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.