Click below for a summary of the day’s news including the latest on John Higgins and a very bizarre press release from Peter Ebdon which was published on the World Snooker website earlier on…
It may be commonplace for a player when interviewed between tournaments to say that they are not in the best form but have you ever heard a player release a statement on the official World Snooker website to say just that before a major tournament?
Well that is what Peter Ebdon has done as he has said that due to his upcoming wedding in Hungary he will “not be in a position to play to the best of his ability” during his upcoming Shanghai Masters qualifier at the Academy. To view the statement in full please click here.
Regardless of the possible motives for releasing this statement, be it to take the pressure off himself, to avoid a similar potential furore to that when he lost 5-0 to Liang Wenbo a couple of seasons ago or maybe even to put some pressure on any potential opponent – the most bizarre thing to me is that this has actually been published on the official World Snooker website!
You can also read the view of Sporting Intelligence by following this link, although the most interesting aspect of that article for me is actually that which reveals that John Higgins has actually appealed his suspension during this summer, albeit unsuccessfully as (soon to be former) WPBSA board member Brandon Parker took the decision to uphold that suspension.
Furthermore it is now also being reported that the News of the World have now handed over the original tapes at the centre of the sting and you can read more over at both The Guardian and Sporting Intelligence.
In other news it has also been confirmed that Jason Ferguson has been appointed as the chairman of the WPBSA for the second time in place of Barry Hearn, while the funeral of Alex Higgins will take place this coming Monday at St Anne’s Church of Ireland cathedral at 11:30am.