Snooker Loopy

A mouthwatering clash of countries occurred in the first of the semi-finals with China A taking on Scotland. Despite a 123 clearance by Bingtao, China’s play was very flat and Scotland looked alive and dangerous. It wasn’t long before China were trailing 3-1 and the pressure was on Scotland to get the job finished. On the brink, Ding attempted a fight back in the dying stages of the frame but to no avail with Ding missing the pink and letting Maguire clinch frame and match, 4-1. In the second semi-final, England took on China B. China B took the early advantage and seized the first frame, making the referee, Leo Scullion work for his money as ball after ball was potted. After numerous pot attempts in the next, Wenbo finally got a chance but broke down on a middle red after it it went adrift with 62 points on the board. Lisowski then presented a counter attack but it was the experienced Wenbo that finished off the frame, 2-0.However a strong fightback from England took the next two fr

So we reach the quarter-finals stage of the Snooker World Cup and what a mouthwatering lineup we have. Wales were first up against Scotland and it really was a tough battle of nip and tuck. Williams stole the first off Higgins but before long Scotland were back in the driving seat and took a two frame advantage, making it 3-1. Williams must be reeling after missing an earlier crucial black and as any match has a turning point, this could have been the ball that lost them the match. However the tide seemed not quite ready to change and after bad contact by Higgins on a red in the next, Williams was given a chance and cleared up and so it wasn’t long before the frames were tied at 3-3. However after a scrappy start to the match, a dogfight began and Maguire finally put the last nail in the coffin for Wales and ushered them out of the competition, 4-3. In the second clash, Belgium took on the China B team with China dominating the match. Belgium were able to capture one frame but the ru

Another day and another series of matches on Day 5 at the World Cup with China B who currently too the table taking on the promising Wales team.with both sides tangling each other in snookers at the end of the first frame.and China B just making it over the line. The second frame was strewn with errors and both teams having their chances but relief for Ryan Day as he gained momentum and took the frame. In the next, the doubles, Wales were dominant and ended with China B conceding the frame and with all to play for in the reverse singles, Wales were dominant again and I was especially impressed by Ryan Day’s game. The last was won by Wales despite a late surge by the Chinese team and the inspired effort by Wales to pinch the last frame, means they are now top the table, winning 4-1 Elsewhere, the dominant England played Northern Ireland with all sorts of outcomes possible in the group. With Northern Ireland having lost two of their matches and England having won all theirs. Northern I

As the World Cup rolls so this biannual tournament gets better and better. Scotland in today’s play were formidable and like a fine malt, improve as the competition progresses. In their match against Malaysia, the Higgins/Maguire formula was formidable, now being dubbed “The Untouchables”. Scotland have only dropped two frames in two matches and this Scotland team has a definite aroma of the World Cup winning team in 1996. A win which John Higgins was part of and Stephen Maguire hadn’t even turned professional. Unfortunately the lack of funding for snooker in Malaysia has filtered through into their team’s performance in this World Cup and Scotland ran them ragged in this match,  running rings around them and causing the Malaysian to make schoolboy errors. The result being a convincing 4-1 win with Malaysia only able to seize the final frame. China A drew Poland and with China riding high at the top of the table, the third placed Poland in Group A had a lot to live up to in this matc

As expected Day 3 at the World Cup in Wuxi didn’t disappoint and we were treated to a feast of international snooker. Team Malta had to weather a tirade of pots by the Welsh squad of Ryan Day and Mark Williams with Williams potting faster than it takes for his tattoo ink to dry. Alex Borg, fresh from collecting his two year tour card at the Q School, may be fifty in age years but he and his teammate, Brian Cini couldn’t translate Borg’s age figure into a a break comparison. Wales must have thought there were magnets on the pockets because everything they went for, landed in the right bag. To be fair to Malta, they had very little table time but should have made more of the wafer thin chances that they did have. Wales were a class act and the Day/Williams partnership is just delightful to watch, reminding us once again of how many great players come out of this country. So Malta may be wise to give Tony Drago a call for some advice before their next match after this 4-1 drubbing. Mark W

Rodney Goggins is an accomplished snooker player from Wexford in the Republic of Ireland. Goggins shot to fame after winning the International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Under-21 Championship in 1999 at the age of 21, beating Rolf de Jong 11-4 in the final in Egypt. After two quarter final finishes in qualifying events in the 2003/4 season, Rodney made it onto the main tour for  2004/5. His best performance in that season was a last 64 place in the 2005 Irish Masters but wasn’t enough to keep him on the tour after finishing a disappointing 90th. Having finished first in the Irish rankings for 2006/7, Goggins regained his place on the main tour in 2007, reaching the last 64 of the UK Championship. The following year was a a duplicate of the previous and with no further improvements, Rodney lost his place again after losing to Gerard Greene 3-9. Ranked 70th, a career best, Rodney fell off the tour as only the top 64 players retained their places. Good fortune visited Rodn

The World Cup is warning up on day 2 at the event and like a fine wine that is left to breathe, just gets better for the one that savours it. The two television table events didn’t disappoint with Scotland producing a vintage performance in a battle of the more mature players against a similar breed in the form of the UAE. Unfortunately the Arabic side never got going and were unable to capitalise on the odd error made by the Higgins/Maguire partnership. If you blinked for too long, you may have missed this match and it ended with a convincing 4-1 win for the players that hail from the land of Robert the Bruce. China continued their excellent World Cup campaign against Norway. The Maflin/Watts duo made a brave attempt against the Chinese warriors but unfortunately failed to take their chances when their opponents faltered. Maflin was very good in small bursts but the Nordic bicycle chain came off when it was most needed. The match became a tip tapping event in the end and too many po

With the start of the snooker season yesterday, came the welcome return of the World Cup hosted in Wuxi, China. The event began with twenty four countries competing, made up of teams with easily recognised and less so known names and faces. Now known as the Beverly World Cup, it seems like the other day but factually yesterday also marked 40 years since the great Welsh partnership of Terry Griffiths, Doug Mountjoy and Ray Reardon won the World Cup for Wales in 1979. How times have changed, no discredit to my snooker heroes but in those days there were only 6 teams taking part and now this has dramatically risen to twenty four.This is down to the tireless effort of World Snooker and their quest to reveal the talent of more players from varied countries across a global sport. Truthfully, I only managed to watch the aired match on Eurosport, having just hot footed it off a flight from my holiday in Portugal. The match between China A and Germany was largely very one sided with the class

Sometimes you hear a story and you feel you just have to write about it. This happened to me yesterday when I was messaged by David Church. David wrote to me, asking me if I could write a blog about him. No nothing about this snooker player, I asked him to provide some background information about him. It was at this point that I knew I had to write about him. David is a two times World Disability champion but you have to delve much deeper to find the very touching story of how this man rose to prominence. Church now 23, was born with a rare disability called Moebius Syndrome, a neurological condition that primarily affects the muscles that control facial expression and eye movement. He also suffered a road traffic accident in 2013. As a result of this accident, he now suffers from depression, anxiety and social phobia, which led him to start drinking and smoking, leading to suicidal thoughts. Thankfully his father intervened and wanted to find a way to turn this situation around. Hi

Wael Talaat is a very talented snooker player from Egypt and has been creating a storm on the African snooker scene for some years. Amongst his many victories is his achievement that has made the Guinness Book of Records, becoming the first player in the history of Six Reds in 2014 to score a break of 83 points. The highest possible break in Six Reds is 75 but in this classic match Wael was able to get a free ball after his opponent committed a foul. Talaat also managed to score breaks in all four frames at every first opportunity to score. Wael has won the ABSF African Snooker Championship on three occasions, 2007, 2009 and 2011 and had a chance to compete on the main tour in 2016 due to winning the African Championship. However he didn’t really compete on the main tour and his main victories remain in South and North Africa. To clarify, Peter Francisco actually won the title in 2016, beating Talaat 6-1 but Peter decided not to take up the offer of a main tour card place so Wael was

Darren Morgan is one of the greatest players that Wales has produced. I remember him from my early days of watching snooker and he was and still is a formidable force. I am lucky in my time as a snooker follower and blogger to have made friends with Darren and he has been very helpful and supportive with research, giving me a Q&A and spending some time with him when I recently went to the Welsh Open in Cardiff. I digress, hailing from Newport in South Wales, Morgan took to snooker early in life and it wasn’t long before he was an amateur champion, winning the World Amateur Championship in 1987. The subsequent year he turned professional and then followed a long professional playing career, running from 1998-2007. Darren never won a major title but did amass just over a million pounds in prize money, reached a high ranking of eight and was ranked in the top 16 for six years. He also compiled 111 century breaks in his career. However there was success on the baize, beating Steve Da

James Wattana is the most famous player to ever be produced by Thailand and has proved his excellence over the years. James was an early career winner, winning his first title at the tender age of just sixteen, the Thailand Masters in 1986. This was the springboard to success and after winning the 1988 World Amateur Championship, he turned professional. In the mid 1990s he won the Thailand Open twice and climbed to number three in the world rankings. Prior to James coming on the scene, snooker had been dominated by English and to a lesser extent, British, Irish, Canadian and Australian players. Wattana has always been an ambassador for the game in Thailand and across the world and was very successful in UK tournaments in the 1990s reaching two semi-finals of the World Championship in 1993 and 1997, losing narrowly in the latter to Stephen Hendry. Varied success in China, meant that James was a a dominant force in snooker for most of the 1990s and returned to the top 32 after a very s

Tony Knowles is one of the iconic players of the golden years of snooker and played all the game’s greats in the 1980s. This quietly spoken, gentle giant with an infectious grin first started playing snooker at the age of nine and was always destined for the heady heights of the sport. I have lucky enough to meet Tony and shared some time with him during an exhibition match in Kent with my good friend Joe Johnson. A raconteur of the old days,” Knowlesy“ as we like to call him, is a master of the game, knowing every shot and angle there is on a snooker table and his trick shots are unbelievable. Knowles first made his name in snooker when as a qualifier he defeated the iconic Steve Davis in the first round of the World Championship in 1982. Davis was on a momentous winning streak at the time, having convincingly won the 1981 World Championship. However the lad from Bolton was not phased by this Romford kid and produced some of his best snooker in the match, ending it with a 10-1 drubb

Joris Maas is a qualified EBSA coach and has been developing his own snooker en pool game since 1994. In the last 20 years he has gradually self-improved his skills reaching an international amateur standard. Joris has won Dutch championships in snooker as well as pool and he represents Holland in international events. From his home base “Snookercentrum De Dieze “ he has been coaching some Dutch snooker and pool players for a few years now. In 2014 Joris received the official EBSA  coaching certificate. Joris has plenty of experience in both coaching and playing cue sports so is definitely one to watch out for in the new Seniors season.

Stuart Watson is an amateur snooker player from Stratford A talented player who has already achieved a 147 and amassed numerous century breaks in his career. Stuart, who practices at Stratford Sports Club in Swan Nest Lane, has competed in the Q School and WSF Seniors Championship and some of the past events of the qualifying stages of the World Seniors. Now Stuart has the chance to show his worth on the Seniors Tour this season. We wish him well as he joins a star studded cast of former professional and amateur players as they all compete for a title or multiple titles this season.

Rhydian Richards is an amateur player from Wales. Having to wait ten years for his first title, Richards triumphed in the WBSA European event at Penarth Road Cardiff Snooker Club. It was a hard fought battle against Lee Walker but he eventually won,3-1. Rhydian had beaten rising stars, Kishan Hirani and Duane Jones on the way to the final. Richards has also won the long and established title of the Welsh Amateur Championship when he defeated Darren Morgan in the final, 8-4.Rhydian competes in amateur events across Wales and recently competed in the Bargoed Labour Club Tournament but lost to Jamie Jones, 3-1. Wales has long been a hotbed of snooker, producing greats such as Ray Reardon and Mark Williams and the amazing Cliff Wilson. Rhydian has had to fight hard in all his wins so the World Seniors will be another one of those careers that he would love to win and so let’s hope that he be successful in one of the many tournaments that this season’s World Seniors Tour will provide.

Au Chi-Wai is an amateur snooker and pool player from Hong Kong. Aged 49, his best win was probably his pairing with Marco Fu to win a silver medal in the Asian Games in the snooker doubles event in 2002. Ah was also the second runner-up in the 2009 Asian Snooker Championships. In pool he was the first runner-up in the 2006 Asian 9-Ball Challenge in Bangkok on the WPA Asian 9-Ball Tour. He was also selected as a wildcard entrant for the 2010 China Open but was beaten in the first round by James Wattana, 5-0. Au is a great addition to the Seniors Tour and now has a chance to exhibit his snooker skills on the green baize. Hong Kong has long been a bastion of snooker with players such as Marco Fu evolving in the sport from here. The annual tournament of the Hong Kong Masters is staged here and also has government funding. With the growth of the Ladies Tour, a another talented player is Ng On-Yee who has won the World Championship and competed in the Q School. So Au is definitely from go