The 2008 World Snooker Championship was commenced on Saturday, April 19 at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield. John Higgins, last year’s champion plus Mark King, Ryan Day, Stephen Hendry, Joe Swail, Peter Ebdon, Allister Carter, Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham have already ensured their spot at the next (best of 25 frames) round. 

The most expected collusion between the two Asian snooker heroes Chinese Ding Junhui and Marco Fu Hong Kong ended with Ding’s triumph 10-9. Ding Junhui will be playing on the next round against no other than 7-times world champion Stephen Hendry. Their final match was broadcast at 6 in the morning China local time and drew about 100 million viewers. 

However, it seems you didn’t have to be their compatriot to appreciate their long series of matches. In more than one report, the two were described as true World Championship material, demonstrating smart breaks, elegant safeties and a row of centuries. Ding has certainly proved to the world and he can’t be farther than the state of a slump…

First round of Ding Junhui vs. Marco Fu

On the other hand, Mark Selby, the finalist of 2007 World Snooker Championship has slipped out of the competition after losing 10-8 to Mark King. His losing puts a question mark on the continuation of his career and in an interview he admitted reconsidering his future at the sports.

Another highly anticipated match that can glue milliard Chinese to their TV sofas is today’s Lui Chang vs. Ronnie O’sullivan, where the 17-years-old prodigy will be competing against the bookmaker’s favorite whom, up until Chang’s arrival, was the holder of the youngest player to make a debut at a World Snooker Championship record.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Pool Tournaments, Pool News, Snooker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.