Friday 2 January 2009

O'Sullivan crashes out at Grand Prix

World number one Ronnie O'Sullivan crashed out of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix after losing 5-4 to teenager Judd Trump in a tense quarter-final.

Trump, 19, won the first two frames but O'Sullivan took a 3-2 lead, going in front with a break of 104 in the fifth.

Trump, who will now play John Higgins, levelled on the final pink and while the next two frames were shared, the youngster edged through.

Ali Carter beat Steve Davis 5-3 to progress, while Ryan Day also advanced.

Higgins beat Ding Junhui 5-3 to claim a semi-final against Judd.

Ding took a 2-1 lead but two-time former world champion Higgins levelled with a break of 71.

A frame apiece made it 3-3 but Higgins edged ahead once more before claiming the final frame with a break of 71.

I'm awful but it still doesn't stop me trying

Ronnie O'Sullivan on his present form

Day lost the first frame against Jamie Cope, but took the next five against his out-of-sorts opponent to progress.

The Welshman, who has yet to win a ranking event, fired in breaks of 129, 112, 85 and 74 to take the last four frames, Cope scoring just 56 points in reply.

Earlier, Trump, who comes from Bristol, put on a fabulous show considering the qualifier was competing in his first quarter-final in a ranking event.

"It feels brilliant to have beaten (O'Sullivan), it's the biggest win of my career by a mile," said Trump, ranked 41 in the world.

"We both struggled, but I went out there to win and I got the job done. I had chances to win 5-3 and I didn't take them, so I was glad I got another chance to win the match."

O'Sullivan, who has complained about his poor form all week, added: "I've not seen a lot of him, but he's obviously dangerous.

"He's young and he's hungry for success, but I don't want to say he's great because he's only young, he's not been on the snooker scene that long."

On his own showing O'Sullivan said: "I can't pot a ball over six foot at the moment, I have to really struggle. I'm awful, but it still doesn't stop me trying."

Having clawed his way back into the contest, Trump blew several chances to claim victory in the eighth frame and his nerves looked likely to hinder his progress.

However, it was the world champion who struggled in the final stages and a missed red to the middle pocket decided the match.

In the other afternoon's quarter-final, Davis and Carter were close to the day's second final frame decider, but Carter's early fluke in the eighth set him up for a match-winning 99.

Davis had started brightly with breaks of 43 and 42 to take the opener, but Carter bounced back to take the next three frames.

Former world champion Davis exhibited his phenomenal safety play in the fifth but Carter just edged it to get within one frame of the finishing line.

Despite a great fightback for Davis to make it 4-3, the Glasgow crowd was denied a dramatic final frame thanks to Carter's lucky red and break to ensure his impressive victory.

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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