HEARN UNVEILS CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS EVENT

Barry Hearn, chairman of World Snooker, the Professional Darts Corporation and Leyton Orient, unveils the Champion of Champions event

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn has confirmed that there will be a new tour event for the upcoming season.

The Champion of Champions event will take place at Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena between November 19 and 24.

The newest event to the snooker calendar will replace the now-defunct Premier League which was won by world number eight Stuart Bingham last season.

Hearn told a crowded press room at the Crucible Theatre on Monday: “Today we are proud to tell you that there will be another new event in the calendar next year called the Champion of Champions, open obviously to all of the champions.

“It will take place on 19th-24th November 2013, it will be at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, it will be televised on a free to air station, details to be announced later. It will have a £100,000 first prize and be televised globally.”

Hearn continued: “We will release the names of the people, but you will know the names as they are the winners over the current season, you will have four groups of four, so every day the public when they buy a ticket will see a winner who will go through to the semi-finals.

“So it will be two semi-finals in the afternoon, a group final in the evening, winner goes through to the Saturday.”

“It’s going to start on the Tuesday, finish on the Sunday and it will shock a lot of purists that I am going back to a slightly longer format rather than a shorter format.

“So you see the one thing about Barry Hearn, totally unpredictable! It’s not going to be a one frame shoot out, the final I think is going to be over 23 frames, going to go back to the old school because the Champion of Champions is the crème de la crème.

The owner of Matchroom Sports added: “The broadcaster is done, it will be announced next week when we have signed the contracts, won’t take too many guesses to know who it is, it’s not the BBC. But the BBC have done a spectacular job for us and we hope very much to convince them to take one additional event next year, they have the option in their contract.”

The new Champion of Champions event will see more prize money into the game allowing it to compete with other sports that are being heavily invested in.

Any player that makes it on to the latest event will receive at least £5,000 and the further they progress it continues to rise.

“The first round loser gets £5,000, you win your area final you get £10,000, then you go £20,000, £40,000 and £100,000 to the winner.

“Easy day’s work, but you know there will be a few other different rules, no interval, maximum of two toilet breaks per match, absolute ban on any breaks whatsoever during any game mid-game.”

The World Snooker boss added: “There will be no shot clock, this will be a standard game, a game where we are talking to the referees about making sure that we look at more of a golf scenario with rulings for slow play, common sense rulings. We have the shot clock on some events as you know, but this event, the prestige means that it will be played on standard rules.”

Hearn, who is also chairman of League One side Leyton Orient and the Professional Darts Corporation, said that the sport needed to move with the times like golf and tennis.

Those sports – particularly the latter of those two – have seen vast increases in prize money in recent times.

The prize money for this summer’s Wimbledon event has risen by 40 per cent, which takes the total prize money for the two-week event to £22.6m, with the single’s winner of both the men and women’s draw receiving £1.6m each.

“This is not an amateur game, this is not a job for the boys, this is not a jolly up, this is a professional sport,” Hearn said.

“When I look at other sports and how they have expanded their opportunities over the past two or three decades, I always look at golf and tennis, when I compare them with snooker and when you can see where that sport has gone from 1980.

“In golf, in 1980 the prize money was probably less than on the world snooker circuit. Today, where are we? £100m behind?

“When you look at tennis and you read that Wimbledon has just announced a 40% increase in prize money, with the winner getting £1.6m or thereabouts, where are we?

“And the reason for this is the perception of the sport, the activity of the sport and of the professionalism of the players themselves.”

The 64-year-old sports promoted insisted that the professional snooker players who are currently on the tour need to recognise that there is a demand for the sport.

And, because of that there will be tour events every week of the calendar.

“Professional sportsmen have to understand this is life in 2013 and is not life in 1980. These sportsmen are going to have to be prepared to pay a price for their sport.

“They are going to have to be prepared to dedicate their lives to the sport and that is not just words, but actions. I am looking for snooker players in particular to rise to the challenge because if they think that they are busy now, then they best have another look at their diary for next year and the year after!”

Words: Adam Grice

Photo: Daily Record

 

PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE IS BINGHAM’S BIGGEST FEAT

World number eight Stuart Bingham after he won the Australian Goldfields Open in 2011

World number eight Stuart Bingham capped off the best season of his professional career by making the quarter-final of the Betfair World Championship for the very first time after he saw off qualifier Mark Davis 13-10.

The 36-year-old, who won this season’s Premier League as well as reaching the final of the Welsh Open and the Wuxi Classic, has put a transformation in his form down to commitment on the practice table and endless hard work.

In previous season’s the furthest that Bingham had gone in a ranking event was a quarter-final which he last in reached in the 2010 UK Championship at the Barbican Centre in York.

However, previous to that Basildon born cue man often fell at the first or second hurdle in most ranking events.

Bingham says his new found form comes as a welcomed delight to him: “It is down to a lot of hard work from both myself and my coach Steve Feeney.

“Everything is just coming of, I know have a bit of self belief. It is as simple as that really. I have reached five or six quarter-final this year, well this season,” he continued.

“They have all come from nowhere really. I kicked the season off really well because I won a Pink Ribbon event in Gloucester and a PTC event.

“Then my form dipped through the next couple of tournaments. Normally I start off good and then tail off but I just seemed to have carried on and I have had a great season.

“I have made people look over their shoulder now. When I am on my game I am a game for anyone. I maybe should have done this a bit sooner, I am happy that it has just come now.”

This season marks the 1996 World Amateur Champion and English Champion’s first appearance in the last eight of the World Championship.

The Essex man, who has hit three maximum breaks during his career, says it is a great feeling being in his first World Championship quarter-final.

“It means a lot. I got really emotional after it all really. It was a hard drawn out game. Mark is a very good player and it was a tough old battle,” Bingham said.

“Neither of us gave our opponent an inch really. I played good and bad really. Good at some times and bad at others. I maybe could have won that match so much easier if I was on my game.”

The ninth seed at this year’s Championship was not happy with the way that he finished off the game against Mark Davis.

He felt that the match could have been over much sooner than what it was. But, he puts that down to his ‘A’ game not being there.

Bingham said: “Maybe that shows why I am one of the top eight players in the world, because I have a ‘B’ game that I am able to rely upon to get me out of awkward situations.

“The way I came out today I won two frame pretty quickly and I just tried to kick on from there. Then Mark pulled it back and the game was then 10-10.”

He added: “I went into the dressing room and had a Red Bull and it gave me wings. I just started flying.”

When I caught up with the current Premier League Champion, he was unsure on who his quarter-final opponent would be.

At that stage Ronnie O’Sullivan led the captain Ali Carter 9-7 and with that match poised to go either way Bingham said the result would not force him to change his preparation plans.

“I would not approach the match differently depending on who my opponent is,” he said.

“All I can do is concentrate on my own game and get a bit more focus, concentration and trust really. I have just got to work on them really, whoever I am going to play I know it will be tough.”

Bingham, a father to a boy called Shae who was born in 2011, will be part of the new tournament that World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn announced on Monday afternoon.

The Champion of Champions event will take place at Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena in November and will replace the Premier League.

Bingham qualifies for the inaugural tournament as he is the current holder of the outgoing Premier League and he is excited by the prospect of adding another title to his name.

“I have just heard about the Champion of Champions event and that is brilliant for the game. I am not 100 percent sure on the format but I am led to believe it is a round robin and that is something that I have never done well in before,” Bingham stated.

“It is another tournament that is superb and I am just looking forward to it.”

The 2011 Australian Goldfields Open champion, who beat Mark Williams 9-8 in the final, dismissed other claims by a number of fellow professionals that they were suffering from tiredness and “burnout”.

Bingham said: “This is my 29th tournament this year and I am not tired. I am not moaning, I just love playing.

“When you are losing to people you would not expect them to do they might now be using it as an excuse. You have just got to get used to it. If you do not want to enter a tournament then you do not have to do so.”

Bingham, whose career earnings exceed half-a-million pounds, said it was always a boyhood dream of his to play the game at the home of snooker.

He recalls being brought to the Crucible with his parents when he was a child and believing that he had what it took the grace the green baize.

“It was my boyhood dream. My mum and dad got a video out of me when I first started, I was there in my shell tracksuit and I looked up and said in a high screeching voice say ‘I will play there one day’.”

He added: “Just to get introduced out there it gives you Goosebumps.”

Even though this is Bingham’s first appearance in the last eight of this prestigious tournament he says it does not quite beat winning his first major title as a professional snooker player.

Bingham indicated that even though it is not the best moment of his career it is right up there: “It does not quite beat winning the Premier League, in the last couple of years I have always wanted to get to the semi-finals here because it is then a one table.

“The Premier League was a great achievement and winning any tournament is a great achievement.”

Words: Adam Grice

Photo: Eurosport UK

ROVERS LEAVE IT LATE TO CLINCH TITLE

Doncaster Rovers celebrate becoming League One champions after James Coppinger’s 96th minute winner

What a game English football is and especially the final day of the calendar.

Last season we experienced the tremendous commentary from Sky Sports’ Martin Tyler as Sergio Aguero clinched the Premier League title for Manchester City from the clutches of Manchester United.

This season, little Doncaster Rovers presented the English game with the Football League equivalent as they scored in the sixth minute of added time to win the title at fellow promotion challengers Brentford.

Now rewind to around 4.53 on Saturday afternoon and recall the feeling you had upon hearing that Brentford had been awarded a penalty for handball against Rovers centre-half Jamie McCombe.

Up steps Marcello Trotta, who is on loan at the Bees from Fulham, and he trashes the ball against Neil Sullivan’s crossbar. This sparks celebration from the several thousand travelling Rovers support and despair from the 10,000 or so Bees fans packed into Griffin Park.

Fulham loanee Marcello Trotta misses the injury time penalty

What happened next was just unbelievable.

Miraculously the ball falls to the feet of Paul Quinn, who signed for the club on a free last summer after he left Cardiff City, after a goalmouth scramble that could have seen the ball end up anywhere in West London.

To the delight of Rovers’ chairman John Ryan who was in the crowd to see his side record their fourth promotion in the last decade, the ball found its way out to the right-wing where striker Billy Paynter was waiting.

The former Leeds United striker surged towards the opposition goal. He found himself one-one-one with Bees shot stopper Simon Moore before offloading to James Coppinger who was able to tap the ball into an open net.

Not only did this send shudders down the spines of all the Brentford fans inside Griffin Park, but all the AFC Bournemouth fans that travelled to Merseyside in hope of seeing their side clinch the League One title.

It just goes to show how one goal can, not only ,change one match but several games.

The Cherries thought that the point they had secured against Ronnie Moore’s side was enough to see them return to the south coast as League One champions, but how wrong they could have been.

Knowing the encounter that was taking place in West London and the scenes the saw Manchester United miss out on the Premier League title last season, Eddie Howe’s side would have gone that step further to secure the title.

I have not seen scenes from the aftermath at Prenton Park but I can imagine they will echo those of the Stadium of Light from last May after the United players and supporters found out that City had scored twice in added time to win the title.

Without doubt the drama that brought the 2012/13 Premier League season to an end received more press interest, but there is no doubt that the remarkable story of a small club that were playing non-league football just 11 years ago were making it on to the back pages of national newspapers.

Rovers striker Billy Paynter celebrates promotion as champions with the travelling support

It is rare that a football club outside of the top flight of English football would take a back page lead for a story that is related to antics on the pitch.

All that can be said is that all the Rovers fans, myself included, will be hoping that their form next season will follow that of Roberto Mancini’s side.

The last time the South Yorkshire outfit made it back to the second tier of English football they achieved an impressive mid-tabled finish.

One thing is for sure, the fans that follow the club will be contempt with finishing next season anywhere as low as 21st place.

Rovers will be presented with the League One trophy at the Keepmoat Stadium on Monday 29 April at 6.30pm.

Words: Adam Grice

Photos: Getty Images and Mike Hewitt

COULD MICHAEL WHITE BE A FUTURE WORLD NUMBER ONE?

Michael White reached the last eight of the World Championship after a 13-3 victory over Dechawat Poomjaeng

It is only a question of time before young Welsh protégée Michael White reaches the summit of the world snooker rankings?

The 21-year-old became the second successive debutant to reach a World Championship quarter-final after fellow Welshman Jamie Jones did last year.

White annihilated Crucible favourite Dechawat Poomjaeng 13-3 in the second round of the Betfair World Championship in this year’s tournament after seeing off Mark Williams in the opening round.

White is currently ranked 41st in the world and he will move up to a lifetime best when the new rankings are released at the end of the tournament.

In the pre-championship qualifiers White fought off stiff competition from Zhang Anda, who he beat 10-5,and Andrew Higginson who he eased past 10-4 to confirm his place at on snooker’s biggest stage.

The Welshman, who is nicknamed Lightning, faces a date with either Ricky Walden or Robert Milkins in the quarter-final after he overcame Poomjaeng with a session to spare.

It can be said that White could be compared to the current world number one Mark Selby who broke into the professional game at a similar age.

‘White Lightning’ set the Crucible alight after he overcame his boyhood hero Mark Williams in the first round last week.

The Neath born cue man, who is currently ranked 41st in the world shocked the sport when he knocked out double world champion and his hero Mark Williams 10-6 in the opening round.

Whereas Selby crashed out of his debut World Championship at the second hurdle in 2006 when he lost to Williams, the Welsh Wonder, 13-8 after fending off John Higgins 10-4 in the opening round.

Despite being a year younger and lower in the world rankings than Selby during his maiden Crucible visit, White has gone on to exceed the success of the former World Championship finalist.

Does this mean that the talented Welshman is better than the Jester from Leicester? I am sure his future in the sport, which promises to be very successful, will determine that.

Since Selby broke on to the scene around eight years ago he has won the Welsh Open, the Shanghai Masters and the UK Championship as well as The Masters on three different occasions. Meanwhile, White – who only broke on to the major circuit this season – has not enjoyed much success on the professional game as his best finish came in the unranked Snooker Shootout in Blackpool where he made the third round.

In the three ranking tournaments that White has entered this season, he has only made the first round on one occasion, which came at the UK Championship. White was knocked out in two wildcard rounds in both the Wuxi Classic and the International Championship.

However, in the year that Selby first gained recognition as one of the true prospects of the game he did marginally better than White in the three ranking events.

The Jester from Leicester made the second round of the UK Championship, the quarter-final of the World Open and the first round of the World Championship.

In the junior version of the game, White has had a lot more success than the Leicester born cue man. White Lightning became the youngest ever winner of the IBSF World Grand Prix, when he was just 14-years-old. In addition to that he also clinched the European under-19 Championship where he beat Vincent Muldoon in the final.

Compare his success to that of Selby, who never won a major junior title. The closest he came to junior silverware was in the final of the Regal Scottish in 2003, where he lost to David Gray – not the singer or the criminology student from the University of Huddersfield that I know – but, a professional player who was thrashed 10-1 in the final of the UK Championship by Stephen Maguire in 2004.

However, if White is to continue to show the promise that he has already demonstrated he will need to transform his previous success into ranking tournament victories.

Having seen him comprehensively beat both his opponents at this year’s championship, I am confident that the 21-year-old can be as good as the likes of Selby, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson.

The only professional snooker player that White might struggle to emulate would be Ronnie O’Sullivan, who is a player that has just been graced with a wonderful talent. That was demonstrated last Saturday where he comprehensively beat Marcus Campbell 10-4, after spending almost year out of the game due to contractual issues.

The young Welshman certainly has a bright future ahead of him and it can be assured that the 21-year-old, who will take home at least £24,000 from the World Championship, will be lifting major titles in the future.

Ultimately that asks one final question. Can White lift the one major that Selby has failed to clinch after seven unsuccessful attempt?

It is a tough task to do, especially on your debut, so that feat looks unlikely this term. But, he will have countless opportunities in the future to become the World Snooker Champion as he looks to continue the Welsh snooker legacy that Williams and Matthew Stevens have been unable to continue after their success’.

Words: Adam Grice

SIDNEY CROSBY CLOSES IN ON PENGUINS RETURN

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is close to a return after 10 games out

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is set to return to practice alongside his teammates on Friday afternoon at Southpointe, the club have confirmed.

The influential skipper has missed the last 10 games after he broke his jaw when a deflected puck hit him in the mouth during last month’s match with the New York Islanders.

Replays showed several of Crosby’s teeth flying out when he was stuck in the face during the first period of their 2-0 win.

The Canadian born centre is in his eighth season with the Penguins, who have won their conference this season after winning 35 games so far.

Pittsburgh will end their campaign at home to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday evening (00:30 Sunday 28 BST) as they look to bounce-back from two successive defeats against the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils.

The Penguins will be looking to win their fourth NHL Stanley cup, four years after they were last successful in doing so. In 2009 they beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 with Maxime Talbot scoring the winning goal.

Last season West Conference side Los Angeles Kings beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 to lift the prestigious trophy for the very first time.

Words: Adam Grice

Photo: www.nhlsnipers.com

ROVERS SKIPPER EXTENDS HIS STAY

Doncaster Rovers captain Rob Jones has been influential in the club’s promotion push

Doncaster Rovers captain Rob Jones has signed a new deal with the club, that will see him stay at the Keepmoat Stadium as a player coach until 2015.

The influential skipper, who has eight goals to his name this year, took up the role as a coach in January following the departure of manager Dean Saunders and his assistant Brian Carey to struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Jones was appointed Rovers’ captain when he signed for the club last summer after he was released from local rivals Sheffield Wednesday, who were promoted to the Championship  at the same time that Rovers were relegated from the second tier.

Jones told the club’s official website: “I’m delighted, it’s been a good season for me both on the field and off.

“I felt at home as soon as I came here and when the talks started in January about extending my deal I was very forthcoming in my desire to stay.

“I was happy with the process and glad that it has been done so I can go away in summer knowing I am secure for the next two years.”

The 33-year-old centre-half said that the decision to remain that the club was an easy one because there is not a single player within the Rovers ranks that he does not get on with.

“The decision was easy for me and was made quickly, I have enjoyed the extra responsibility but also I am at a good football club with a good group of players who can move this club forward.

“I don’t like to work with people I don’t like and there is not a single player here who I don’t get along with.

This club is full of players who want to do well and want to influence the team they are playing in which they have showed all season. Getting the chance to work longer with them and with the club for a longer period is just fantastic,” Jones said.

The 6′ 5″ defender will lead out the Rovers for the final time this season at Brentford on Saturday where they could gain promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking, should they avoid defeat.

Words: Adam Grice

Photo: Doncaster Free Press

LEADING GODOLPHIN TRAINER GETS EIGHT-YEAR BAN

Mahmood Al Zarooni (left) doped 15 Godolphin horses

Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni has been handed an eight-year ban from racing after he admitted to doping horses at his UK based stable.

The British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) banned the 15 horses that the leading Godolphin trainer, who won the St. Leger Stakes last September with Encke, after he admitted that he had given banned performance enhancing drugs to some of his stable.

Al Zarooni felt that he was doing nothing illegal in the sport by doping his horses as they were out of competition.

The horses in question are based at the same stable as Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Opinion Poll and unbeaten Certify, have all been banned from racing for six-months to ensure that the forbidden substances have cleared through the horse’s bodies.

The 37-year-old gave horses at the Moulton Paddock stable, which is in Newmarket, the steroids ethylestranol and stanozolol, which are prohibited substances, to the horses.

Al Zarooni said: “I apologise to Sheikh Mohammed and all those at Godolphin, and the public who follow racing,” said Al Zarooni.

“I accept it was my responsibility to be aware of rules and regulations around banned substances – I have made a catastrophic error.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who owns the leading training group which employs jockeys Mickael Barzalona, Silvestre De Sousa and formerly Frankie Dettori, said before the hearing that he had “locked down” the paddock where Al Zarooni trained his horses.

Sheikh Mohammed said: “I have been involved in British horse racing for 30 years and have deep respect for its traditions and rules. There can be no excuse for any deliberate violation.”

He added: “I am appalled and angered by the news that part of his operation has violated Godolphin’s ethical standards and the rules of British racing.”

As well as leading Encke to victory at the Doncaster St. Leger Stakes last September at odds of 25-1, Al Zarooni also trained Monterosso who won the richest race in the world at the Dubai World Cup, priced 20-1.

Words: Adam Grice

Photo: Association Press

TRUMP AND JUNHUI CRUISE INTO THE LAST 16

Judd Trump beat Dominic Dale 10-6 to reach the last 16

World number three Judd Trump eased into the second round of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible as he recorded a 10-5 win over Dominic Dale.

The 23-year-old lost the opening frame 55-61 but he levelled in the second with an unanswered break of 88.

In the sixth frame, with Trump leading 4-2, the Romford born Juddernaut hit the highest-break of the tournament to date with a 142, scoring two more points than what Ricky Walden hit on the opening day, to lead the way for the golden cue.

In the second session Trump extended his lead further, winning three of the first four frames with a top break of 104.

Dale, who has a love of operatic singing, ensured Judd had to play out 15 frames of the match as he clinched the penultimate one courtesy of a 96 break, after being on for a maximum.

The 2011 runner-up then won the final frame 77-35 to ensure his place in the second round for the third successive year.

Following his win Trump said: “I felt really comfortable and relaxed out there, with no pressure and I think it really showed. I think the first four frames were a bit edgy but after that it was a good standard with a lot of big breaks and some good safety.

“I think it’s the only tournament that everyone knows there’s going to be a packed crowd and I think everyone’s always up for it. We’ve had about three weeks coming up to the World Championship with no other tournaments so everyone’s been practicing a lot whereas the other tournaments are much closer and there’s a lot of travelling between countries.

“I think everyone’s fully prepared for this tournament. It doesn’t matter how you’re feeling throughout the season, everything’s just forgotten as it’s all about this tournament.

“I was a little bit unlucky at the World Open with my tip as I felt I could have won that. I had to change my tip before the PTC Grand Finals which kind of messed up my preparation really and I did nothing wrong in China against Jack [Lisowski].

“I know I’m playing well but you’ve just got to be patient and sometimes your opponent just plays better on the day.”

While losing Dale told the press: “My performance was a lot better today than yesterday. I was very inhibited yesterday and it sort of stifled a good performance really at a time when I was playing well and ready to win a snooker match. I was very disappointed to be 6-3 behind.

“I missed a couple of blacks off the spot which cost me frames when I could have won them. It could have been a very different score.

“Coming out here this morning I was very relaxed. I went back to my old style which was much more free-flowing and quicker because I was always a quick player in my earlier days.

“I didn’t have any inhibitions today and played so much better to be honest, if Judd hadn’t have played so well today, I could have got right back in that match. I don’t think I missed a pot in open play in the first four frames yet I lost them 3-1.”

Trump will play either Matthew Stevens or Marco Fu in the second round. The 35-year-old from Hong Kong  held a 6-3 overnight lead over the Welshman who lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-final of the World Championship last year.

Meanwhile qualifier Alan McManus crashed out to number 10 seed Ding Junhui 10-5 despite a resilient come back which saw him win the three opening frames of Wednesday morning’s session.

The Sheffield-based Chinaman scored breaks of 75, 129 and 131 in Wednesday morning’s session to win despite the Scot threatening a comeback on his first appearance at the Crucible for seven years.

After Junhui made it to the second round for the fifth time at the Crucible, he said: “I just want to forget about this match and concentrate on the second round match that I have coming up. I need to get a good practice in and get a good rest ready for the next round.

“I do not really feel the pressure when I play at the Crucible at in the UK, sometimes things do not go your way because you are not feeling good and your concentration is just not there. That is why I was missing balls.

“I don’t know if I can do better or not, all I try and do is learn from my experience.”

He added: “I think every year I seem to be okay in the first round but it is totally different when you get to the second round. I come to win the title so I will be doing all I can.”

Ding has known last night’s victor from the Stephen Maguire and Dechawat Poomjaeng match for a long time and he was not surprised that the un-seeded debutant beat McManus’ fellow Scot.

“I said that he [Dechawat] had a chance to win his match. I know he is a strong player, he might not always play well but his mind is very strong. He likes to fight for every ball. He plays slowly and concentrates hard on every ball and I do not know how he can do that. Plus, he is crazy.

“He is a crazy character all the time.”

He added: “It would not surprise me if he won the title.”

Junhui, the world number 10, will face Mark King in the last 16 on Saturday evening.

Words: Adam Grice

Photo: Getty Images

SPRINTER SACRE MAKES IT 10 CONSECUTIVE WINS ON HIS SEVENTH BIRTHDAY

Sprinter Sacre and Barry Geraghty make it another win over fences

Sprinter Sacre completed a festival hat-trick at Punchestown on Tuesday evening as he won the Boylesports.com Champion Chase by five-and-a-half lengths.

The highest-rated National Hunt racehorse, who ran at 1-9 favourite, beat Sizing Europe into second place, just as he did the last time they raced each other in the Queen Mother Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham back in March.

It was not surprising that the French-bred horse, who was making his first appearance on Irish soil, started as odds-on favourite and he safely negotiated each fence to wrap up another victory for Nicky Henderson and Barry Geraghty duo.

This is the 10th consecutive win over fences for the Henderson-trained gelding and his 14th in all.

Sizing Europe led the race until the last fence before Sprinter Sacre moved cleared in front as Sizing Europe, who was ridden by Andrew Lynch.

Foildubh was always the back marker throughout the two-mile race but Days Hotel and Noble Prince were unable to challenge the leading two.

Winning jockey Geraghty told Sky Sports: “Sizing Europe put it up to us today and I had to work hard.

“Heavy ground probably doesn’t suit my lad as well and from four out it wasn’t easy.”

The double-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner added: “It was still a good performance.”

Meanwhile the winning trainer Henderson, who also trains the 2013 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth said:  “Job done. He was at his best at Cheltenham, he wasn’t quite as sharp at Aintree and wasn’t as sharp today.

“To do all three is very, very hard and he’s had to work harder today than he has in the past.

“He didn’t do anything wrong. He was clean and confident and fair play to Sizing Europe, who ran a hell of a race.”

The seven-year-old, who was foaled on this day in 2006, cruised to victory over the Henry De Bromhead trained Sizing Europe by 19 lengths on the second day of the 2013 Cheltenham Festival whilst he beat Cue Card, trained by Colin Tizzard by 12 lengths in the John Smith’s Melling Chase at the Grand National meeting.

Words: Adam Grice

Photo: Getty Images

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE FOR WHITE

Crucible debutant Michael White talks to the press following his 10-6 victory over Mark Williams

Lightning struck twice for debutant Michael White as he defeated the double World Champion Mark Williams 10-6 to cement his place in the second round of the Betfair World Championship on Sunday evening.

The 21-year-old Welshman made it two successive wins over his idol after beating Williams 4-1 in the Asian Players Tour Championship last July.

White, who won the first frame 88-1 with a break of 87, soon built up a lead that the former world number one was unable to challenge.

Speaking after his first victory at the Crucible, he said: “It is a brilliant feeling to be sat here after a win. I just enjoyed the occasion to be honest.

“Luckily for me I got off to a really good start and I went on from there.

“I was 4-1 up and scoring very heavily. He came back and recovered it to 4-4 and he started to play a little bit, but I think last night’s frame was a big frame for me to take the lead.”

He added: “I am over the moon because I had to go away overnight and then come back and push on to get the victory.”

The Neath born cue man, who is nicknamed ‘Lightning’ hit breaks of 65, 67, 72, 87, 90 and 96 on his way to victory and he confirmed that he was in some good form ahead of his second round tie later this week.

“I scored well pretty much throughout the whole match and I cannot really recall missing any clear cut shots that I missed,” he continued.

“There was a frame at 8-5 when we were both all over the place really but even when things went a bit wrong for me and he came back to 4-4 and that frame where I could have made it 9-5 but he won to bring it back to 8-6, I felt I dealt with it all brilliantly.”

The Welshman, who has won eight of his last nine matches, confirmed that last weekend’s win over the world number 10 was his best to date.

“To win at the Crucible is a great feeling. I have definitely progressed a lot as a player mentally. I have done a lot of work with Terry and I have been practicing a lot ready for this Championship,” White continued.

“I did not qualify for the two China events leading up to this which I do not suppose the way that it has worked out was a bad thing. I am just pleased to put in a performance like that.”

White first picked up a cue at the age of five where he started playing pool, before switching codes to play the longer format.

After just several months on the green baize he hit a half-century break before making it into the Guinness World Record book four years later as he became the youngest player to hit a competitive century break.

White said: “I started playing pool when I was around five or six years old and then I moved up to the bigger table and moved on to snooker. I think I then had a 50 break on the snooker table within about five or six months and then everything just took off from there really.”

That break which he made in a league match back in Wales attracted the attention of former World Champion John Parrot who, in 2001, said: “I hope I’ve retired before I have to play him.”

However, Parrot was forced to play White in 2009 in a qualifier for the Shanghai Masters.

The 1991 World Champion suffered a shock 5-0 defeat to the then 17-year-old and following hat he later joked: “I hope I’ve retired before I have to play him…again.”

White, who was awarded the Snooker Writers’ Association Paul Hunter Memorial Newcomer of the Year award in 2007, admitted that his first amateur title win – at the age of 14 – was a proud moment in his career after he beat Scotland’s Mark Boyle 10-5 to win the World Amateur Championship in Prestatyn, Wales.

“That was a brilliant feat to achieve. That really set things off but then after I won the World Amateur Championship at the age of 14 I was always being talked about.

“But, to come here and to beat a player like Mark in the way that I did that means more to me than anything.

“That was a brilliant feeling to win that. I was always talked about as a young lad since I won the World Amateur Championship.

“That was the last time that I came up here and I was delighted to come up here and pick up such a great award.”

He added: “People always used to tell me that I would be able to make it to the top, but even with that I knew that I would still have to put the work in.”

White overcame Zhang Anda and Andrew Higginson 10-5 and 10-4 respectively in the World Championship qualifiers earlier this month and he felt that he dominated both of those matches to earn his place at the Crucible.

“I played awesome in the two qualifiers I played in and the standard of some of the players is very good as well. So I am very pleased with that and the way that things have worked out.”

The former World Amateur Champion will face either Stephen Maguire or Dechawat Poomjaeng in the second round at the Crucible on Thursday evening.

The 34-year-old Thai currently holds a 5-3 overnight lead over Scotland’s Stephen Maguire and the match will conclude on Tuesday afternoon.

Words: Adam Grice