There were a few raised eyebrows at the lack of coverage from the Media Wales group in the early days of the BetVictor Welsh Open in Cardiff.
The publishing group, operating the Western Mail and South Wales Echo as well as Wales on Sunday newspapers, was actually the official media partner for World Snooker at the ranking event on its return to the Cardiff and the Motorpoint Arena following 10 years in Newport.
The Newport paper, the South Wales Argus, even after losing the event still had a representative on site more often than not with plenty of Welsh interest in the early rounds, and former winner Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens still standing by the last-16 stage. Williams was still there for the final weekend.
But during the first four days of the event there was practically no coverage at all in the Media Wales titles, including no mention of Carmarthen’s Stevens’ first win over defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan for 12 years - and no reporting presence in the media centre.
Glancing through the sports pages there was plenty of coverage of the ice hockey – and even skittles. World Snooker could be forgiven for banging their heads against the nearest brick wall. After years of seeing many good snooker stories dismissed out of hand, we know how they feel.