It was very much a case of job done for century-maker supreme Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Championship League ahead of the Dafabet Masters.
Read MoreO'SULLIVAN MAKES IT 802 NOT OUT IN MASTERS WARM-UP
DAVIS: RONNIE GONG WAS LONG OVERDUE
Steve Davis has hailed Ronnie O’Sullivan’s OBE in the New Year Honours list as long overdue.
Read MoreRONNIE O'SULLIVAN AT 40
Ronnie O’Sullivan turns 40 on Saturday – and gets to celebrate in the glamorous environs of the Eurosport TV studios on a trading estate in Feltham.
Read MoreAMAZING GRACE - A FAIRYTALE IN YORK
David Grace confirmed his tournament sensation status at the Betway UK Championship in York with a stunning quarter-final comeback win over Martin Gould on Friday night.
Read MorePICTURE EXCLUSIVE: SNOOKER'S SAVIOUR?
The drive to improve table conditions will crank up a notch at the European Tour event in Gibraltar in December when a ball-polishing machine is trialled.
Read MoreHOLT HOPING TO MAKE IT BIG WITH GRIFFITHS
When Terry Griffiths announced his ‘freelance’ coaching stable of six players in the summer, the name of Michael Holt was one that caught the eye.
Read MoreSNOOKER'S TOP FIVE AMBASSADORS? WHAT DO YOU THINK...
Risking opening a hornet's nest, we have a go at listing the game's current 'Top Five Snooker Ambassadors'.
Read MoreBINGHAM: ROMANIA 'SOLD OUT FASTER THAN ELTON JOHN'
Stuart Bingham is warming up for his Betway UK Championship campaign with a first trip to Romania this weekend – and exhibition matches against Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Read MoreSNOOKER COULD YET ESCAPE BBC COST-CUTTING AXE
Stories surfaced on Tuesday night this week that the BBC are set to slash a further £30-35million from their sports rights budget.
Read MoreALLEN CLINCHES FINAL COVENTRY SPOT WITH SOFIA WIN
Mark Allen left it late to claim the 16th and final spot for this week’s Champion of Champions – but did so with a first title for 15 months in Bulgaria.
Read More'GAGGING' FINES POLICY HAS FALLEN INTO DISREPUTE
If snooker is to thrive and even survive in a competitive sporting marketplace there has to be a rethink over fining players for relatively innocent comments.
Read MoreADVANI'S FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
Pankaj Advani only dabbles in snooker these days at invitation events like the World Six-Reds and picking up a wild-card for the Indian Open, having returned to his first love and “wife” of billiards after a two-year fling with his “mistress”.
Billiards, outside of its Teesside hotbed at least, no longer has much mainstream allure in the UK but things are very different in India where Pune’s Advani, now 30, enjoys a huge profile – far higher than Aditya Mehta, the country’s leading snooker player.
Advani recently claimed the IBSF World Billards Championship title, incredibly a 14th world title in various forms of the sport, beating Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist by 1,168 points in the timed format final.
And one of the first to offer their congratulations was the President Of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee , who took to Twitter saying: “Hearty congratulations & best wishes to Pankaj Advani on winning the IBSF World Billiards Championship #PresidentMukherjee “
Advani courteously replied: “Thank you for your wishes Mr President!”
It is thought that Stuart Bingham is still waiting for his personal messages of congratulation from Prime Minister David Cameron and The Queen, over his sensational Crucible triumph in May.
CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS UPDATE
The Champion of Champions tournament has proved a big success since being revived two years ago after a 33-year absence from the calendar.
Read MoreEBDON BRINGS THE VEGAN DEBATE TO TWITTER
Vegan devotee and campaigner Peter Ebdon has joined Twitter and will be using the social media forum to give those views a wider audience.
Read MoreEMERGING TALENT KYREN MADE OF THE RIGHT STUFF
Kyren Wilson may not have got the coverage his debut win deserved on a busy sporting weekend - but his post-final comments were heartfelt.
Read MoreBINGHAM STARTS LIFE AS THE BIG SCALP WITH DEFEAT
IT wasn’t so long ago that Stuart Bingham’s defeat to Fergal O’Brien at the Australian Open would have barely got a mention in dispatches.
Read MoreTHE WEEK SNOOKER GOES ALL 'RYDER CUP'
THE revived World Cup in Wuxi is the week when snooker goes all ‘Ryder Cup’, and fiercely competitive individual sportspeople get to experience some rare joys of teamwork.
Read MoreWORLD'S TOP TWO SELBY AND BINGHAM TO TEAM UP
ENGLAND’S Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham will be the World Cup ‘Dream Team’ there to be shot at by the rest for the revived international tournament in June.
Read MoreBINGHAM CLAIMS DOUBLE AT AWARDS NIGHT
THURSDAY night saw the fifth staging of the World Snooker Awards at London’s Dorchester Hotel – and it was another big evening for Stuart Bingham.
Read MoreGET WELL SOON, CHRIS
FOR the latter part of the Betfred World Championships the table-fitting team at the Bristol-based World Snooker Services have had to do without one of their most experienced and popular members in Chris Barnes.
And Inside Snooker would like to join colleagues, friends and everyone else in the sport in wishing Chris a speedy recovery from a nasty injury suffered in the course of his professional duties at the Crucible this year.
While de-rigging and setting up the one-table on Wednesday night Chris saw his little finger become badly crushed by one of the very heavy slate slabs that form part of the unit.
He was rushed to A&E in an ambulance, and medical staff have assessed him continually hoping to save the tip of his finger, with surgery on the agenda in the next couple of days.
As with the other table-fitters Chris spends the year travelling around the world as a key member of an often unsung team, without whose efforts none of the tournaments we watch would be possible.
Chris and his wife are also expecting a baby imminently, so could do with knowing everyone is thinking about them at this time while those in the snooker world look forward to seeing him back on the circuit as soon as possible.
And even with far more important things to focus on we are sure Chris might still have one eye on his beloved Bristol Rovers this weekend as they bid to regain Football League status via the Conference play-offs.