UK Championship Day 11

-
Another day in York and one closer to the final. Most of the familiar faces of the UK Championship have now been eliminated. Today afternoon session was the first chance for a player to enter tomorrow’s final and it was the turn of Ding Junhui and Yan Bingtao to battle it out for a one of those places. Both players have vastly improved this season with Yan having already win the Riga Masters at the start of the season and Ding having bloomed in this tournament. Ding was first to deliver with a 68 break in the first frame, 1-0 Ding. Despite several attempts by Bingtao to get into the next, Yan couldn’t string a break together to win the frame, collapsing at 27 and it was Ding who came from behind to snatch the frame and inflicted a hurtful blow on his opponent, 2-0. With the cue ball on a piece of string. Ding navigated his way around the table with a break of 60 but wasn’t able to quite make it over the line. Bingtao had a glimmer of hope to clinch the frame with the remainder of the balks but got a horrendous kick on a red. Ding cleared up the remaining balls with a break of 41. Worrying Ding now had a 3-0 lead with Yan been dictated to by Ding, worrying times for Yan if he didn’t win the last frame before the interval. Eventually Yan gets his first frame on the board to cut the deficit to 3-1 going into the interval.

After the interval Ding ploughed ahead and before you could switch the kettle on, he increased his lead to 4-1. Bingtao then fought back after only having scored a high break of 27 at this point to string together a winning break of 95, not quite a century but enough to decrease Ding’s lead to two frames, 4-2. A missed opportunity by Yan, let Ding in again and he made the most of it, powering reds in from the cushion. Ding was showing his experience and his upper gear made him 5-1 up and one frame away from a place in the final, the first time in ten years. Ding then took the next to take frame and match as the master beats the professional, 6-2. The match in the evening was a 6-0 whitewash for Stephen Maguire over Mark Allen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Which way, left or right?

-
Image
One of the greatest spats that occurred in snooker history was between my friend Alain Robidoux and Ronnie O’Sullivan. It occurred in 1996 at the World Championship. Ronnie, a then young whipper snapper at 19, trounced Alain in the match, winning 10-3. However beyond the win, a spat occurred when Ronnie decided to take a number of shots left handed. Robidoux criticised O’Sullivan after the match for being “disrespectful”. Ronnie hit back at Alain saying “if he wants to act like a baby that’s up to him” adding “ the crowd enjoyed it, that’s the main thing”. This was probably the first time that a player had dared to take multiple shots left handed and led to players attempting the same feat. Perhaps this wouldn’t have been become a regular occurrence if this hadn’t of happened. This snooker bust up led to Alain refusing to shake Ronnie’s hand at the end of the match. Robidoux later explained his actions saying “Ronnie was being disrespectful to his fellow professionals and should sa
Read more

Place your bets

-
Image
Match fixing in snooker has unfortunately been in operation since the very early days of the game with reports of Joe Davis having "carried" weaker opponents in multi-session matches to maximise the gate revenue. This trait continued through the history of the sport with players such as Willie Thorne and Alex Higgins claiming they were offered large sums of money to lose matches. Players may not enter a match fixing agreement on their own free will, being subject to threats of violence if they fail to submit. The lucrative criminal act is largely based in the Far East where gangs devise money making scams in various sports, using their players to infiltrate the individual sport and extract multimillion currency earnings. Although this happens, World Snooker has been very vigilant to attempt to stamp out this criminal activity in recent years. The main punishment being heavy fines or bans from the game. Recognisable figures such as Quentin Hann, Stephen Lee and Joe Joggi
Read more

The Beckham of the Baize

-
Image
Revered by players in our sport, Paul Hunter was one of the best players that snooker has ever seen but whose life was sadly cut short by cancer. Paul was instantly recognisable for his good looks and flamboyant style, being the only player I have known to play who has managed to play with a hair band and pull it off successfully. Dubbed “ the Beckham of the Baize”, Hunter represented the flair and youth of sportsmen of the time and brought a refreshing sense of fashion to the table. Best known for his three Masters’ titles, Paul made Wembley his home, taking every victory to the wire by winning the deciding frame and managed in his short career to compile 114 centuries and amass £1,535,730 in career prize money. He also managed to pull off a 146 break in the 2004 Premier League. Hunter started his early career as a junior player, winning titles, most importantly the English Doubles Championship, being described as an “outstanding junior talent “.Taken under the wing of Joe Johnson
Read more