Rod Lawler was delighted after reaching his first quarter-final in a full ranking event for more than a decade, setting up a clash with Mark Davis after coming through a rollercoaster ride against China’s Tian Pengfei 5-4. Liverpool’s Lawler, 42, had led 4-0 before Tian hit top gear to level at 4-4 – but the world No50 edged through on the final blue. Lawler, a professional for 24 years, fell off the tour in 2012 but got straight back on via Qualifying School. Though a winner of a PTC later that year, the last time Lawler was in the final eight of a major event was the 2003 Welsh Open, staged at the Cardiff International Arena. He lost 5-2 to Stephen Hendry, who went on to win the title that year. After his last-16 victory in Berlin he was already describing it a “perfect week” following Liverpool’s derby demolition of Everton on Tuesday.
Almost inevitably the arrival of world champion and former German Masters winner Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Tempodrom caused one of the biggest stirs of the pre-weekend phase of the tournament. The Rocket failed to qualify after a defeat in Barnsley to Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh that saw him accused of some reckless shots, and left organisers underwhelmed. A large quantity of O’Sullivan branded merchandise and copies of his recent autobiography ‘Running’ translated into German had been produced for this event and forthcoming exhibitions, and there was a danger of it not being shifted from the ‘Ronnie Shop’ and most being consigned to a Berlin lock-up garage or other place of rest. But after some wheeling and dealing O’Sullivan travelled out regardless and did three sets of book-signing and photos with wildly enthusiastic fans, two at the venue and one at the nearby players’ hotel.
It was a sign of the controversy generated by the Table Eight ‘Room of Doom’ that the order of play for Friday afternoon, the last-16 tie and final match due to be played in the separate area, was scanned as much for who had to be in there as for who was on the main table in the arena. With Shaun Murphy taking on Judd Trump the TV clash pretty much took care of itself, but with several of the field already having tasted the dubious delights of the ‘Buddha Lounge’ it was Xiao Guodong and Jamie Burnett who drew the short straw. A cynic might wonder if these were players least likely to throw their toys out of the pram on the issue, Inside Snooker couldn’t possibly comment.
It takes more than temperatures of minus 13 to stop legend and six-time world champion Steve Davis from promoting his sport, and the 56-year-old offered another reminder of why he is the game’s leading ambassador in Berlin.
Having agreed to do a photo-shoot in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate in the German capital, Davis politely asked if he might be delayed, perhaps mindful of the bone-chilling cold. When the answer came back that this might present some difficulties Davis cheerily fulfilled the obligation, albeit well wrapped up, only hours before his match against Dominic Dale.
Happily there was a payback for the Nugget, battling to safeguard his tour place. Some of the photos of him in front of the famous edifice were so good he asked for one to include in the book of his snooker life he is currently working on.
Liang Wenbo was in action on Thursday evening – and due to miss the big night out for the Chinese players both left in the tournament, and already knocked out but still in Berlin. Friday marks the Chinese New Year (Year of the Horse), and a typical celebration on New Year’s Eve demands a huge party and the eating of dumplings by way of celebration. Ding Junhui, Xiao Guodong, Tian Pengfei, Li Hang, Liu Chuang and Cao Yupeng arranged to cast aside on-table rivalries and head off into the city for some revelry.
Abandon hope all ye who enter the Table Eight twilight zone…
Up until the last 16 matches on Friday at the German Masters there will be seven tables in use in the main arena, and an eighth set up in a separate area off the main foyer, used as a VIP area for the latter stages. The circular open space, with shallow tiered steps allowing spectators to effectively sit on the floor, might conceivably provide a decent atmosphere if it was full. But the first two players to sample it on Wednesday, Kurt Maflin and Tom Ford, were far from impressed at being shunted away from the main auditorium. So angry was world No27 Ford, 30, after a 5-2 defeat that he picked up a formal warning from referee Greg Coniglio for using bad language. Complaints included the table conditions as well as the setting, with a handful of onlookers making for a surreal experience.
London-born Norwegian Maflin, 30, could at least make his comments from the perspective of having won the match and wanted to avoid being placed there again.
He said: “I didn’t really like it, to be honest – it felt like a practice game. For sure, you would rather be in the main arena. Maybe it would have been a bit different if it had been full in there, 200 people or something – a different atmosphere.
“But the table played awful, the cushions felt as if they were playing slow, there were a lot of kicks and echo sounds in there. I hope I am not in there for my next match.
“Tom was frustrated, Berlin is a great city and a great venue, you get here and then you get stuck in a room with four people, when you expect to be in the main arena.”
Ryan Day was handed an unexpected day off in Berlin and bye through to the last 32 of the German Masters after scheduled opponent Cao XinLong failed to make it on to the plane in London. A visa issue prevented Cao, in his first season on the main tour, from satisfying the authorities prior to boarding and taking his place at the Tempodrom.
China’s Li Hang ran into problems in Berlin even before he had got out of Tegel airport. The 23-year-old arrived alone on a flight from London Heathrow, and engrossed on his phone in the baggage reclaim area was blissfully unaware that his cue had completely jammed the baggage belt. A helpful fellow passenger tried to unblock the logjam of suitcases, placing Li’s cue on top of a large pile of bags – but it duly fell off with a large crash on the floor, finally waking the player from his reverie. The world No96 anxiously examined his cue case for damage before heading off into the freezing night looking for a taxi.
Rod Lawler made the most of his first qualification for the German Masters, arriving early with wife and childhood sweetheart Jo to see the many iconic sights and landmarks on offer in Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. And it just got better for the 42-year-old Liverpudlian even before he had hit a ball. Former Anfield season ticket holder Lawler, along with fellow Liverpool fan and World Snooker press chief Ivan Hirschowitz, settled down in the nearest bar showing the football on the Tuesday night to watch his beloved Reds against Everton and revelled in the demolition Merseyside derby as Brendan Rodgers’ team won 4-0.
MONDAY, JANUARY 27
Inside Snooker understands ITV4 will not be showing the Haikou World Open this year, as they did last.
The ITV coverage was generally well received and drew encouraging audiences but the Champion of Champions event in Coventry went so well that the World Open, though a ranking tournament, may seem a little bit of a backward step considering the time difference with China and the relative lack of atmosphere at the sparsely attended Haikou venue.
However, discussions are believed to be well advanced with ITV to broadcast a second exclusive event next season, as an addition to the Champion of Champions.
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Further to our story earlier last week about the PTC Grand Finals, we understand alternative venues in Thailand outside of Bangkok have been scouted in case there needs to be a switch from the capital but that the event will go on.
The grand finals of the Players Tour Championship have been placed in some doubt following unrest in Bangkok, where a number of foreign embassies have warned against travel. A 60 day state of emergency was declared in the Thai capital this week after the latest clashes in a long running dispute between government and opposition forces.
Inside Snooker understands World Snooker has received a letter warning of the potential dangers of going ahead with the tournament, which is scheduled to take place from March 18 to 23 in Bangkok.
Violence stemming from the crackdown on anti-government protests have so far claimed nine lives in Thailand, according to Reuters news agency, although it was also reported yesterday that: “Bangkok appeared normal and people were going about their business as usual with police making no attempt to break up the protests.”
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Ronnie O’Sullivan’s £6,000 fine for his behaviour on Twitter sparked a lively discussion backstage at Crondon Park, with interesting points made on both sides. Some felt World Snooker were right to clamp down on tweets which could damage snooker’s reputation; others were concerned the governing body was breaching the players’ right to free expression.
All agreed that there are grey areas left open to interpretation about what constitutes an offensive tweet or is harmful. There was also general agreement that players have a responsibility to their sport as well as themselves.
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Neil Robertson was docked a frame for arriving a few minutes late at the Championship League on Tuesday, blaming heavy fog, which caused traffic around Crondon Park to slow. Graeme Dott was the lucky recipient of the frame (and £100) but Robertson won the match 3-2.
On Wednesday, he made another four centuries, taking his tally for the season to a remarkable 74. What is even more notable about this feat is that he is 35 centuries ahead of the player placed second on the seasonal list, Ding Junhui, who has made 39.
Robertson could have had three tons against Ryan Day but broke down on 89, blaming the table for rolling off when he missed a red. So keen is Robertson to get to a century of centuries that he gave the table a hard stare as he left the arena.
World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn is among those who feel a special presentation is in order if Robertson does get to 100 this season, which is looking increasingly likely.
The Cricketer magazine are currently posting up some of their old interviews featured over the past couple of years on their newer web site, and this week it was the turn of World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn under the ‘Me, Myself and Cricket’ spotlight.
Though first published almost two years ago, for anyone who wasn’t a subscriber there are still some interesting comparisons made between the Shootout and Twenty20 cricket, thoughts on snobbery in sport and the revelation that the promoter was a “snarling fast bowler” in his cricketing heyday.
http://www.thecricketer.com/default.aspx?pageid=1201&topicid=41489
A day after winning his fifth Masters title, Ronnie O’Sullivan gained another accolade by becoming the first snooker player to pass 200,000 followers on Twitter. Judd Trump is in second place with just over 114,000.
Inside Snooker is always ready to help the greats of the game, and on Sunday that involved providing some research assistance for former world champion John Parrott. The 1991 Crucible king and huge horseracing fan was attempting to see if it was possible to fit in a day at Fakenham races in Norfolk and ticking off a new track, after a speaking engagement in Norwich, and before dashing back to the north-west to take part in the Paul Hunter Foundation golf day in Accrington. After consulting race fixture calendars, maps of Britain and AA route planners, Parrott departed duly reassured that it could be done.
Stephen Hendry is still enjoying his role as an ambassador for Chinese eight-ball pool, one that is certainly seeing him clock up the air miles with the regular travel from Scotland to the Far East over the past 18 months. “I think I have been to around 40 Chinese cities already,” said the seven-time world champion at the Masters. “And I am taking Chinese lessons now, although I’m not exactly fluent yet.” It is thought there are around 129 cities in China with a population as big or bigger than Birmingham, so the 45-year-old still has some way to go in his quest to promote that sport.
World Snooker has to be careful allocating complimentary player tickets, mindful of balancing the needs for raising revenue and also making the maximum number available to the public. But for the high-profile occasions every effort is made to ensure that the finalists, especially at venues with a larger capacity, get a reasonable number with the option to pay for more. That meant Mark Selby, with the vast majority of the rest of the crowd supporting Ronnie O’Sullivan, was at least able to secure an allocation of around 20 tickets for the travelling Leicester army in to Alexandra Palace on the Sunday, paying for more on top – with the Rocket getting the same for family and friends.
Jimmy White, himself a former Masters winner fully 30 years ago, has been loyally supporting friend Ronnie O’Sullivan in person at Alexandra Palace this year and passed up the chance to go and watch his beloved Chelsea at home to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon to be at the final, which clashed with the first eight frames being played in north London from around 1.15pm. White, who has attended with a variety of other celebrities in O’Sullivan’s camp over the week including Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and artist Damien Hirst, was still holding out hope before the start of play that he might be able to catch the Premier League clash at 4pm on TV after the first session. “You never know, if he really gets on with it,” said a hopeful White. World No1 Neil Robertson, also a huge Chelsea fan and not involved, did manage to get late tickets for the match at Stamford Bridge.
A cosmopolitan audience on Saturday’s semi-finals day at the Masters reflected the growing influence of the rest of Europe within snooker, and not just the better known countries of Belgium, Germany, Poland and Bulgaria. Fans who had travelled from Finland, Austria, Sweden and Iceland approached MC Rob Walker and asked for a name-check in the arena. Those who had made the trip from Reykjavik were slightly startled when the sometime athletics and Olympics commentator began to regale them with tales of his stag do in the city, a 23-strong mission that involved tobogganing down glaciers.
It takes a lot to rattle Marco Fu. After all, we are talking here about a man that man when unwillingly and wrongly dragged into the ‘Chinese cheating’ row a couple of years ago responded with the sledgehammer blow: “Everyone is entitled to their opinion.” So it should come as no big surprise that he is not in the least bit fussed when it comes to how he is regarded when it comes to nationality. His birthplace of Hong Kong, of course, has technically for many years been part of China but the 36-year-old Fu insist he would be happy to be introduced as being from the Moon as long as he is winning.
World No9 Fu said: “I don’t mind at all whether people write Hong Kong or China in reports, or when I am introduced into the arena. I see myself as both from Hong Kong and Chinese, it’s really like saying Jimmy White is from London. He is also from England. Hong Kong is still a special administrative region. It is Chinese but even there has kept some separate identity. I mainly get introduced in the UK as being from Hong Kong, in China tournaments they would say ‘China Hong Kong’. It is a bit different, because they wouldn’t say ‘China Shanghai’ just because a player came from Shanghai. And then in the Asian Games there are three separate teams, China, China Hong Kong and China Macau.”
One of the reasons we set up this website is that it isn’t always easy to interest the national press in the UK in snooker. All too frequently, if they do carry anything about snooker it’ll be somebody knocking the sport, usually employing a catalogue of tired old clichés. This is why we were pleased to see snooker defended by one of Britain’s leading sports journalists, Martin Samuel, in his column for GQ.com, which can be read at the link below.