RADIO STATIONS SHUN CRUCIBLE DRAW

The snooker world may be braced for the draw for the first round of the Dafabet World Championships, to be staged at the Rileys Sports Bar on London’s Haymarket on Thursday 17th April, but there is a baffling indifference among the broadcast media towards the always gripping occasion.

Radio station talkSPORT had been due to broadcast the draw live on the morning Colin Murray show, but the presenter and his production team seemed to go cool on the idea and they withdrew relatively late in the day.

But that talkSPORT were even in the frame is bewildering, given the BBC’s contract to show the 17-day tournament from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. With at least two sports-oriented radio stations, you would have thought that the organisation would have wanted to publicise their own event, especially on that is watched by so many millions on television.

Instead the process will be shown on World Snooker’s Youtube channel.

This year’s draw was always going to be intriguing, with former world champions Mark Williams, Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott having to win just one match to be in the bag. With absolutely no real inside knowledge on this one, we have a feeling in the water that Dott may just be handed Ronnie O’Sullivan in the opening round if he makes it through.

CRUCIBLE SEEDINGS PICTURE LOOKING CLEARER

The Crucible seedings picture was always going to gradually clear over the course of the week in Preston, with the positions of the top players in the Sheffield draw decided in most cases by events at the Guild Hall. Everyone was interested, including Ronnie O’Sullivan who will take his place at the top of the draw as No1 seed as defending champion. It soon became clear that Ding would be the No4 seed after his early exit at the PTC Grand Finals, in the same half as the Rocket, while Neil Robertson and Mark Selby would be seeded Nos 2 and 3 in the bottom half. Next to be confirmed was Shaun Murphy and Marco Fu, eight and nine, and seeded to meet in the last 16 in O’Sullivan’s quarter. And Friday afternoon confirmed the seedings of Ricky Walden (12), Mark Davis (13), Ali Carter (14), Mark Allen (15) and Joe Perry (16). This left scheduled matches at the last-16 stage between Allen and Robertson, Ding and Davis, Selby and Carter, and O’Sullivan and Perry. The evening matches in Preston were likely to further clarify matters.

MAGUIRE PULLS OUT OF CHINA OPEN

The withdrawal of Stephen Maguire from the China Open with a bad back, a problem that troubled him at the Welsh Open earlier this year, brought to three the number of players who will not be travelling to Beijing after the draw was made. Maguire had been due to play Dave Harold, who will receive a bye into the last 32 and a guaranteed minimum of £6,500 from the prize-money pot. The same applies to Martin O’Donnell, who was due to play Stuart Bingham (family funeral), and Alfie Burden (Tony Drago, no reason given but has always had a strong fear of flying).

NUGGET ENJOYS NOSTALGIC RETURN TO PRESTON

Steve Davis dropped in to the Guildhall on Thursday, up in Preston to do an exhibition at the football stadium with local hero Ian McCulloch in tow. Noting that the venue where he won six UK titles “hadn’t changed one bit” since his 1980s heyday, the six-time world champion, who now needs to win at least one World Championship qualifier at Ponds Forge in April to salvage his tour place, enjoyed a quick technical discussion on cues and tips with John Higgins before getting some practice in ahead of his evening duties.