In Search of the Red Dragon

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With an emphatic 4-1 win over Ryan Day in the Gibraltar Open last night, Stuart Bingham now travels to Llandudno with the snooker train. Bingham and Day should be proud of their foreign excursion efforts as they pick up crucial ranking points and tournament guarantees for next season. Day however looked burnt out in the final with his petrol tank running on empty, admitting so in his post final interview.

With Ronnie back on the scene in Llandudno, both players will have to adopt higher gears to fend off the Rocket. O’Sullivan is now in pre World Championship mode and will set his sights on winning in Wales, the China Championship and the World Championship.Ronnie has been highly critical again the media About Gibraltar and the playing venues on the tour. Rather than voicing his concerns through the correct channels of the Player’s Committee, he again has used the press to pedal his derogatory comments. A bad move that is largely brought on by his lack of season ranking points.

Again, I implore players to look at their mindset. It doesn’t help when Judd Trump says that he doesn’t enjoy snooker as much as the other players. Trump clearly lacks confidence despite having a Rolls Royce game, he seems happy to drive a Robin Reliant on the table when in ball action fails him. His naughty snooker becomes erratic snooker and he not only makes bizarre shot choices but also fails to pot the simple ball under pressure.

I do despair sometimes because I know how good these players really are and it is embarrassing to see them lose. Bingham, Trump, Wilson and company have what it takes in their snooker DNA but they need to break down this mental barrier and win more titles. I personally hate watching the Ronnie O’Sullivan show and frankly this shouldn’t be the only show in town.

Llandudno is a chance to put the world to rights and break the stigma once and for all. We all know Ronnie is capable of floundering and with him out of the mix, any player can flourish but you have to dispatch him first. If someone can, then they should in theory be victorious in North Wales because they have exceeded Ronnie’s playing bar. They are all capable and that is why they are professional players on a professional snooker tour. So the quest for the holy grail begins!

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