Following on from the successful Belgian Open tournament staged last month, this month we have the Austrian Open which will again be televised by CueSport.tv. For more information, please click below to view the official press release:
Tag: Dominic Dale
Bahrain Championship 2008: Draw News
With the qualifiers for the inaugural Bahrain Championship taking place next week, it is time to have a quick look at the recently released draw and explain the four first round byes that have been given…
Roewe Shanghai Masters 2008: Day Two – Super Selby breezes past Trump
Day two in Shanghai as John Higgins, Mark Selby, Joe Perry and Dominic Dale make their entrance into the competition. Click below to read how they are getting on in the afternoon session:
Roewe Shanghai Masters 2008: Day Two Schedule
So with the wildcard matches out of the way, day two marks the entrance of the big boys as the last 32 gets underway. Click below to see the schedule and which matches will be on the TV table in the UK:
Belgian Open 2008: Last 48 Draw
Following the Saturday morning matches, the situation is now as follows:
Last 48 Draw from CueSport TV:
* S. Mazrocis v G. Kopec (winner plays S. Maguire)
* S. Lemmes v J. Van Roy (winner plays M. Stevens)
* A. Higginson v J. Cope (Winner plays K. Doherty)
* C. Henry v M. Holt (Winner plays J. Perry)
* L. Munstermann v J. Vanden Bossche (Winner plays G. Dott)
* Y. Van Velthoven v G. Greene (Winner plays S. Bingham)
* D. Dale v T. De Witte (Winner plays M. Williams)
* K. Khavaran v M. Dierens (Winner plays Shaun Murphy)
* P. Geysels v S. De Sterck (Winner plays M. Selby)
* D. Lathouwers v D Harold (Winner plays B. Hawkins)
* K. Van Hove-Speltincx v M. Geudens (Winner plays Mark Davis)
* J. D’Hondt v N. Vanhee (Winner plays M. King)
* A. Vandersteen v G. Hendrickx (Winner plays N. Robertson)
* P. Raes v R. Walden (Winner plays Bjorn Haneveer)
* T. Ford v L. Brecel (Winner plays J. Michie)
* J. Grauls v A. Van Loocke (Winner plays R. Day)
Belgian Open 2008: Day One Results
Thanks to DerMoment1608 over at The Snooker Forum, I now have access to the results and high breaks from yesterday’s action in Belgium. To view them, please click here to visit the Snookermania forums.
As far as big breaks go, the highlights of the day were Neil Robertson’s excellent 142 break in the afternoon as well as Mark Selby’s attempt at a maximum earlier in the day.
The big result however was the victory of local player Jurgen Van Roy against 1991 World Champion John Parrott in what was the upset of the day. Although Parrott is not ranked as highly as he once used to be, Jurgen must have been delighted to have won the match 2-1 and give the Belgian supporters something to celebrate.
Today the final matches will be played and the places in the next round confirmed so check back later to see how things have finished up.
Belgian Open 2008: Draw and playing times
So today marks the start of the Belgian Open 2008 and here is a link to the draw for the tournament. Note that the top two from each group will progress to the last 32 stage which will begin tomorrow.
Also available for the tournament is a list of playing times for each of the players involved in the group stage. To view that please click here.
And once again to learn about how to watch the event online, please click here for my previous post on the tournament.
I imagine that the Global Snooker Centre will be the first place to provide live scores so keep checking back there to see what is going on. The most interesting story from the first morning appears that Mark Selby was close to a maximum break early on in his first match, what a start to the event that would have been!
Since that point, Neil Robertson has knocked in a 142 to make what I believe to be the highest break of the day so far.
Having trouble finding the full results and latest tables so it’s probably best to keep an eye on GSC for now…
Davis goes back to basics
Steve Davis may have six world titles and countless other tournament victories on his CV but he still hasn’t given up trying to improve his game according to the Eurosport website.
He is quoted as saying:
“I noticed I wasn’t striking the ball in the centre,” Davis said. “I was favouring cueing on one side and it was affecting my alignment.
“It’s all weird. All the shots seem different. I didn’t expect results overnight. I expected to struggle and miss the balls by miles but actually I didn’t pot too badly.
“I was trying to play quite basically so any win is a good win. I’m not going to criticise myself. I got through.”
For a man starting what I believe to be his 30th season as a professional to come out and indicate that he is working on his game in such a fundamental way is remarkable really, particularly given what he has achieved in the game. Having slipped out of the top 16 again at the age of 51 and with a full-time career as an analyst with the BBC waiting for him, some might have expected Davis to slip quietly into the background and concentrate on other activities now.
That would be to underestimate Steve’s love of the competition, or perhaps more to the point the game of snooker full stop however. Anyone who has remained at the top of the game for as long as he has won’t want to go down without a fight and it is good to see that he is still seeking to improve his level even now.
Make no mistake, he may have tried to downplay his win against Gerard Greene in the Shanghai Masters qualifiers but Greene is a very dangerous player to face at that stage and any kind of win for Steve was always going to be a good one. His reward in Shanghai will be a tie with Dominic Dale in the last 32 in what could be a close match. Dale, who is entering the event as defending champion, is in good form having pushed Mark Allen all the way in Northern Ireland and will fancy his of chances of making it to the last 16 again. One thing that is certain however is that Davis will do his utmost to stop that from happening.