Billiards is recognized as sports by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). So is bridge, chess and life saving. Then why snooker isn’t recognized as an Olympic sport? Alex Alsworth asks in Sportingo and provides all the supporting arguments. Snooker is a far more popular and fascinating spectators sports than, let’s say, shooting. Snooker also has the potential to draw wider audiences than American-oriented games as baseball (just think of the millions who’ve watched the Ding Junhui playing against Marc Fu at the first round of the 2008 World Snooker Championship).

In addition, the claim as if snooker players don’t overwork their muscles nor sweat too much becomes irrelevant when competing against archery for example. However, the chances you’ll see Ronnie O’sullivan kissing his gold medal on the 2012 Olympic games are rather lame, and not because The Rocket is threatening to retire of snooker. Currently, golf, squash and karate are the chief candidates to be introduced at the next Olympics. And since karate is a form or art, squash pours tons of sweats and golf as an upscale image, snooker can wait in queue for some time.

By now you probably know who the 2008 World Snooker Champion is. Yet, looking at today’s UK sports websites headlines, O’sullivan’s future remains unclear. The Press Association hints that "O’Sullivan torn between two paths", while the Guardian chooses a more confident approach "O’Sullivan threatens to quit after cruising to his third world title", but at the same time states that "Quick-fire win confirms that O’Sullivan is in class of his own". And we haven’t reviewed the poetic headlines such as this one, from the Independent describing The Rocket as "…Tortured soul who defies convention pacifies his demons" and at another article as "…O’Sullivan brush strokes create a vivid third title". Comparing his cue work to brush strokes is not an accidental metaphor. Apparently, the UK media (or at least the Independent) likes to see the newly crowned champion, who’d talked previously on his battles with clinical depression, as the cue sports equivalent of Van Gogh, and his family background only makes it all more dramatic. In the meantime, time will tell whether Ronnie O’Sullivan will be heading to the 2009 World Snooker Championship or he will be hanging his cue and withdraw while he is still ahead.

Fighting his demons

As for today, only 7 frames stand between Ronnie O’sullivan and his third World title. Yesterday, The Rocket had overplayed Ali Carter, number 14 in the 2007 World ranking, in 5 of the 8 frames in the second session of the 2008 World Snooker Championship. By that he drew a larger step towards the 2008 World Championship.

Though the odds are not on Carter’s side, it is too early to celebrate The Rocket’s third championship, which, if claimed, will make him only the third snooker player to make gather more than two titles at the Crucible (preceded him Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry).

So, there are still few hours left to play what if. What if Ali Carter, who played the semi finals for the first time, will surprise everyone and take the World Championship? Will Ronnie O’sullivan, who constantly threatens to drop out of the game, stand behind his word? And if so, who will replace him?

Midway through the 2008 World Snooker Championship, it seems like Ronnie O’Sullivan justifies the predictions seeing him the next Snooker World Championship. The Rocket stride toward his prophesied third World title started out with his 10-5 victory over 17 years old Liu Chang and continued with his 140 break at the best of 25 frames against Mark Williams.

Currently, O’Sullivan leads 5-3, but while the post is being written the last word hasn’t been pronounced yet.  In between, O’Sullivan had made some more headlines by invoking his China Open controversy. The Rocket has apologized for making sexually explicit suggestions towards the media at the press conference. Ronnie’s obscene behavior might cost him disciplinary acts.

"I don’t want to be known as somebody who causes trouble" O’Sullivan withdraws at a talk with the Guardian, "I didn’t realize the microphones and cameras were on. I was just having a joke with an individual." And at the same opportunity pats on his young first round competitor’s back, saying that the wunderkind has the perfect mechanism yet lacks the experience.

I don’t know about you, but I can find a list reasons to cross fingers for Ronnie O’Sullivan. Perhaps it’s his tragic life story, maybe his unusual talent, his puppy eyes or just the longing to an era were snooker players were self-destructive, living-on-the-edge fellows rather than the perfect, protein-shakes-drinkers most snooker players are these days, anyway, run Ronnie run!

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.

The most important event in the snooker world will be opened on Saturday at the Crucible, Sheffield. The media in UK and East Asia, the areas in which the snooker game is highly popular, can’t hide its excitement. Some news and updates from the past few days:

Antrim Times, Mark Allen’s hometown’s local paper, is holding its breath for the upcoming match between the uprising snooker star and the 7-times World Champion Stephen Hendry. In a demonstration of local patriotism, they declare that Hendry’s "best days are behind him". Allen shows more cautiousness saying that "he is still a dangerous opponent and on his day he is capable of beating anyone on the circuit…" Allen’s dream, however, is to meet Mark Fu on his next round. 

Speaking of Fu, AFP marks his match against Ding Junhui as the highly anticipated game in the first round of the World Snooker Championship. Chinese Ding Junhui is a national hero in his homeland whom back in 2005 China open had drawn about 10 million Chinese viewers to the TV screens. However, the former snooker prodigy current state is described (by Mark Allen from the previous item as well) as "…in the midst of form slump". In a recent media conference, strong willed Ding has stated: "I want to try my best at the world championships…I know media and fans doubt my consistency, so I have something to prove this time." 

The World Snooker Association, the international governing body of the sports, has been facing some accusations of its own. Attacked by anonymous snooker champs for the WSA weakness, its incapability of drawing major sponsors and failure in creating a world tour that can equivalent with those organized in tennis or in golf, and in general inability to bring back snooker golden age, snooker’s governing body is now standing on its back feet defending their means. Speaking to The Herald, the WSA representative has spoke about securing the BBC contract and signing a new one with Eurosport plus creating more and more tournaments in new spots across the globe. 

And finally, which American author was buried with his snooker cue? 

The answer is: Roald Dahl who authored Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Gremlins, James and the Giant Peach and other children’s classics. (Q&A taken from New York Magazine)

Stephen Maguire defeated Shaun Murphy 10-9 in the final match of the 2008 World Snooker China Open, held yesterday at the Students University Stadium in Beijing. For Maguire, it was the latest win in a row of successes following his triumph at the Northern Ireland Trophy, his runner up at the UK Championship and his current 147 maximum break at the China Open semi-finals.

By collecting the 2008 World Snooker China Open championship, Maguire, 27, joins a limited, noble list of snooker players who had won in four ranking titles; Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Williams and Jimmy White are among them. In addition to the respectable title, Maguire took home £72,000 prize including £22,000 prize for his 147 maximum break. Next month, he will be facing Anthony Hamilton in the first round of the 2008 World Snooker Championship.

25-years-old Shaun Murphy, 2008 World Snooker China Open runner up, is still placed at the top of the current world ranking despite his surprising defeat to Maguire. At the opening round of the 2008 World Snooker Championship he will be playing against Dave Harold.  

Up until yesterday, Ronnie O’Sullivan was the bookmakers’ leading candidate for the 2008 World Snooker Champion. Now, two-times World Champion seems closer to relive his days as the bad boy snooker. The Rocket caused turmoil when made a sexually explicit remark, followed by suggestive waving of the microphone at the press conference that followed his match against Marco Fu at the 2008 World Snooker China Open. O’Sullivan will be facing, once again, disciplinary acts. The pre-press conference match ended with O’Sullivan loss to Fu 5-4, by the way. 

And on the tables, China Open’s semi-finals came to an end with Stephen Maguire beating Ryan Day 6-5 and achieving a 147 maximum break on the second frame. On the final match, scheduled to tomorrow, Maguire will be playing against Shaun Murphy who defeated Mary Selby 6-3.

The 2008 World Snooker Championship is getting closer. Within a month, a new World Snooker Champion will be crowned. Judging by a random sample of online betting sites, Ronnie O’sullivan has the best odds of digging the third World Championship title in his career. His main obstacles on his way to the championship are last year’s runner up Mark Selby and 2005 champion Shaun Murphy. What do you think? Who’s gonna pot the last black at the Crucible? 

In the meantime, some mental practice:

And the original:

In his blog, L A Odicean writes that snooker (and golf) are the easiest sports to fix. Both are individual sports often gambled upon and in both of them missing a shot does not have to look that obvious. But unlike golf players who’ve been practicing their sports on green grass among white collars, the natural habitats of snooker players are smoky billiards parlor swarming with dubious characters. 

Statistically, there have been more cases of match fixtures in group sports such as basketball and football than in snooker. All through the history of snooker, only few cases of match fixing have been investigated and led to the guilty conclusion. 

Most recently, the 2007-8 Malta Cup was investigated by the UK Gambling Commission after local bookmakers informed them on unusual betting patterns during the snooker tournament (which ended, by the way with Shaun Murphy 9-3 triumph over Ken Doherty. The announcement on the suspected fixed match were released in mid February, about a week after the Malta Cup final match); no news since then. 

In the farther past, two cases of match fixing in snooker resulted in the players ban. In 2006, Australian snooker player Quinten Hann was found guilty of deliberately losing to Ken Doherty at the 2005 China Open for unheard of amounts of money. Despite his denial, he was banned from playing snooker (or any other game of billiards) for 8 years and was fined £10,000.

 (At this point, it might be appropriate to remark that fixing the China Open snooker match wasn’t the first encounter bad boy Hann had with the law).

South African player Peter Francisco was banned for 5 years after found fixing a match against Jimmy White at the 1995 World Championship. The unexpected number of bets put on the outcome 10-2 to Jimmy White added to the fact that it was the final score of the match led the World Snooker Association to investigate the case and to eventually find him guilty of fixing the snooker match.