Monday 26 November 2012

Bingham victorious over Trump in Premier League Final

Stuart Bingham was crowned Premier League snooker champion after beating world number one Judd Trump 7-2 in Sunday's final.

Bingham, who was making his first appearance in the tournament this season, showed no nerves as he dominated Trump to secure a deserved success in Grimsby.

The Essex cueman made six breaks over 50 and one century to emerge victorious as Trump struggled to get going.

The left-hander did take the opening frame of the evening with a break of 83, but Bingham hit straight back and levelled with an effort of 82 which started with a superb long-range swerve-shot around the green in baulk to pot the opening red.

He only missed out on a century when he failed with the fourth last red to the centre pocket, but he duly obliged in the next with a contribution of 100 exactly giving him a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth, a Bingham break of 31 came to an end after a poor positional shot, but he returned to add a further 32 which left Trump needing a snooker and the left-hander was finally forced to concede after going in off the final red.

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Saturday 24 November 2012

World snooker champion John Higgins intends to make a mark in Grimsby

FOUR-time world snooker champion John Higgins believes fate could be on his side as he bids for Premier League glory in Grimsby this weekend.

The Scottish cueman hopes to end a 13-year wait for his second Premier League title as the finals of the event head to the region for the first time.

But Higgins, who lifted the world crown last year, wouldn't be in the tournament but for perennial champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's decision to withdraw from competitive snooker this season.

Higgins got the nod to replace the 11-time Premier League winner and has duly made it through to the final-four showdown at Grimsby Auditorium.

The 37-year-old lines up alongside world number one Judd Trump, 2010 world champion Neil Robertson and former world amateur title winner Stuart Bingham – who is also his semi-final opponent.

"I was fortunate to get into the tournament this time," said Higgins, who won the Premier League in 1999. "Ronnie O'Sullivan pulled out and I was the next one that (promoter) Barry Hearn invited.

"I'd love to win it again, I've only won it once before.

"If I win it this time, perhaps I'll have to buy Ronnie a drink!

"It's funny, sometimes things like that can happen in sport.


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Wednesday 21 November 2012

Jimmy White looses out in 2012 Snooker UK Qualifiers

Jimmy White's quest for a place in the UK Championship ended as he lost a final frame decider to Pankaj Advani.

Indian billiards star Advani, who beat Sam Baird 6-2 on Tuesday, took the deciding frame to win 6-5 and deny fans the chance of White playing old adversary Steve Davis at the last 64 stage of snooker’s second biggest event.

White has made the quarter final of a European PTC event this season but has failed to qualify for a major TV tournament and is down at 56 in the rankings.

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Tuesday 20 November 2012

Snooker News Trump Wins In Sofia

Trump lost to Higgins in the final of the Shanghai Masters in September and UKPTC4 last week, as well as the 2011 World Championship. But the 23-year-old from Bristol finally broke the Wizard's spell with a mesmerizing display at the end of the first ever professional tournament in Bulgaria, part of the Betfair European Tour series.

In winning the recent International Championship in China, Trump climbed to number one in the world rankings, and on current form looks determined to become snooker's dominant force.

Breaks of 47 and 42 gave him the opening frame tonight and he took the second after Higgins crucially missed the third-last red along the top cushion when just six points behind.

Trump potted 11 reds with blacks in frame three, but when a maximum 147 beckoned, he missed the 12th red with the rest. But the left-hander barely minded as he wrapped up victory in the next frame with a run of 63.

"I have lost to John a few times recently so I really wanted to beat him," said Trump after capturing the 12,000 Euros top prize as well as 2,000 ranking points. "It was a great atmosphere tonight, the crowd were brilliant and I really felt as if I could play well.

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Sunday 18 November 2012

New management for Ronnie O'Sullivan

World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has joined a new management company just days after putting his snooker playing career on hold.

O'Sullivan, who has been managed by Romford-based Grove Snooker since 2007, announced on November 6 that he would skip the rest of the season and not defend his world title, in order to deal with personal issues.

Merlin Elite today said the 36-year-old Chigwell cueman has joined its roster "for full management".

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Robertson claims Premier League semi-final place

Former world champion Robertson looked to be on his way out of the competition after falling 2-0 down to Ding in what was a straight shoot-out for a place in the final four at Spennymoor Leisure Centre.

But the Australian reeled off four games on the bounce to secure the runner's up spot in the group and set up a meeting with current world number one Judd Trump on November 24 in Grimsby.

Group B runner-up John Higgins will play Stuart Bingham, who topped Group A, in the other semi-final. The final is scheduled for the day after.

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Sunday 18 April 2010

World Championship 2010 Higgins v Hawkins

John Higgins 10 - 6 Barry Hawkins

Defending World Snooker Champion John Higgins is through to the second round at this years 2010 championship. In the end he finished a comfortable winner.

Higgins is looking to become only the third player to defend the World title following Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry in the 80’s and 90’s.

His opponent Hawkins was looking for a win that would of put him in the Top 16 next season.

The opening session ended 5-4 to Hawkins. He would have been disappointed to not be 6-3 up.

However, Higgins streaked away in the evening session and left behind a dejected Hawkins.

John Higgins will now play either legend Steve Davis or Mark King.

Snooker History

The game is generally regarded to have originated in the latter half of the 19th century. Billiards had been a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India, and variations on the more traditional billiard games were devised.

One variation, devised in the officers' mess in Jabalpur during 1874 or 1875, was to add coloured balls in addition to the reds and black which were used for pyramid pool and life pool. The word snooker also has military origins, being a slang term for first-year cadets or inexperienced personnel.

One version of events states that Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain of the Devonshire regiment was playing this new game when his opponent failed to pot a ball and Chamberlain called him a snooker. It thus became attached to the billiards game now bearing its name as inexperienced players were labelled as snookers.

The game of snooker grew in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. By 1927, the first World Snooker Championship had been organised by Joe Davis. As a professional English billiards and snooker player, he moved the game from a pastime activity into a more professional sphere.

Joe Davis won every world championship until 1946 when he retired. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played. Things saw some improvement when in 1969, when

David Attenborough who was then a top official of the BBC, commissioned the snooker tournament Pot Black to demonstrate the potential of colour television, with the green table and multi-coloured balls being ideal for showing off the advantages of colour broadcasting.

The TV series became a ratings success and was for a time the second most popular show on BBC Two. Interest in the game increased and the 1978 World Championship was the first to be fully televised. The game quickly became a mainstream sport in the UK, Ireland and much of the Commonwealth and has enjoyed much success in the last 30 years, with most of the ranking tournaments being televised.

In 1985 a total of 18.5 million viewers watched the concluding frame of the world championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis.

Ronnie O'Sullivan wins The Masters 2009.

World Snooker Champions

World Snooker Champion 1977 - John Spencer
World Snooker Champion 1978 - Ray Reardon
World Snooker Champion 1979 - Terry Griffiths
World Snooker Champion 1980 - Cliff Thorburn
World Snooker Champion 1981 - Steve Davis
World Snooker Champion 1982 - Alex Higgins
World Snooker Champion 1983 - Steve Davis
World Snooker Champion 1984 - Steve Davis
World Snooker Champion 1985 - Dennis Taylor
World Snooker Champion 1986 - Joe Johnson
World Snooker Champion 1987 - Steve Davis
World Snooker Champion 1988 - Steve Davis
World Snooker Champion 1989 - Steve Davis
World Snooker Champion 1990 - Stephen Hendry
World Snooker Champion 1991 - John Parrott
World Snooker Champion 1992 to 1996 - Stephen Hendry
World Snooker Champion 1997 - Ken Doherty
World Snooker Champion 1998 - John Higgins
World Snooker Champion 1999 - Stephen Hendry
World Snooker Champion 2000 - Mark Williams
World Snooker Champion 2001 - Ronnie O'Sullivan
World Snooker Champion 2002 - Peter Ebdon
World Snooker Champion 2003 - Mark Williams
World Snooker Champion 2004 - Ronnie O'Sullivan
World Snooker Champion 2005 - Shaun Murphy
World Snooker Champion 2006 - Graeme Dott
World Snooker Champion 2007 - John Higgins
World Snooker Champion 2008 - Ronnie O'Sullivan
World Snooker Champion 2009 - John Higgins
World Snooker Champion 2010 - Neil Robertson
World Snooker Champion 2011 - John Higgins
World Snooker Champion 2012 - Ronnie O'Sullivan