressure – against White, the everyman – gregarious, naturally gifted, a jack-the-lad people’s champion.

It was a compelling pairing that lifted the World Championship in the early 90s to new heights.

White had endured Crucible disappointment long before Hendry came on the scene. In 1982, only Alex Higgins’s audacious 69 clearance denied him a place in the world final. Two years later he himself made a great comeback in the final but just fell short of beating Steve Davis.

Hendry beat White 18-12 in the 1990 world final and 18-5 in 1993. The previous year, the Scot came from 14-8 down to beat him 18-14, a final White looked certain to win early on the second day.

However, 1994 was his big chance. An excellent match came down to a pulsating last session.

White trailed 16-14 but won a black ball frame to level at 16-16 and Hendry failed to pot a ball in the frame White won for 17-17.

For only the second time, the Crucible finale was going to a decider.

After the early exchanges, the balls were at White’s mercy. Leading 37-24, on a break of 29 and just a few balls away from victory, he missed the black off its spot.

It was surely pressure that caused the mistake. Hendry, the best pressure player who ever lived, was a White fan as a boy but, rightly, pushed sympathy aside and clinically cleared up to win 18-17.

“He’s starting to annoy me,” joked White, always gracious regardless of the result, but the pain of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory would soon hit home and his career entered a decline.

He stemmed it here and there, most notably in 2004 when he won the Players Championship.

The Whirlwind also gave his vast army of supporters something to cheer at the Crucible in 1998 when, as a qualifier, he beat Hendry 10-4 in the first round.

And yet this and all the titles he won could not possibly make up for the fact that the one he really wanted slipped him by.

Next year, he will have to win four matches to qualify. Everyone hopes he will but it seems like a long shot.

White was certainly good enough to be world champion and, in terms of pure ability, better than many of those who did win the game’s greatest prize but, on that night in Sheffield in 1994, he fell painfully short.

It was a great occasion but, for millions, a great disappointment.

DAVIS RED HOT AT POKER

I’m delighted to read that Steve Davis has made it down to the last 1,308 in the main event of the World Series of Poker out in Las Vegas.

This may not sound all that impressive but it’s worth noting that this competition had a starting field of 6,844.

The winner will eventually pocket around £4.6m. This is only £1m less than Davis has earned during his 30-year professional snooker career.

The green baize legend is now taking his chances alongside such luminaries as Jeff ‘Jaffacake’ Kimber, who is described on the WSOP website as the World Heads-Up champion.

I have no idea what this means but it sounds like a title worth having.

Davis, like any great sportsman, loves winning but with him I always feel he enjoys the method more.

He has spent many an hour in snooker pressrooms quietly playing internet poker and has exactly the calculating intelligence required to succeed.

Steve’s a person of great patience, too. He used to play another man at chess and their matches were conducted entirely through the post.

Days would go by before either knew what the next move would be.

Not for Davis impulsiveness, although there are moments in poker, as in any game, where it is time to go for the kill. I have no doubt Steve knows exactly when this time is.

Good luck to him.

ON MANAGERS

Mark Williams has confirmed to the journalist Gary Baker that his split from the 110sport management camp was not amicable.

I have no wish to comment or speculate on this specific case but it raises the question of the relationship between players and managers.

To the best of my knowledge there is no licensing of managers in snooker. You or I could, in theory, sign up a player and represent them without any qualifications whatsoever.

(Indeed, during one very drunken night at the Irish Masters a few years ago myself and a colleague did this very thing. I can only hope a few scrawled promises on the back of a napkin are not legally binding).

Without naming names, there have been some very dodgy characters calling themselves ‘managers’ over the years. Players usually get wise to them but only after being massively ripped off.

What should a manager do for his player?

Their main role should be to take away all the pressure of being a professional sportsman. Therefore, they should do all the admin: booking hotels and practice times, arranging travel, looking after finances, obtaining sponsors, promoting the player and raising their profile.

The player will be expected to give a cut of their prize money and off table earnings to their manager in return for these services.

It hasn’t always worked. Howard Kruger’s Framework and Geoff Faint’s Wheels in Motion each collapsed with various amounts of money being owed.

Other managers have come and gone – usually gone with a fair slice of the player’s money in their back pocket.

Barry Hearn’s Matchroom stable of the 1980s was hugely successful and included most of the game’s top players. They even made a record with Chas n Dave, ‘Snooker Loopy.’

110sport, or Cuemasters and then TSN as it was later known, was the leading stable of the 1990s.

They had (and still have) Stephen Hendry while various other top stars have come and gone over the years.

Ian Doyle ran the company with great enthusiasm until his retirement a couple of years ago, after which his son, Lee, took over.

Stephen Maguire, Ronnie O’Sullivan and now Williams have all left. This in itself does not mean anything amiss has happened but suggests that some players would rather manage their own affairs and thus hang on to all of their money, apart from that which the taxman takes.

Only time will tell whether this is a smart move or not.

WORLD SERIES BERLIN DRAW

Here is the draw for the second World Series event in Berlin this coming weekend:

First round:
Graeme Dott (Scotland) v Chris McBreen (New Zealand)
John Higgins (Scotland) v Lasse Münstermann (Germany)
Stephen Maguire (Scotland) v Hans Blanckaert (Belgium)
Shaun Murphy (England) v Patrick Einsle (Germany)

Semi-finals:
Dott/McBreen v Higgins/Munstermann
Maguire/Blanckaert v Murphy/Einsle

If you're wondering why McBreen and Blanckaert are in the field, although they are from New Zealand and Belgium respectively they each live in Germany.

O'SULLIVAN QUITS 110SPORT

Ronnie O'Sullivan has today issued the following press statement (in italics):

Ronnie O'Sullivan has announced that he has ended his relationship with 110sport management.

Ronnie said, "Having completed my most successful season to date, I am looking forward to next season and managing my own affairs both in the UK and overseas markets including China.

"I would like to thank 110sport for the support they have given me over the years and look forward to working with them and other organisations in various capacities in the future".

Ronnie has announced that his accountants and business managers, Mr Django Fung and Mr Paul Golder of Grove Leisure, will continue to be responsible for his business affairs, and Mr Zihao Jin will represent his commercial interests in China.

O'Sullivan is the latest big name to leave the management group following Stephen Maguire and, more recently, Mark Williams.

Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty and Marco Fu are among the well known faces who remain as part of the camp.

SIX APPEAL

Next week, snooker returns to Thailand but only in the form of a shortened version of the game.

Six-red snooker is becoming popular in Asia. As the name suggests, it used six reds instead of 15 with 75 the highest break available.

The idea is to speed the game up and make it more attractive to those who prefer pool.

What do we all think of this?

I suppose I'm a traditionalist in these things. I much prefer Test cricket to 20/20, for instance.

However, there's nothing wrong with trying something new. Let's not forget that snooker itself was derived from various cue sports.

The six-red version may introduce new fans to the sport, who will then move on to the proper full length game.

Among the top players involved at the Sangsom Invitational in Bangkok next week are Mark Selby, Peter Ebdon, Ken Doherty, Joe Swail, James Wattana and Jimmy White. The winner will pocket £7,500.

WORLD SNOOKER NO LONGER SILENT OVER 'BRIBE' CLAIM

Well, well, well...

World Snooker have put a statement on their website to clarify that Matt Selt has NOT been found guilty of attempting to bribe a player in an event in the 2006/07 Pontin's International Open Series.

They say the statement has been issued to 'avoid any speculation' over the matter.

This is probably a reference to my post of last week.

However, at no point did I name Matt Selt in connection with this. Neither did I provide any clues about who it could be, except to stress it was "not a household name" - done to prevent speculation about top players.

Here's how the story unfolded: Snooker Scene received an anonymous tip-off detailing an alleged bribe in the PIOS. We were informed that the player involved had been found guilty and fined £2,000.

As is customary journalistic practice, I rang World Snooker and asked them whether it was true or not.

Had they said that he had in fact not been found guilty, I would not have suggested he was.

Instead, they chose to say nothing at all.

Even they now seem to have realised that this is simply not good enough for a sporting governing body, hence today's statement.

The only reason there was any speculation was because World Snooker chose to ignore a perfectly legitimate press inquiry about a very serious allegation.

As I asked in my original post: "If the claims are completely untrue, why not just say so?"

WHEN SNOOKER WENT ALL WIMBLEDON

While enjoying an emotional rollercoaster courtesy of Andy Murray last night, I found my mind drifting back to snooker’s only flirtation with a Wimbledon-style event.

The year was 1991. In America, a president named Bush was at war with Iraq. In Britain, a dour new prime minister was struggling to establish himself after taking over from a far more charismatic predecessor.

How times have changed.

In January of that year, Barry Hearn launched his ambitious World Masters at the NEC in Birmingham. Like Wimbledon, it included men’s and women’s singles and doubles, mixed doubles and a juniors event.

I attended the first day although was not yet writing about snooker. This was chiefly because I was still at school.

The tournament began in controversial circumstances when Hearn invited Alex Higgins to compete even though the WPBSA had banned him for a season.

World champion Stephen Hendry, aghast at Higgins’s inclusion, threatened to pull out. This story was the back page lead in the Daily Mail – simply unthinkable today.

Hearn, perhaps not unhappy with the publicity, backed down and Hendry took his place in Birmingham.

Much thought had gone into innovation, with players wearing colourful waistcoats and players invited from all corners of the globe.

The first match was something of a mismatch pitting as it did Steve Davis – still one of the very best players in the world – against Fred Davis, who at the time was 76 years of age.

Davis won 6-0. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you which one.

The tournament had begun with an Olympic-esque opening ceremony featuring pretty women parading round the arena with the names of the countries represented, which included such snooker outposts as Brazil (Rui Chapeu, who played wearing a white cap) and Panama (Juan Castenda, who had never played the game before but still managed to make a 50 break).

This was the first event to be broadcast with any real ambition outside of the standard TV coverage up to that point. Sky had cameras on two tables and a roving camera to get to anything exciting on the outside tables.

Unfortunately, they were late to James Wattana’s 147, did not record a ball and so simply didn’t mention it.

Wattana was somewhat disappointed there had been no jackpot prize. “I was thinking of a big money,” said the Thai.

The main distinguishing feature of the World Masters was its tennis-style tie break. Matches were first to six but players had to win by two clear frames. If they reached 6-6 then one red and the colours were placed on the table and the winner of this mini-frame declared the winner.

A nice idea but it didn’t work. The one dramatic point in any match is a deciding frame – a full frame.

Jimmy White beat Tony Drago 10-5 to win the men’s title and pocketed a cheque for £200,000.

To put this into context, Graeme Dott would receive the same amount for winning the World Championship 15 years later.

Hendry and Mike Hallett won the men’s doubles, Karen Corr the women’s singles, Allison Fisher and Stacey Hillyard the women’s doubles and Davis and Fisher the mixed doubles.

All the hype before the junior event had been centred on Ronnie O’Sullivan, but he was beaten by the eventual winner, John Higgins, who beat Mark Williams in the final.

Quinten Hann, at 13, became the youngest player to compile a televised century.

It was a great event but very costly, too, and was never staged again.

This was a shame. There need to be different types of tournament to keep interest up.

For instance doubles, though not my personal cup of tea because of its stop-start nature, is very popular with audiences.

Who would play with who today? I’d suggest Higgins and Maguire, Hendry and Williams, Murphy and Selby while right-handed Ronnie could partner left-handed Ronnie.

In all seriousness, in the digital TV age there is no reason – apart from finances – why a World Masters-style tournament could not be attempted again.

It could be frame, set and match to snooker.

GETTING IN TOUCH

This blog now has an email address if you want to get in touch.

We'd appreciate any information you may have about any aspect of the snooker world and will, of course, treat it in the strictest confidence.

The address is snookersceneblog@aol.com

HURRICANE WARNING

I was interested to read Alex Higgins dispensing advice to Paul Gascoigne in yesterday’s News of the World.

My first thought was that the Hurricane is the last person Gazza should be taking advice from but, then again, Higgins knows better than most the consequences of self-destructive behaviour.

At 59, it’s worth celebrating the fact that Alex is still alive. Ten years ago he was ravaged by throat cancer but, despite his frail disposition, he managed to beat the disease.

Make no mistake, he was a great player but he was also a total maverick. Some of the things he did were unbelievable. Some were contemptible.

But he remains a great icon, not just of snooker but of sporting rebellion.

Jimmy White and Ronnie O’Sullivan are the natural inheritors of his maverick mantle but neither has quite self-destructed to the same degree.

White has also always been a model professional on the table. O’Sullivan, of course, has not but has kept his demons at bay long enough to win three world titles.

Higgins was certainly treated more harshly than O’Sullivan by snooker authorities, although this is not to say too harshly.

He did, after all, twice assault tournament officials and threaten to have another player, Dennis Taylor, shot.

Alex thanked me in his autobiography after I helped out with some stats. A short while later when I asked to interview him at the Irish Championship, I received a reply that would not be suitable for a family blog, or indeed this one.

That’s Higgins. A man of contrasts, conflicts and contradictions.

A rebel, it seems, to the end.

BJORN AGAIN

Well done to Bjorn Haneveer for winning the first event of the Pontin's International Open Series in Prestatyn today.

This gives him a good springboard to return to the pro circuit.

Bjorn is Belgium's best ever player and was ranked as high as 53rd in the rankings during the 2004/05 season.

For the last couple of years, he's been concentrating on a new business and on commentating for Eurosport in Belgium.

I always thought he was good enough to be in the top 32. He still may be and it would be good to see him back on the main tour.

CUETUBE

Here's Jimmy White winning his first ranking title, the 1986 Mercantile Classic.

I particularly like how quickly ITV get off the air after the last ball goes down.

WORLD SNOOKER SILENT OVER 'BRIBE' CLAIM

World Snooker are refusing to confirm or deny claims that a member of the main tour has been fined £2,000 after being found guilty of offering an opponent £1,000 to lose the match they were playing.

This is a very serious allegation. The player would have been in breach of rule 2.8 of section 2.c of the WPBSA handbook, which states “a member shall not directly or indirectly solicit, attempt to solicit or accept any payment or any form of remuneration of benefit in exchange for influencing the outcome of any game of snooker or billiards.”

I should stress that the player said to be involved is not a household name. I shall not name him until further investigations have been completed.

Peter Francisco was banned for five years for losing 10-2 to Jimmy White in the first round of the 1995 World Championship. This was the scoreline on which huge amounts of money had been placed pre-match.

Quinten Hann was banned for eight years and fined £10,000 for agreeing – on tape – to receive £50,000 for losing a match, although the scam was called off because it had been initiated not, as Hann apparently believed, by a betting cartel but by a national newspaper.

In this latest case, it is claimed the player was found guilty by the WPBSA disciplinary committee but will be allowed to continue playing on the circuit.

I have asked World Snooker to clarify this - or deny it if it isn't true - but they are making no comment.

What other sport conducts its disciplinary affairs in such shadowy secrecy?

In tennis, when claims of match-fixing were made an independent report was commissioned, published earlier this week.

Gerry Sutcliffe, the Minister for Sport in the British government, stated he hoped those found guilty of this offence would be jailed for up to two years under new legislation.

Surely if there has been malpractice, a governing body should not only punish those involved but do so in public to prove they are weeding out those players who break the rules?

And if the claims are completely untrue, why not just say so?

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 7

2005 - DING BEATS HENDRY TO WIN CHINA OPEN

China is now seen by most as one of the key areas for expansion but this is less because of some grand commercial strategy and more almost entirely down to one player in one week in 2005.

Ding Junhui may never have been at the China Open in Beijing. He was ranked 76th going into the tournament and thus had to chance his arm at the qualifying scramble in Prestatyn.

The decision was made to withdraw the 17 year-old and enter him into the final stages as a wildcard.

This was controversial with some but at least ensured the prodigiously talented teenager would be seen by his home fans.

The China Open had not been held for three years before heading to Beijing for the first time. It started badly. Tim Howland, the chief executive of World Snooker, was summarily dismissed on the eve of the tournament and Ronnie O’Sullivan pulled out at the last minute.

But Ding was soon off and running, beating Mark Davis 5-2 in the wildcard round before an extraordinary 5-0 demolition of Peter Ebdon, his mentor and one of the first people to spot his potential.

With Chinese journalists not always being the most tactful, the out-played Ebdon was asked in the press conference: “How come you won the World Championship?”

To his credit, he replied: “I was just lucky.”

Ding was a little lucky, too, to see off Stuart Bingham 5-4 in the last 16, helped by a fluked brown in the decider, but he played very well indeed to see off Marco Fu 5-2 and Ken Doherty 6-0 to reach the final.

To put it into context, this would have been like Tim Henman reaching the Wimbledon final. The level of expectancy and sense that a new star had been born was palpable.

A peak viewing audience of 110million watched Ding beat Stephen Hendry 9-5 in the final. This is six times as many people who saw the conclusion of the Taylor-Davis world final in 1985.

Because he was not eligible for prize money or ranking points as a wildcard, Ding did not receive a penny and actually went down the rankings.

But longer term, his victory cemented China’s place in the future of snooker. This vast country had found a player capable of beating the very best and there are now two fully funded ranking events there, with more sure to follow.

For a sport so long dominated by British players, Ding’s victory served as a wake-up call that there is a whole world out there, full of talented cueists looking for their slice of the snooker cake.

Just three years on, there were three Chinese players at the Crucible, with one reaching the quarter-finals.

It surely cannot be long before there is a Chinese world champion.

ON TO BERLIN...

The final of the first World Series event in Jersey proved to be the best match of the tournament.

From 3-3, John Higgins turned it on as breaks of 72, 104 and 69 saw him over the line 6-3 against Mark Selby.

The match was played in a good spirit and the crowd - the biggest of the weekend - seemed to enjoy every minute.

The mood backstage was that this first event went well, even though there will inevitably be issues to address before moving on to Berlin in July.

There is great enthusiasm for this project among those involved in it and also from the players.

Pat Mooney, the chief executive of FSTC Scotland, the promoters, has 14 cities interested in hosting events next year, so it looks like the World Series is only going to get bigger and better.

POSTCARD FROM JERSEY

There's a great atmosphere here in Jersey tonight for John Higgins's match in the World Series against local man Aaron Canavan.

Aaron seems to have brought everyone he knows along and will doubtless do all he can to emulate Gary Britton and spring an upset.

Britton beat Ken Doherty 4-1 this morning. Ken played badly, although his tip was slightly damaged.

It's been fun here. Last night we were entertained at no fewer than three receptions and the players mingled with invited guests, stressing that this is not just about what happens on the table.

Crowds have built up during the course of the day and the mood is very positive.

As Shaun Murphy put it: "We've been saying for years that we want more tournaments. Now we've got them and we're not here to mess around."

SOME THINGS WORTH KNOWING...

A few bits of news...

Firstly, snooker has made it into Time magazine, which underlines its international appeal as this publication is read right around the world.

The article focuses on snooker in China. Everything written is true but what's also true is that World Snooker have chosen to completely ignore the other great growth area for snooker - continental Europe and in particular eastern Europe. This is, in part, being remedied by the independently promoted World Series.

Even so, it's nice to read a positive article about snooker for once, especially in a magazine as widely respected as Time.

Next, the qualifiers for this season's Maplin UK Championship will be played at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

As anyone who has gone along to watch the final qualifying round of the 888.com World Championship will surely agree, this is a first rate venue.

If you stand at the back you can pretty much watch all four tables and, assuming the players ranked 17-32 will be in action as they were last season, the likes of Steve Davis, Ken Doherty and Mark Williams will all be playing.

Jimmy White has to start in the first round. Meantime, he has a new DVD out. I've reviewed it for the July issue of Snooker Scene and it is, I have to say, hilarious.

It follows Jimmy around the circuit during the 2006/07 season and features cameos from Alex Higgins, Steve Davis, John Higgins, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan to name but a few.

As from next month, you can order it for just £10 from the Snooker Scene mail order service.

A word of warning, though: not for nothing is it rated 18. This is not suitable for your granny or small children as the swearing is constant and about as strong as you can get.

Also available through our mail order will be Chris Downer's excellent Gazetteers - a sumptuous statistical tome which includes full records on ranking tournaments, maximums, prize money and, well, pretty much everything.

This is a labour of love for Chris and I commend him for his considerable effort. Having a copy nearby will enhance your viewing pleasure when snooker's on TV.

In the future, one name that may feature is that of Adam Duffy, who has just started his year as the new recipient of World Snooker's Paul Hunter Scholarship. The first, Daniel Wells, is about to take his first steps on the pro circuit.

Good luck to them both. You can read Adam's diary here and read more about him on his website here.

Adam is hoping he gets to play Ronnie O'Sullivan at the World Snooker Academy. He will probably spend most of the time picking the balls out but will still learn a great deal.

Thanks to the good people at Cuefactor I learn that Ronnie last season made a century every eight frames.

This is staggering, really. Ronnie made 50 centuries last season but only played in eight tournaments. If he keeps practising I reckon he'll be a bit of a player.

He's still just under 200 tons behind Stephen Hendry, who has had to change his practise base as Spencers Snooker Club in Stirling - where he has played his whole career - has shut down.

Hendry is converting part of the stables at his home into a snooker room and will mainly practice there.

The PDC darts circuit will be worth more than £5m next season - more than the World Snooker tour.

This is chiefly due to the influence of Barry Hearn, the PDC chairman, who has - as throughout his career - taken something already popular, marketed it properly and made it even more popular.

The World Championship prize fund has grown seven-fold since 1999. In snooker, the prize funds have either fallen or stayed just about the same in this period.

Is Hearn any longer interested in snooker? I don't know. More to the point, though, is snooker interested in Hearn? It's not a sport that's exactly thrown its arms open to entrepreneurs, more's the pity.

Anything else?

Well, don't forget the World Series starts in Jersey tomorrow. One of the players involved, Ken Doherty, talks about it on the website of his management company, 110sport.

And with that, I have a plane to catch...

DRAGO TAKES THE PIOS

Tony Drago, relegated from the professional circuit after 23 years, is to continue on the Pontin's International Open Series.

The top eight in the end of season PIOS rankings will be promoted to the 2009/2010 main tour, although the field looks to be very competitive so Drago will have his work cut out.

It's good to see him carrying on. He has always had great enthusiasm for snooker and, even though his form has declined in recent years, he's still capable of odd moments of brilliance.

This dashing Maltese player had at times in the past made Ronnie O'Sullivan look like Eddie Charlton. Drago once won a frame in only three minutes - a record.

The fact that he's on the PIOS obviously means he won't be receiving a WPBSA wildcard. The discretionary place went to Liu Chuang, although Drago was hopeful he could be in the frame if any more became free.

He has had a few run-ins with authority in the past due to his emotional, at times combustible personality but the same can be said of O'Sullivan and World Snooker appear to be acting as his personal PR firm.

Regardless of how he fares, Drago is carving out a lucrative career in 9-ball pool but snooker is his first love and many will wish him well as he battles with newcomers and old stagers on the game's secondary tour.

(Incidentally, Drago's opening round opponent in the first PIOS event next week is Robbie Williams, who is presumably loving angles instead.)

JERSEY BOYS PLAY STARRING ROLE

Two Jersey snooker players are set for a taste of the big time when the World Series gets underway this weekend.

Gary Britton and Aaron Canavan have been called up for the brand new tour, which kicks off at Fort Regent, St. Helier on Saturday (June 21).

Britton, who works in the treasury department of the RBS bank, will provide the first round opposition for Irishman Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion.

Britton, 34, spent two seasons on the Challenge Tour, the game’s secondary circuit, from 2000-2002 and has won the Channel Islands Snooker Championship on three occasions.

But he admits nothing in his career to date has come close to taking on one of snooker’s all time greats on home turf.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Britton said. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever played in and one of the biggest sporting events we’ve ever had in Jersey.

“It’ll be great to play Ken, who has such a good record in the game. I’ve played a few professionals in exhibitions and pro-ams and have fared pretty well, so I’m hoping for the best.”

Canavan, 32, who runs a classic car hire firm, faces twice world champion John Higgins on Saturday night in a match that will be broadcast live on Eurosport.

“It’s just fantastic to be playing John,” he said. “It’s the biggest thing that can happen for an amateur player to draw someone like him. It’s an opportunity you’d never expect to get.

“That’s why this World Series is such a good idea for promoting the sport. It provides chances for players like me to play greats like John.

“It’s also huge for Jersey. Snooker has a high profile and will help to promote the island. It’s a beautiful place, is safe and has a low crime rate. Hopefully, people will enjoy the snooker but also take time out to look at Jersey itself.”

Martyn Desperques, the reigning Guernsey snooker champion, will tackle world no.3 Shaun Murphy in the first round on Saturday.

Rafal Jewtuch, the Polish champion, has also been invited and faces Mark Selby, the reigning Masters and Welsh Open champion.

Other top stars, including Steve Davis, Ding Junhui, Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott, will take part in the later tournaments.

After the Jersey leg, the World Series will call at Berlin, Moscow and Warsaw before the Grand Finals in Dusseldorf in November.

The overall winner of the Grand Finals will pocket a cheque for €70,000 (£56,000).

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 8

1969 - POT BLACK FIRST BROADCAST

The early days of televised snooker carried with them one major drawback: it was broadcast in black and white.

Thus, commentator Ted Lowe was once to utter the immortal words: “For those watching in black and white, the yellow is next to the pink.”

Pre-colour, snooker was hard to watch and tended to be used merely to fill time between other sports.

The likes of Joe and Fred Davis would be asked to play for 20 minutes between horse races and would have to contrive the frame lasting this long and no longer.

It was hardly a great showcase for the sport.

However, this all changed at the end of the 1960s when BBC2 arrived and with it the advent of colour television.

The first BBC2 controller would gain fame as one of the most respected figures in the history of broadcasting through his ground-breaking natural history programmes.

In 1969, David Attenborough’s main concern lay closer to home, namely how to fill his new channel in ways that would best advertise the fledgling colour service.

Snooker, with its different colours and small playing surface, may now seem like an obvious choice but at the time it was a brave one.

Few had heard of the likes of John Spencer, Ray Reardon and Eddie Charlton. Would the viewing public really want to watch them?

Lowe had been trying for many years to widen the game’s appeal on television and he put together a format and pulled together a field.

Philip Lewis, who would produce this new show, decided to call it ‘Pot Black.’

The first programme was broadcast the week Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Pot Black proved to be one giant leap for snooker, the new age of colour television ushering in a cast of characters whose skill on the table and likeable personalities off it turned the game into popular entertainment.

Almost immediately the show went to second place in the BBC2 ratings and, through time, and certainly helped by the emergence of one Alexander Gordon Higgins, the BBC were persuaded that full coverage of the World Championship would bring in such a sustained audience that it would be well worth their time and effort.

The rest, of course, is history.

In the end, Pot Black became a victim of its own success. It ended in 1986 because people no longer wanted one-frame snooker over half an hour when they had week long tournaments to follow.

It was revived in the 1990s and has been again in recent years but only really as a bit of fun. It shows players in relaxed mode, although whether viewers necessarily want to see them like this is a point of discussion.

Its contribution to the development of the professional game is unquestioned, however.

Pot Black lit the blue touch paper for snooker’s love affair with television which continues to this day.

HIGGINS LOOKS AHEAD TO WORLD SERIES

John Higgins believes the new World Series of Snooker will be an important step forward for the sport.

The twice world champion is among eight top players taking part in the series of four events, which will be organised by his management group, FSTC Scotland, and broadcast on Eurosport.

The World Series kicks off at Fort Regent in St. Helier, Jersey this Saturday (July 21) and will call at Berlin, Moscow and Warsaw before the Grand Finals in Dusseldorf in November.

The popularity of snooker has grown considerably in Europe since the professional circuit’s major events became available to watch on Eurosport.

And Higgins, 32, believes the opportunity to see the top players up close will further increase interest in the green baize game.

“I’ve been fortunate to have enjoyed a successful career as a professional. I wanted to give something back to the sport and that’s how the World Series came about,” Higgins said.

“I met Pat Mooney, now my manager, three years ago and, over a few rounds of golf, he asked me about the snooker circuit and what I thought was needed to improve the sport’s fortunes. He came to a few tournaments and started talking about Eastern Europe and whether I thought snooker would be popular there.

“At the same time, the game’s popularity was rising in Europe because of the coverage on Eurosport.

“We decided it was time these new fans had the opportunity to watch live snooker close up, not just on the TV.”

Higgins will be joined in Jersey by fellow former world champions Ken Doherty and Shaun Murphy plus last season’s Masters and Welsh Open winner Mark Selby.

In addition, two Jersey cueman, Gary Britton and Aaron Canavan, Guernsey’s Martyn Desperques and Rafal Jewtuch of Poland will take part.

“We want to nurture home talent in each venue,” Higgins said. “If they are part of the World Series, they will gain some experience of playing the top players on television and it will hopefully help them to improve.

“It’s crucial for the future to help develop new talent and give them a chance to play on the big stage.

“It’s also very important to us to involve the fans. They are what it’s all about. We had a successful event in Poland last year. All the fans seemed really happy to see us players and it was refreshing and enjoyable for all of us.

“It was nice to meet the public after the matches because they were so enthusiastic and that’s the atmosphere we want at all the World Series events.”

The overall winner of the Grand Finals in November will pocket a cheque for €70,000 (£56,000).

WORLD SERIES FORMAT

Here is the format of play for the first World Series event at Fort Regent, Jersey this coming weekend:

Saturday, June 21
First round (best of seven frames)
11.15am: Mark Selby (England) v Rafal Jewtuch (Poland)
1.30pm: Ken Doherty (Ireland) v Gary Britton (Jersey)
5pm: Shaun Murphy (England) v Martyn Desperques (Guernsey)
7.30pm: John Higgins (Scotland) v Aaron Canavan (Jersey)

Sunday, June 22
Semi-finals (best of nine frames)
11.15am: Selby/Jewtuch v Doherty/Britton
2pm: Murphy/Desperques v Higgins/Canavan

Final (best of 11 frames)
6.30pm

TICKETS
Fort Regent, Jersey
Tel: 01534 449827 for tickets
Further info FSTC Sports Management - 01786 458108 email: info@fstcollege.com

EUROSPORT TRANSMISSION TIMES
(Times given as BST)
Saturday, June 21: 7.15pm-10pm
Sunday, June 22: 7.45pm-10pm

FATHER'S DAY FOR HIGGINS

Twice world champion John Higgins has become a father for the third time.

His wife, Denise, gave birth to daughter Claudia last week. The couple already have two boys, six year-old Pierce and Oliver, three.

Higgins will attempt to shrug off the sleepless nights when he takes part in the first World Series event in Jersey next weekend.

"I'd better do well because my wife is spending a small fortune on pink outfits for the baby," he said.

"But we are thrilled to have our first little girl and while I've had a few sleeps on the couch she has been brilliant. The whole family could not be happier."

BLOGGING ON

This blog is now two years old and I'd like to thank everyone who has read it, left comments and generally shown any interest during this time.

What would be of help to me is to find out what snooker fans would like from a blog like this.

The idea from the start was to post a mix of news and opinion. I have tried to bring you stories you wouldn't read anywhere else and also analyse various happenings in the snooker world.

But I would welcome any input and opinions as to the future.

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 9

1988 - DOUG MOUNTJOY WINS SECOND UK TITLE TEN YEARS AFTER FIRST

Snooker, like any sport, is dependant on a constant supply of new blood to refresh and renew its ranks, but for romantics and nostalgics – and there are a high proportion of these who follow the green baize sport – you can’t beat an old timer, apparently past his best, returning from the sidelines to reclaim former glories.

Doug Mountjoy, one of the myriad cast of characters who helped make snooker such a popular television attraction, was one of the leading players of the late 1970s/early 1980s but, by 1988, appeared to be in terminal decline.

He did not look like the player who won the Wembley Masters at his first attempt in 1977 and the UK Championship in 1978.

Down at 24th in the rankings and out of the top 16 after a run of 11 consecutive seasons, it was widely assumed that it would not be long before he was also relegated from the top 32.

Mountjoy was, after all, 46 years of age in a game largely dominated by the younger brigade – Steve Davis (31), Stephen Hendry (19), Jimmy White (26) and John Parrott (24).

There had, though, been signs of an upturn. He defeated Hendry 5-1 at the Grand Prix in Reading where the Scot had been defending champion and had had his confidence restored by having teamed up with Frank Callan, a Blackpool fishmonger and renowned snooker coach.

Mountjoy had sought Callan out after a humiliating, dispiriting 13-1 defeat to Neal Foulds at the previous season’s World Championship.

Callan completely rebuilt his technique and the results started to come at Preston Guild Hall.

First, Mountjoy battled past his fellow Welshman Wayne Jones 9-7 before a confidence-boosting 9-4 victory over Foulds.

In the last 16, he beat Joe Johnson 9-5, wobbled in the quarter-finals before edging John Virgo 9-8 having led 8-3 and then defeated Terry Griffiths 9-4 in the semis.

Even so, few gave him much hope against Hendry, the natural heir to Davis’s decade of domination.

Mountjoy believed, however, and led 8-6 after the first day before winning six of the third session’s seven frames to extend his advantage to 14-7.

This was not some bygone era where players won through tactical play alone; Mountjoy compiled three centuries in four frames at one point.

He led 15-7, suffered anxiety a-plenty when Hendry won the next five, but eventually prevailed 16-12.

His triumph against the odds caught the public imagination with 13.2m tuning in to watch on the BBC.

“Without that guy, I’m nothing,” he said in paying emotional tribute to Callan.

This was a remarkable, heart-warming victory for a player refusing to embrace the apparent dying of the light.

Perhaps even more remarkably, Mountjoy went on to win the next world ranking event, the Mercantile Classic and would rise to fifth in the world.

His professional career ended in 1997. He had gone down the rankings after having a lung removed because of cancer.

But he could look back on 1988 as both a personal high point and as one of the most popular victories in snooker history.

TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY: 10

1979 - TERRY GRIFFITHS WINS WORLD TITLE AT FIRST ATTEMPT

Professional snooker in the 1970s was, essentially, a closed shop. Players wanting to join the pro ranks had to be approved by the very people they would be playing against.

It was akin to swimming through glue.

Unlike today, players did not walk out of school and straight onto the circuit. Terry Griffiths, an outstanding amateur from Llanelli, South Wales, worked as a postman, bus conductor and insurance salesman before taking the plunge at 30 – an age today where players are considered to be close to veteran status.

Everyone told him he should turn professional but he was unsure. He had a young family and saw it as a big risk.

But as he himself said in his autobiography, Griff: “What made my mind up was that I was now 30 years old and I didn’t want to get to 40 and be thinking, ‘would I have done as well as a professional?’”

Such was his record, Griffiths was accepted but made an inauspicious start by losing 9-8 to Rex Williams in the UK Championship, his first match, having led him 8-2.

The entirety of the 1970s had been dominated by three men. Ray Reardon won six world titles, John Spencer added two to his first, won in 1969, and Alex Higgins made a remarkable breakthrough by winning the 1972 championship.

All three, as well as the likes of Eddie Charlton and Cliff Thorburn, were expected to excel at the Crucible in 1979.

Griffiths had to qualify and did so with a 9-2 victory over Bernard Bennett and 9-6 defeat of Jim Meadowcroft.

In the first round, he beat Perrie Mans, the runner-up the previous year, 13-8 but it was his electric 13-12 defeat of Higgins in the quarter-finals that truly announced his arrival in the big time.

Higgins led 6-2 but Griffiths fought back and eventually won the decider with a break of 107.

His semi-final against Charlton ground on...and on...and on...until Griffiths came through 19-17.

Memorably, the BBC’s David Vine came into the arena and thrust a microphone under his nose to ask how he felt. Before Griffiths had time to think, he said simply: “I’m in the final now, you know.”

It perfectly captured his charming naivety and utter disbelief at suddenly being through to the final.

The fairytale was completed three days later when Griffiths defeated Dennis Taylor 24-16 and his life changed forever.

Now, the man who had held off turning pro out of concern he would not earn enough to support his family was being offered lucrative endorsement deals, exhibitions and TV appearances by the bucketload.

His victory transformed snooker, too.

It opened the door for a new era in which younger players would come to the fore, no longer over-awed by the old guard.

Chief among them, of course, was Steve Davis, whose rise to the top was surely the main reason Griffiths failed to win a second world title.

The pair played seven times at the Crucible; Davis won all seven.

THE TEN GREATEST MOMENTS IN SNOOKER HISTORY

As there won't be much going on - World Series excluded - in the next couple of months I shall be presenting a countdown here of what I consider to be the ten greatest moments in snooker history.

Such lists are often memorable for what's not included, so let me be clear: not everyone will agree with my choices.

A number of what a lot of people will think obvious moments have failed to make the cut. Why? Because it's a personal list and I've limited it to just ten.

Let me explain what I consider to be a 'great' moment.

It has to be memorable, dramatic but also play an important part in the great snooker story.

I could have had a list of ten 147s or ten world finals but this would have ignored the many other stories and memories from down the years.

Feel free to leave your own comments and suggestions as the countdown goes along.

The ending may well prove controversial!

DUSSELDORF TO HOST WORLD SERIES FINALS

Dusseldorf will host the Grand Finals of the new World Series of Snooker from November 28-30.

The field will feature the eight leading players taking part in the first four events, the best four local wildcards from these tournaments and four invited players.

The overall winner will receive a cheque for €70,000 (£56,000) - more than the winners' cheque in four of last season's seven world ranking events.

The new series will be broadcast on Eurosport and includes five former world champions - Shaun Murphy, John Higgins, Graeme Dott, Ken Doherty and Steve Davis - plus world no.2 Stephen Maguire, reigning Masters and Welsh Open champion Mark Selby and Chinese ace Ding Junhui.

WORLD SERIES OF SNOOKER DATES
June 21-22: St. Helier, Jersey
July 12-13: Berlin, Germany
September 27-28: Moscow, Russia
October 25-26: Warsaw, Poland
November 28-30: Grand finals in Dusseldorf, Germany

To keep up with all the news and action on the snooker tour, check out this new sports blog. They have score updates plus the latest snooker betting as well as all your other favourite sports.

Visit their site for the best Ryder Cup odds on the web.

RONNIE...THE DEBATE CONTINUES

The rights and wrongs of the punishment given to Ronnie O’Sullivan for his behaviour in China will be debated – indeed is being debated in the comments section of the post below this one – but that is only one issue arising from this matter.

It transpires that the fine was actually £2,750, not £3,750 as reported by 110sport. The costs of the hearing were paid for using the prize money he forfeited.

This will not be well received by the various lower ranked players who have been forced to pay costs for attending hearings on far lesser offences.

Not that we know exactly how many have done this as World Snooker’s disciplinary procedure is so shadowy it belongs in an episode of the X-Files.

We know that the disciplinary committee chairman is Jim McMahon, a long serving World Snooker board member.

There are two other people on the committee but it isn’t known who they are.

O’Sullivan didn’t actually attend the hearing but wrote to the committee promising, I suppose, never to do it again.

Times have changed. When O’Sullivan was stripped of the Irish Masters title in 1998 he turned up to face the music. A press release was then drafted and issued that same day in which the committee members were named and the punishment announced.

Belatedly, World Snooker has put a statement on their website today revealing the punishment.

Make no mistake: this was only done because the story had already appeared in the press and, indeed, on this blog.

The hearing was held on Thursday. They say they held off releasing the news because O’Sullivan had to be informed first.

Yet his management company issued a statement on Saturday, so the player obviously had been informed.

I believe that if 110sport had not sent their statement out then we would never have heard anything about it.

One interesting thing to come out of the statement, though, is that the committee considered a heavier fine but decided against it as O’Sullivan had promised to ‘work closely’ with them in the future.

Can’t see that decision back-firing at all.

O'SULLIVAN FINED FOR CHINA OUTBURST

Ronnie O'Sullivan has been fined £3,750 for his behaviour at a press conference at the China Open last March.

O'Sullivan, the 888.com world champion, was filmed making lewd remarks and the video was posted on the internet.

He has been docked the 700 ranking points he earned from the event and also fined the £2,750 prize money he received as a first round loser. A further £1,000 was added to the fine to cover legal costs.

However, we only know he was punished at all because his management company, 110sport, issued a statement.

There has been no such statement from World Snooker, who will now face allegations that they have attempted to cover the whole thing up.

The 110sport statement said: "Ronnie regrets what has happened and he has accepted his punishment.

"He realises he made a mistake in China, but he never intended to offend anyone. He wants to forget what happened and move forward.

"He has apologised to World Snooker, the promoter of the China Open, his fans and also to his sponsors.

"He is keen to get on with his career and continue demonstrating why he is regarded as the best player in the world."

I think many will share my view that though this incident was regrettable, it was something of a storm in a Chinese teacup.

Ronnie has since apologised and his contracts in China have not been affected.

The punishment is, in my view, about right.

But what I find incredible is that the governing body of snooker do not routinely announce the results of their disciplinary hearings as is standard practice in just about every other major sport.

What have they got to hide?

LIU CHUANG AWARDED MAIN TOUR WILDCARD

Liu Chuang, who became only the fourth 17 year-old ever to play at the Crucible last season, celebrated his 18th birthday today with the news that he has been awarded a wildcard to remain on the main tour during 2008/09.

This is the right decision. By holding Ronnie O'Sullivan to 4-4 in their first round match, Liu proved he has great potential and it would have been a shame if he had disappeared from the circuit after only one year.

Jin Long and Li Hang will also be on the main tour next season after winning the Asian Championship and Asian Under 21 Championship respectively.

Stefan Mazrocis won the European play-off yesterday and has now been nominated by the European Billiards and Snooker Association for a main tour place.

The remaining place will go to the winner of the European Championship, which began today in Poland.

Full coverage of this event is available - of course - at the excellent Global Cue Sports Centre.

DING IN THE SWING IN NANJING

Ding Junhui will face Mark Selby in Sunday's Jiangsu Classic final.

Ding beat Ryan Day 4-0 while Selby defeated Joe Perry 4-1 in Nanjing today.

This is good news for this new tournament as the final will be played in Wuxi City - Ding's home town.

However, what a daft decision it was to play one semi-final on one table and one on the other, which isn't televised.

They were only best of seven frame affairs and could easily have been played one after the other on the TV table.

It means TV audiences will not see a ball of Selby's victory.

Also, Ding's match lasted just 50 minutes and Eurosport have an hour and 45 minute long programme to fill.

And it gave the paying public only an hour and 20 minutes of entertainment.

There is no logic at all to this.

WPBSA DROPS CLAIM AGAINST SNOOKER SCENE EDITOR

The following statement has been agreed by the WPBSA and Clive Everton, editor of Snooker Scene:

"The WPBSA has withdrawn its claim against Clive Everton for payment of costs awarded by the S.D.R.P. on 1 November 2006.

"Although the board believes it has conducted its case correctly and that it would ultimately prevail in court, it is acknowledged that as with all litigation there is sufficient doubt about the outcome as to render further expenditure of the membership's funds inappropriate.

"Mr Everton also believes his case was conducted correctly and that he would ultimately have prevailed in court but is happy that it can now be concluded without further expenditure on either side."

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PRO SNOOKER IN CHINA

The snooker circuit is becoming well acquainted with China as more and more tournaments are developed in the world’s largest country.

The latest, the Jiangsu Classic, begins on Wednesday. It features eight members of the world’s top 12 plus four local wildcards.

The trailblazer for snooker in China was Barry Hearn, the Matchroom supremo, who took his stable of players out there in the 1980s.

After a few forays to Hong Kong, they first played in the People’s Republic in 1986, where Steve Davis defeated Terry Griffiths in the final of the China Masters.

Also part of the field was the then WPBSA chairman Rex Williams, who turned up for a promotional tour of the Great Wall of China in an expensive cashmere coat. When Hearn told him that the dress code was ‘casual’ the always immaculately attired Rex replied: ‘Dear boy, this is casual.’

Several more invitation events were staged in China before Stephen Hendry won the first world ranking event on Chinese soil, the 1990 Asian Open in Guangzhou.

Hendry beat Dennis Taylor 9-3 in the final, although Taylor had been exhausted after finishing his semi-final at close to midnight only for the final to start shortly after 9am.

Nine years passed before China hosted another ranking event, the 1999 China International.

This was notable for having all four semi-finalists coming from Scotland. Billy Snaddon beat Stephen Hendry but came up short against John Higgins, who defeated Alan McManus in their semi.

The boom hadn’t quite started at this point but I recall going through passport control with Higgins where an austere official asked him to stop and wait at the desk.

I worried there may have been something wrong with John’s passport and was envisaging the diplomatic repercussions only for the guard to return with a piece of paper for the champion to sign.

He’d watched the snooker on the TV the previous night and wanted Higgins’s autograph.

Shanghai also hosted the China Open at the end of 1999, won by Ronnie O’Sullivan, before this event switched to the magnificent Mission Hills golf resort in Shenzhen a year later.

I remember the interest was such that Hendry had to be locked in the pressroom – not necessarily his preferred place of refuge – for his own safety as a sea of fans tried to get his autograph.

O’Sullivan spent the whole week mired in depression but still beat Mark Williams to win the title.

We went back to Shanghai in 2002 where a 14 year-old Ding Junhui was a wildcard.

It was here that Mark Selby, in full snooker dress, attempted to hire a taxi at one in the morning because he was playing at two (in the afternoon).

Selby was so jetlagged he had not realised it was night, even though it was pitch black outside.

Nevertheless, he still beat Stephen Hendry the next day and also knocked O’Sullivan out on his way to the semi-finals.

Graeme Dott, it would be fair to say, did not enjoy the trip. His flight from Glasgow to London was delayed, which then held up his flight from London to Bangkok and on to Shanghai.

It took him 38 wretched hours to reach China and, understandably exhausted, he went to bed where he slept through his alarm.

Realising he was late, he threw on his snooker gear – although famously not any underwear – and hailed a taxi to the venue.

Unfortunately, the taxi driver went the wrong way and Graeme got out and ran the last half a mile.

He arrived 15 minutes late for his match with Darren Morgan, was docked two frames and lost 5-3.

Asked how he felt afterwards, he simply replied: ‘Suicidal.’

Anthony Hamilton wasn’t too happy either after throwing away a golden chance to win his first ranking title when he lost 9-8 to Williams from 8-5 up.

Because the game had gone into financial disarray, the China Open disappeared from the calendar for three years but returned in 2005 at the Haidian Stadium, Beijing.

Ding was taken out of the qualifiers and put into the main draw as a wildcard. This was the week of his 18th birthday but played with great maturity to land a succession a good scalps – Peter Ebdon, Marco Fu and Ken Doherty – to reach the final.

A couple of things stand out from that week. One was Davis banging his head on a thick steel door and becoming so dizzy as a result that he had to withdraw from his match with Ricky Walden.

I had every sympathy with Steve because I managed to bang my head on the same door and it was not an enjoyable experience to say the least.

The other was Paul Hunter who, unbeknown to all but his closest friends, had just been diagnosed with cancer but still flew the 8,000 miles to play.

After one match, it was noted that Paul had not come in for his press conference. Some 20 minutes went by before we went to look for him.

He was still in the arena signing autographs, which he did for around 300 people.

Ding beat Hendry 9-5 in the final. He received no money or ranking points as a wildcard but, for the sport as a whole, his victory was an extraordinary stroke of luck.

Everything that has happened in China since is down to this one match. It helped ignite a snooker boom that is continuing to this day.

Williams won the 2006 China Open and Dott took the crown in 2007. This year’s final, in which Stephen Maguire beat Shaun Murphy 10-9, was, for me, the best match of the season.

Last August, a second Chinese ranking tournament was added to the schedule, the Shanghai Masters, won by Dominic Dale.

A third could well be on the cards and the Jiangsu Classic, which will be played in two cities, Nanjing and Wuxi City, serves as evidence of the huge interest that remains in China.

This is reflected by the number of Chinese journalists now following the circuit and the emergence of players to challenge Ding’s prominence as top dog in his home country.

Liu Song was a quarter-finalist in last season’s Grand Prix, Liu Chuang qualified for the Crucible at 17 while Liang Wenbo made many friends as he reached the World Championship quarter-finals.

Fast forward ten, certainly 20 years, and it seems likely that the World Championship will be staged in China.

Whether this actually happens or not, China is one snooker success story worth noting.

JIANGSU CLASSIC TO BE SCREENED ON EUROSPORT

Eurosport will show the Jiangsu Classic, World Snooker's new invitation event in China, from June 4-8.

The first broadcast is on Wednesday, June 4 at 8.30am.

This tournament features eight of the world's top 12 ranked players plus four local wildcards.

It will be played first in Nanjing, using a round robin format, with the final in Wuxi City, hometown of Ding Junhui.

Good news, this, for snooker fans suffering withdrawal symptoms after the 888.com World Championship!

Note: there's not coverage every day as they aren't playing every day.

SELBY GETS PREMIER LEAGUE WILDCARD

Mark Selby, the Saga Insurance Masters and Welsh Open champion, has been given the last place in next season's seven-man Premier League.

Full story here