Some good news for the inaugural Bahrain Championship at last, 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott has confirmed that he will be playing in the tournament…
As reported on Snooker Scene Blog, Graeme said:
“To be honest, the wrist is still pretty painful and I would imagine it will be like that for the next few weeks,”
“I will take pain-killers and hopefully, that will help me. I did not expect to make this event so if I win my first game I will definitely look on it as a bonus.
“If I lose I can at least say I’ve had a bit of match practice. I’m just desperate to get playing again. I couldn’t play in China and I didn’t feel any better when I missed the Grand Prix, which was hard to take.
“It’s not going to be easy. I’ve not practiced for six weeks but I will give it my best shot and if I come through it will be a massive boost.
“I’ve no idea what is going to happen. But put it this way. It’s better than sitting in the house.
“It does not seem so long since I was going to the world championship as the defending world champion.
“Now I am 45 provisionally but you have to start somewhere and I need to win some games to move up the rankings as quickly as I can.”
With all the other withdrawals it is good to see Graeme doing his utmost to compete in the event, even though he could quite easily have skipped the tournament and taken the 700 first round losers points that he would otherwise have got. Still though I guess with Graeme’s ranking as low as it currently is, if there is a chance of winning a match or two and getting a few more points on the board, he has to give it a real go and try to do it.
Less clear is the situation regarding another world champion, Steve Davis who is scheduled to play the winner of Marco Fu and Dominic Dale in the second round next Tuesday, following the withdrawal of Ronnie O’Sullivan who Steve was due to play in the last 32. As people will no doubt be aware by now, Steve is also scheduled to play in the Premier League two days later in Newport, so it is difficult to see how this situation is going to be resolved.
A further twist to the tale however is that there are reports saying that Steve is currently suffering from an ear infection which is placing his participation in both events into doubt. Hopefully the situation will be clarified over the next few days…