Snooker: Hamilton and Murphy Through

Anthony Hamilton and Shaun Murphy are through to the final group of Matchroom's Championship League.

Hamilton beat Carter in the final of group 3 and Carter was defeated yet again in the final of group 4 by Murphy. Carter has now been beaten in 3 of the 4 groups played. Hopefully the final defeats are not shattering his confidence too much!! On the plus side, so far in the competition he's earned over £17,000, much more than anybody else.

The irony of Hamilton's win is that it was only last week that he was complaining about tinpot tournaments and no money in the game. Now he's in the final group of the Championship League with a chance of playing in one of the biggest tournaments in the game.

Group 5 is to be played on the 14th and 15th April. Carter will be playing along with Mark King, Mark Allen, Joe Perry, Stephen Lee, Dominic Dale and Neil Robertson.

Snooker: 2008 World Championship Draw

Here's the draw for the 2008 World Championships:

Ken Doherty Ire v Liang Wenbo Chn
John Higgins Sco v Matthew Stevens Wal
Ali Carter Eng v Barry Hawkins Eng
Ding Junhui Chn v Marco Fu HK
Mark Selby Eng v Mark King Eng
Peter Ebdon Eng v Jamie Cope Eng
Neil Robertson Aus v Nigel Bond Eng
Steve Davis Eng v Stuart Bingham Eng
Ryan Day Wal v Michael Judge Eng
Ronnie O'Sullivan Eng v Liu Chuang Chn
Mark Williams Wal v Mark Davis Eng
Graeme Dott Sco v Joe Perry Eng
Shaun Murphy Eng v Dave Harold Eng
Stephen Lee Eng v Joe Swail NI
Stephen Hendry Sco v Mark Allen NI
Stephen Maguire Sco v Anthony Hamilton Eng

Amongst the noticeable draws are Higgins vs Stevens. Stevens couldn't have wished for a tougher draw as he's in serious need of ranking points, at least he made it to the Crucible.

Ding Junhui and Marco Fu have to face each other in the first round. Marco has to fancy his chances after getting the better of Ding in the big matches this season. Ding needs to win the World Championship this time round to beat Hendry's record of the youngest ever winner. With his form this season, I can't see him doing it.

The new young 17 year old Chinese sensation, Liu Chuang, plays Ronnie. Ronnie has already beat Chuang in the season opener and Chuang couldn't have asked for a more testing first round match. I don't think I've seen Chuang play before to I'm looking forward to seeing this match. It's worth pointing out that Chuang beat Dominic Dale in the final qualifying round, a great achievement as Dominic has won a ranking event this season.

Mark Selby is to play the man who beat Jimmy White, Mark King. Selby has had an amazing season so far and had a brilliant tournament last year getting to the final against Higgins. Could this be Selby's year!?

Snooker: White Out!

Jimmy White lost 10-3 to Mark King in the final qualifying round of the World Championships yesterday. This is a disaster for Jimmy who will not be in the top 64 for the 2008/2009 season. I believe this means he needs a wildcard to get back onto the main tour.

Jimmy has been putting in some hard practice to try to get back in form so he doesn't drop off the main circuit, but his efforts seem to be too little too late.

Somehow Jimmy cricked his neck on Saturday and had massages all day Sunday, but the treatment didn't seem to work.

This is the second year in a row that Jimmy has failed to reach the televised stages of the World Championships and currently it doesn't look good for him as a main tour professional. Let's hope he can get fit again and find some of his old magic.

Maybe we haven't seen the last of Jimmy White yet.

Snooker: Not Looking Good For Jimmy White

At the time of writing, the score between Mark King and Jimmy White in the final qualifying round of the World Championships is 8-1 to Mark King. The latest score can be found here. Mark needs 2 more frames to get to Sheffield.

Jimmy needs a miracle comeback against an excellent player if he's to save his season and possibly his career.

Snooker: Jimmy White Article

You can find an good Jimmy White article here.

Particularly funny/tragic is the following story in the article that talks about Jimmy taking his dead brother out for drinks!!!:

We were so sad. We'd been drinking in the pub the night before the funeral and the bill came to £4,600. It was a proper drink. We were all crying and so I told my sister we were going to get Martin.

I kicked the door of the undertakers and the lock fell off. Just like that, it opened! I went in, there was no alarm. He was there, in his suit, so I phoned a driver and we took him out and carried on drinking. We felt we had to spend more time with him.

We were crying, laughing, crying, laughing. It went on for about five hours. The driver going back realised my brother wasn't alive, so he refused to take us. We had to get a taxi. On the way, the next driver looked in the mirror and said: "He don't look too well.

We put him back and then the police came. They sympathised with me, there was no damage done. We lost his hat somewhere, but no charges followed.

It would be good to see him playing at the World Championships in Sheffield this year.

American Pool: Tony Drago Takes Paris Eurotour

After many years of trying and 3 failed attempts as the losing finalist, Tony Drago has finally secured his first victory on the Eurotour beating Christian Reimering by 10 racks to 6 in a thrilling final. For many of us who know him it was a great night since Tony is certainly one of the most deserving players on the tour who was yet to win one. His fast and furious play has made him a star on the snooker scene over the last 20 years and now he's been bringing his unique style of play to the world American Pool scene, having already made a big name for himself over the last 4 or 5 years.

The tournament was held for the first time at a new location outside the centre of Paris:

Leader Club Billard 94
8 rue Christophe Colomb
94370
Sucy-en-Brie
Paris



The club itself is spectacular with 17 Dynamic Olympic tables and a huge mezzanine overlooking the play area for spectators and players to socialize and take in the atmosphere.

This event held a great importance since the top four players on the Eurotour rankings after this event have been entered into the Matchroom Sports 2008 World Pool Masters to be held in Las Vagas from 9th-11th May. The lucky selected four are: Mark Gray (GBR), Christian Reimering (GER), Bruno Muratore (ITA), and Imran Majid (GBR).

6 British players made it through to the last 32 in this event, showing that the strength of American pool in the UK is growing all the time.

the results from the last 32 were:

THE EURO TOUR PARIS OPEN 2008
THE LAST 32
Thomasz Kaplan	POL	10 : 4	DEN	Kasper Kristoffersen
Marco Tschudi	CH	10 : 4	GER	Michael Schmidt
Imran Majid	UK	10 : 6	GRE	John Vassalos
Niels Feijen	NL	10 : 3	UK	Mark Gray
Marc Vogt	GER	10 : 3	DEN	Martin Larsen
Marcus Chamat	SWE	10 : 4	GRE	Nick Malai
Christian Reimering	GER	10 : 9	UK	Karl Boyes
Bruno Muratore	ITA	10 : 3	RUS	Konstantin Stepanov
Ralf Souquet	GER	10 : 7	GER	Sven Pauritsch
Oliver Ortmann	GER	10 : 4	UK	Gareth Esprit
Markus Juva	FIN	10 : 7	AUT	Albin Ouschan Jr.
Martin Kempter	AUT	10 : 8	SLO	Matjaz Erculj
David Alcaide	ESP	10 : 9	NL	Nick van den Berg
Thomas Engert	GER	10 : 4	HUN	Vilmos Foldes
Darren Appleton	UK	10 : 2	UK	Jonni Fulcher
Tony Drago	MAL	10 : 3	ESP	Carlos Cabello

THE EURO TOUR PARIS OPEN 2008
THE LAST 16
Marco Tschudi	CH	10 : 5	POL	Thomasz Kaplan
Niels Feijen	NL	10 : 7	UK	Imran Majid
Marcus Chamat	SWE	10 : 7	GER	Marc Vogt
Christian Reimering	GER	10 : 6	ITA	Bruno Muratore
Oliver Ortmann	GER	10 : 6	GER	Ralf Souquet
Markus Juva	FIN	10 : 4	AUT	Martin Kempter
Thomas Engert	GER	10 : 7	ESP	David Alcaide
Tony Drago	MAL	10 : 9	UK	Darren Appleton

THE EURO TOUR PARIS OPEN 2008
THE QUARTER-FINALS
Marco Tschudi	CH	10 : 9	NL	Niels Feijen
Christian Reimering	GER	10 : 6	SWE	Marcus Chamat
Markus Juva	FIN	10 : 8	GER	Oliver Ortmann
Tony Drago	MAL	10 : 3	GER	Thomas Engert

THE EURO TOUR PARIS OPEN 2008
THE SEMI-FINALS
Christian Reimering	GER	10 : 7	CH	Marco Tschudi
Tony Drago	MAL	10 : 3	FIN	Markus Juva

THE EURO TOUR PARIS OPEN 2008
THE FINAL
Tony Drago	MAL	10 : 6	GER	Christian Reimering