Marco Fu – currently in action in the Premier League…
It has been one of those weeks so far which has seen a number of small snippets of news come to light without anything really significant to report. Here is my round-up of what has happened that is worth knowing in the snooker world so far during the past few days…
At the time of writing this Thursday evening, the latest round of the Premier League is taking place with Marco Fu in action against Ding Junhui with Ronnie O’Sullivan v Mark Williams so far to come. At the moment Marco Fu currently leads Ding Junhui 4-0, already therefore securing the victory and in all likelihood ending Ding’s hopes of qualifying for the play-off stage later this year.
For whatever reason Ding does seem to be struggling with his game at the moment and as a player who has never excelled having fallen behind in a match, was always going to struggle having lost the first couple tonight. Marco meanwhile is looking very good indeed, certainly far better than during last season’s Premier League which saw him finish bottom of the group. I think this is evidence of the fact that while the shot clock might not be his favourite format, his poor performances last season owed more to his poor form generally than his ability to play under the shot clock conditions.
MIUS – Event Sponsors of EPTC4
Moving swiftly on, there are another two notable events taking place this week, first and foremost the EPTC4 event which will be staged at the Southwest Snooker Academy in Gloucester. Important links are as follows:
- Tournament Draw and Order of Play
- Ticket Information
- Live Streaming link
- Livescores
- Results
As you can see, those behind the Academy are pulling out all the stops to make the event a success and enable fans to be able to follow the event more closely than they have been the other PTC events so far.
There will however be a cost involved for those wanting to watch the livestreaming tomorrow, apparently £4.50 per day for main arena streaming and £3 for the second table according to Sarah Mount over at The Snooker Forum.
The first matches tomorrow (Friday) however I understand will be FREE so do check it out and see how the service operates.
My plan is to get down to Gloucester on Saturday for day two of the event and hopefully (now armed with a half-decent phone), I will be able to provide you with live updates, photos and blogs from the day, probably over on my Twitter page here. Should be good!
Peter’s Foods – Event Sponsors of EPTC4
Meanwhile the other event taking place this weekend will be the inaugural Power Snooker event over at the O2 arena in London. I must admit that this sort of event is not something that interests me particularly and as I will be at the EPTC event I will not be covering it in any detail, but I will be interested to know what other fans think of the event. You can view more information about the tournament here.
What the Power Snooker event has triggered once again is a debate as to the format of the World Championship and whether it should be shortened. As regulars will know, I would be vehemently opposed to this and agree with the views expressed by Mark Selby over on his (as ever) excellent blog this week. Worth a read.
Elsewhere as noted by Dave Hendon today, the Scottish Professional Championship is to be revived this April, its first staging since the 1989 event won by John Rea. For more information at Snooker Scene Blog, please click here.