Wednesday 7 January 2009

Selby advances in Championship League

Mark Selby has booked his spot in the winners' group of the Championship League at Crondon Park, but Shaun Murphy and Ryan Day are out of the competition.

Selby was overshadowed by Ding Junhui in the round-robin phase of the tournament, with the Chinese player proceeding unbeaten through all of his six matches - winning five and drawing one - to go into the group one play-off.

But Ding then lost his play-off match 3-2 to Ali Carter while Selby - who was second out of the group of seven players after the opening games - waltzed past Joe Perry in the other play-off match.

Selby then produced a break of 133 - the best of the event so far - as he beat Carter 3-1 in the play-off final to win himself a spot in the Championship League winners' group.

Carter, Ding, Perry and Stephen Hendry will all go on to play in the group two round-robin matches which begin on Wednesday, where they will be joined by Mark Williams, Peter Ebdon and Mark Allen.

But UK Championship winner Shaun Murphy is out of the competition, as is Welshman Ryan Day. The pair each won just one of their six matches to finish sixth and seventh respectively in the group and heading out of the competition.

The Championship League consists of eight groups. Seven regular groups and then a winners group featuring the seven previous successful players.

In groups one to six, the winner of the final will advance to the winners' group. Players finish 2-5 advance into the next group where they are then joined by three new players for the next group.

All matches in the league phase are played over four frames. The play-offs and final are the first to three.

The winner of the event gets an automatic berth into the lucrative Premier League while there is also prize money on offer of £100 a frame in the regular group stage - with each semi and final being worth £300 per frame.

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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