Here’s our preview of Sunday’s play at the Dafabet World Championship…
Read MoreWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: DAY 9 PREVIEW

Snooker
Here’s our preview of Sunday’s play at the Dafabet World Championship…
Read MoreJUDD Trump started his Dafabet World Championship last-16 match against Wales’s Ryan Day in fine style at the Crucible on Saturday afternoon.
Read MoreRONNIE O’SULLIVAN produced a grandstand finish to remain on track for a third successive world title with a dramatic 13-11 second round victory over Joe Perry at the Crucible on Saturday.
Read MoreOur preview of day eight of the Dafabet World Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where two more second round matches get underway today…
Read MoreMARK SELBY became the first player to reach the quarter-finals of the Dafabet World Championship by completing a 13-9 victory over Ali Carter at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Friday night.
Read MoreALAN McManus hit Ken Doherty with an early barrage in their ‘golden oldie’ showdown at the Dafabet World Championship on Friday.
Read MoreRONNIE O’Sullivan was handed a Crucible lifeline last night – just when it looked as if hopes of a hat-trick of world titles and a sixth in all were fast disappearing over the horizon.
Read MoreALI Carter kept his chances of reaching the quarter-finals alive against Mark Selby by taking the last two frames of the session to trail 9-7 at the Crucible.
Read MoreInside Snooker were kindly presented with the most recent set of the WPBSA rules of the game this week by leading official Jan Verhaas.
While most of us think we know most of the rules, there are from time to time situations that crop up in a match where reference to the laws and consultation with referees is extremely useful and helpful to better describe what has happened, and the rules do get updated from time to time.
You would be amazed how many football reporters don’t actually know some of the key laws of football – or maybe you wouldn’t.
Clearly the donation could not pass without some good-natured stick being aimed at the media fraternity. Verhaas signed the tome: “Have a good read, you might learn a thing or two!” while top referee Michaela Tabb inscribed: “You might have a chance of getting it right now, then!”
No chance of that. What’s the green worth, again?
NEIL Robertson is hoping to hit the magical ‘century of centuries’ in a second-round Crucible shootout against Mark Allen.
Read MorePlenty of Yorkshire-based footballers have dropped in to the Crucible over the years, taking advantage of the proximity of the World Championship in Sheffield for a game used by so many to relax away from their own pressures.
This correspondent can certainly remember the likes of Mel Sterland and David Hirst, former Sheffield Wednesday greats, turning up to watch the action.
On Thursday night it was striker Billy Sharp at the venue, a genuine fan of the game who has been many times and had turned up to see defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first session of his last-16 match against Joe Perry.
Sharp, out of favour at Premier League Southampton, is currently on loan at nearby Doncaster Rovers, battling to save their Championship status and with a huge match on Saturday against play-offs chasing Reading.
He said: “I love the snooker and probably like most people my favourite player is Ronnie O’Sullivan. I have been for I think the last five or six years now. We have a pool table at the training ground but I do have a nine-foot table at the house so I play quite a bit.”
Here’s our preview of the second round matches in the Dafabet World Championship getting underway on Friday at the Crucible…
Read MoreDOMINIC DALE was forced to survive several anxious moments before winning his first match at the Crucible for 14 years at the Dafabet World Championship on Thursday.
Read MoreThe most interesting thing to emerge from Barry Hearn’s press conference yesterday was the revelation that Stephen Hendry is willing to return to the circuit in some capacity just two years after retiring.
Read MoreThe Daily Telegraph runs a worthwhile occasional column called ‘Unsung Hero’ featuring people working selflessly behind the scenes without whom the stars of a sport would have a lot more difficulty.
There are plenty of great candidates for such a feature in snooker in a number of roles, both at the Crucible and on tour generally keeping the show on the road and clearly the sport is extremely high-profile for the 17 days of the World Championship so very newsworthy.
However when approached and offered a piece that would have slotted in perfectly the Telegraph replied that is was “only for football”, ie some press officer who is probably being handsomely paid for what they do anyway at the club they support.
As someone who not only covers football also professionally and has watched it as a fan since being knee-high to the proverbial grasshopper, I do still find the slavish obsession ONLY with football to the detriment of other sports in some papers can be profoundly depressing at times.
We’ll do it on here instead, coming up soon.
Our preview of day 6 of the Dafabet World Championship as the second round gets underway…
Read MoreProbably not too much doubt as to who won the Brian Clough award for laconic delivery and keeping a radio interviewer on their toes on Wednesday at the Crucible. And hopefully, given Michael Holt’s love for Nottingham Forest, it is at least recognition he would appreciate.
Facing the press after a desperately disappointing display and result against Mark Allen, Holt had to wait some time before the first question. When it arrived: “Tell us about the match”, his answer was short and sweet, “He got to 10 before I did. That’s it. It was there in front of you.” All it needed was a “young man” towards BBC Radio Five Live’s Jamie Broughton and it could have been the great man himself.
JOE PERRY is under no illusions about what will be required for him to spring a huge shock and knock out tournament favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan – perfect snooker.
Read MoreMARK ALLEN proved his fighting qualities by shrugging off ill health to reach the second round of the Dafabet World Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Wednesday.
Read MoreDAVE Gilbert was well beaten by Barry Hawkins in the first round at the Crucible, and his run of eight losing frames had given him some extra cause for concern.
The 32-year-old Gilbert, arguably one of the tour’s underachievers and by his own admission guilty of poor attitude and discipline in the past, is one of a minority of top professionals not to practise on a Star table as used in tournaments everywhere.
At a rough estimate perhaps 80 per cent of players do have regular access to Star tables, either through using hubs such as the Romford, Gloucester or Sheffield Academies or in their own homes or clubs. A select few have been given them for various achievements or sponsorship deals, and others have the option to buy new or second-hand through advantageous rates set up by World Snooker or the WPBSA.
Gilbert still uses a Riley table in Tamworth, and suggested after his loss that extra difficulty adjusting to the table was beginning to cost him when it matters.