HOLT AND FU IN BAGGAGE RECLAIM

There were short-lived scares for both Michael Holt and Marco Fu in China in the monthly game of baggage Russian roulette risked by the top players on their global travels.

Nottingham’s Holt, who enjoyed a fine run to the semi-finals at the Shanghai Masters 12 months ago, arrived with his cue but not his luggage, including all his playing attire. Happily for the world No23, the missing bag turned up from Bangkok on the Sunday night, in time for being one of the first matches on table on Monday afternoon against wildcard Yuan Sijun.

And Fu, flying from London, was reunited even quicker with his luggage which arrived just a few short hours later on a flight from Heathrow.

RED CARPETS AND ROUSING SPEECHES

The official opening ceremony for the Bank of Communications Shanghai Masters, featuring the traditional red-carpet treatment for the players and welcome banquet, was the usual lavish affair. Ding Junhui, Ronnie O’Sullivan and the rest were presented to the fans like film stars and handed out gifts as well as signing photos and programmes.

Then it was inside for speeches and a meal, where John Higgins was probably the busiest – called on to stage three times (for one of those a tournament official had to fetch him from the toilet, with the roving camera focusing on an empty chair) plus a TV appearance on the big screen where the four-time world champion showed a natural flair for the Chinese language.

WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson issued a rousing address, including a pointed reference to hoping to see future events in Shanghai given this week’s renewal negotiations.

And the players showed off their official gift, believed to be worth around £1,000, of two pieces of polished and treated wood that when burnt produce incense with ‘calming properties’. The kind of thing for which customs occasionally need a clear explanation.

Tournament director Mike Ganley was also in receipt of a present, in his case some chopsticks and a silver noodle spoon. Expect to see him proudly showing these off at a tournament near you soon.

McMANUS BRACED FOR SCOTLAND'S RYDER CUP

Alan McManus admits he cannot wait for golf’s Ryder Cup at the end of September – all the more so as someone who has played the Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course.

After snooker golf is the Scot’s greatest sporting love, and the biennial contest between Europe and the United States will be staged in Perthshire later in the month.

Glasgow’s McManus is one of several snooker players past and current with some real golfing pedigree, playing off a handicap as low as five.

Speaking in Shanghai ahead of his match against Ronnie O'Sullivan he said: “When I first played the Centenary Course that will be used it was still called the Monarch’s course. It is a cracking course, though there have been some changes since last time I was there. I know the 18th is harder now for the longer hitters.

“I used to really like the first hole, but we will all be familiar with these holes in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait for it to start, and luckily we [players] are at home, which is a bonus. It is one of the best sporting events to watch for me.

“If I went I certainly would be out on the course rather than in a tent, but to start with there are only the four matches at a time, and then the singles there is so much going on simultaneously so I will happily be watching it on TV.

“I was really pleased Stephen Gallacher got in for his debut, he fully deserved his place having only just missed out and no one is saying it is for political reasons – but it will give it an extra edge having a Scot in the team. There would have been disappointment if he had missed out, as the crowd want a home guy to cheer.

“I have played Stephen Hendry at Gleneagles though on the other courses, but he will have played the Centenary Course a hundred times as a member there for ages. They closed the course a couple of weeks ago, so it should be all set up beautifully.”

The 43-year-old also revealed there were early moves afoot to try and stage a Ryder Cup style contest among snooker’s golfers.

He added: “We have been talking about maybe doing something like that, going to Spain or Portugal and doing an eight v eight for a bit of fun. I reckon Barry Hearn would enjoy seeing that. It might have to be England v the Rest to make it work on the numbers.”

Photograph by Monique Limbos

IS THE PRICE RIGHT IN CHINA?

One aspect of the ranking tournaments in China to come under scrutiny in recent years has been the actual number of bums on seats in the various arenas – and the cost of tickets is often advanced as the main or even sole reason for this.

There is no doubt a) that the players enjoy playing in front of a packed house more, and b) it looks miles better on TV if it’s full.

Snooker is by no means the only sport to wrestle with this issue, there have been task forces set up in football to examine the potential damage to the televised spectacle for sale if prices are too high and there are lots of empty spaces.

To put some of this in context, there is a burgeoning average salary and standard of living among a mushrooming middle class in China, and this group rightly or wrongly appear to be the target market for snooker over here. The sport is branded as aspirational in Shanghai and the other big cities in a way that it simply isn’t in the UK, and players are treated accordingly.

The stars being filmed signing autographs for screaming fans on a red carpet very much fits in with that image. But the fact is that currently there are not the numbers of those type of fans at some of the prices to fill up the venues. Demand does not equal supply at £40 a pop upwards – though in fairness to Shanghai, there are lower-cost options this week.

With the usual three table set-ups for the fitters to cope with, there are a total of 13 price bands over the seven days in the various areas.

The cheapest is 50 RMB/Yuan (around £5) for the first three days nearer the back of the main arena, behind the exclusive VIP area as you look at the table on the TV, with an option at 180 and the best available seats on the side next to the table at 280. For the quarters those prices rise to 100, 280 and 380 – and for the semis they are 100, 380 and 480.

The cheapest ticket for the final for an event won by home hero Ding Junhui 12 months ago, is 150, with then further seats available at 580 and a whopping 1680 (£168, all other prices also in RMB).

The only other option on Days 1-3 is seats at 100 RMB table-side for Tables 3 and 4 out of the main arena, which given you could see Mark Allen, Mark Williams, Stephen Maguire and Ken Doherty isn’t such a bad alternative.

Photograph by Monique Limbos

DOTT PICKS OUT ZHOU AS CHINESE ONE TO WATCH

There is plenty of debate and discussion as to who might prove to be the next champion to emerge from China, following in the footsteps of the mighty Ding Junhui.

Quite an act to follow of course, with the world No2 having hoovered up just the five ranking titles last season alone and signalled his intent this term with success in his home Yixing Open last week.

Liang Wenbo’s time to truly seize the baton may have come and gone, and delving down into the next wave of young prospects several have their admirers.

Lyu Haotian gained some fame for reaching the quarter-finals of the International Championship at 14 and continues to progress.

And more recently the spotlight has fallen on Zhao Xintong, who beat Ken Doherty at 15 in that same Chengdu event two years ago and is improving with every event.

But former world champion Graeme Dott reckons world amateur champion Zhou Yuelong, who beat Zhao 8-4 in last year’s final for that trophy, could just prove to be the best of the bunch.

After seeing off Zhou 5-3 at the Wuxi Classic Dott said: “I have played him three times and I just think he has the best all-round game of all of them.

“I think he will be the next big player coming through from China. After Ding and Wenbo, people talk about Zhao, but Zhou is my favourite. He is the one to look out for.”

MURPHY HANKERING AFTER BRAZIL RETURN

SHAUN Murphy admitted after a 5-1 Wuxi win over Rod Lawler that he was getting Brazil withdrawal symptoms fuelled by wall-to-wall TV coverage of the World Cup being staged in the country.

The world No7 has plenty of good memories of his trip to South America for the only professional tournament ever staged by the football-mad nation.

Murphy, now 31, beat Graeme Dott 5-0 in the final to lift the trophy and until earlier this year, when he claimed the Gdynia Open crown, that was the former world champion’s last title - though the success was swiftly followed by another victory in Haikou.

“I think Brazil will win the World Cup – is that what everyone thinks in the room?” said Murphy, adding: “I have been to Brazil and it was fantastic. I want to go back now.

“I won a title there and I wish we still had that snooker tournament on the tour, it was a great country and I really enjoyed being there.

“And snooker is very popular there, a lot of people play although that is not the first thing other people will associate with the country.”

FOULDS INSIGHT ON TOUR LIFE WITH YOUR DAD

NEAL Foulds was the junior partner in the last ‘father-and-son’ duo to feature on the professional snooker tour before this season, when Peter and Oliver Lines will give it a go.

Foulds, now 50, went on to eclipse Geoff’s feats on the table, becoming a ranking-event winner by lifting the International Open trophy, and claiming other success by winning the Scottish Masters, Dubai Masters and Pot Black.

Now a highly-respected commentator with the BBC, ITV, Eurosport and Sky had some interesting observations about the experience overall, and pros and cons of going to work on the baize with your dad in tow.

Former world No3 Foulds said: “I found playing on adjacent tables as you sometimes did very tricky, it was hard to concentrate. Because we were both so interested in how the other was getting on playing on adjacent tables was not easy.

“I remember at the UK Championships at the Guildhall in Preston my dad had qualified – and he didn’t always - and was playing Steve Davis on the next table.

“I was playing David Taylor, who was a good player and I was just a rookie. And I kept wanting to watch my dad, as I always had – but I had a match on myself!

“The two matches we did play against each other were horrible experiences, really tough, and I don’t envy Peter and Oliver if that happens. I was competitive and always wanted to win, but I had never wanted my dad to miss a ball in my life.

“And here I was hoping he would miss so I could get to the table. It was very tough.

“We played in the International in Stoke, at Trentham Gardens, and I won 5-0. It wasn’t that he didn’t try, he just couldn’t play against me and I wasn’t much better but held it together.

“Then in the English professional championship it was slightly more relaxed and I won 9-4, my mum came to that one and she wasn’t a good watcher.

“The one thing you have that is unique is that you have someone who is 100 per cent behind you, as you would expect anyone’s dad to be – AND they know snooker.

“So they won’t say the wrong things as some dads might, they’ll hopefully say the right things that you need to hear as a rookie professional.

“I always supported my dad, and went to watch him play in his big matches, so I had a decent idea of how good you had to be.

“And I was rubbing shoulders with people like John Virgo, Dennis Taylor and Willie Thorne from a young age, and it helps having come from that environment, the whole thing is less intimidating.”

SELBY SETS BAR HIGH FOR FINAL PARTY

Mark Selby has some form when it comes to after-final parties – but his celebrations after clinching a first world title probably topped the lot.

Victory at the 2012 UK Championship sparked an infamous all-nighter at the sports bar opposite the Barbican, with the Leicester Jester running through the Frank Sinatra songbook.

To label Selby a karaoke king might be harsh – he is actually a decent singer, as some of the videos taken in the early hours of Tuesday morning after the 18-14 Crucible final win over Ronnie O’Sullivan will show once put on Youtube.

Around an hour and a half into the party at the Mercure hotel in Sheffield Selby did his own version of Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars, putting the lead singer of the actual band to shame.

And as things got worse for the booked act but better for the audience, that was followed by further numbers in tandem with Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain on drums including The Monkees’ I’m A Believer, REM’s Losing my Religion and the Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire.

Needless to say this all went down a storm with the assembled throng.

DOING THE CRUCIBLE IN STYLE

The whole VIP hospitality operation cranks into gear for the last five days of the World Championship, and especially on the final Monday. As well as ordinary tickets other options include a Premium package and then the bumper VIP level hospitality. For your money (around £175-£200 per session) splashing out for this top echelon of treatment would get you a welcome drink and three-course meal with wine in the Crucible Corner restaurant; a meet-and-greet including photos and a tour with a legend of the game (Ken Doherty seemed very busy on the Monday morning); a picture with the World Championship trophy; and last but not least a World Snooker ‘goodie’ bag including a programme, and then a World Snooker pen, lapel pin, air freshener, key ring/bottle opener, sticker and branded stick of rock. What more could anyone want.

FEEDING TIME AT THE ZOO

Day 17 of the Crucible marathon began in the media centre with various guided VIP tour parties being led through the room in a scene that very much resembled the public peering at the apes in the zoo. The bleary-eyed press posse, many of whom had been there for the duration plus the qualifiers, looked up from their coffee to hear the guide saying, with no hint of irony, “and this is the media centre where everyone sits and watches every ball and write all their stories and do their radio reports all about the key moment in every frame”. He obviously hasn’t been reading the right newspapers…

REDKNAPP GETS TO SAMPLE THE MERCURE

The Mercure hotel bar is a popular drinking haunt with the snooker crowd, despite some challenging bar prices. Just a stone’s throw away from the Crucible it is one of the meeting place of choice for a late-night drink, a more upmarket option than the equally frequented Graduate pub around the corner, and in recent years the venue for the after-final party.

The A-list actually stay there, the riff-raff pretend they are before toddling off at 2am back to the Travelodge or the Ibis.

But with the accommodation being some of the finest in the surrounding region, there were other non-snooker guests in the second week of the World Championship who probably would have thought little of forking out £5 for a pint.

Reading, chasing a play-off place in the Championship, stayed there ahead of their penultimate regular-season game at nearby Doncaster while big-spending QPR, already with a play-off spot secured, and boss Harry Redknapp took up temporary residence on semi-final Friday ahead of their last match of the campaign at Barnsley.

STRICKEN GERMAN FAN CHRISTINE GETS BOOST

GERMAN snooker fan Christine Pagel saw her pilgrimage to the Crucible to watch the World Championship for a fortnight interrupted in very unfortunate circumstances after being diagnosed with kidney stones and admitted to the high dependency unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield.

Her condition required an emergency operation – but Christine had a welcome boost when former Crucible finalist Nigel Bond, based in Chesterfield, and MC Rob Walker dropped in for a visit on the Friday of the second week.

Bond said: "Christine has obviously been through a tough time and I hope she now makes a full recovery. She is clearly a huge snooker fan as she's come over from Germany to see virtually the whole tournament. Luckily the staff at the Royal Hallamshire are looking after her so well and she even has a TV in her room so she can still watch the snooker! The least we could do was to drop in and say hello."

World Snooker has also pledged to give Christine free tickets for a day at next year's World Championship in Sheffield.

Photograph courtesy of World Snooker

DAVIS GETS DOWN AND DIRTY

Snooker legend and BBC pundit Steve Davis took advantage of the 17-day stay in Sheffield to enjoy a night out at a different theatre and take in a show. The Dirty Dancing stage production was visiting the Lyceum, just next-door to the Crucible on Tudor Square, and the six-time world champion was in for a slight shock on arrival in the foyer.

The Nugget was mobbed by women of a certain age out for a night of nostalgia all wanting photos and autographs. It is doubtful whether the appearance of the late Patrick Swayze himself in the audience could have made them go more weak at the knees than seeing the six-time world champion before they sat down to enjoy the famous story of Baby and Johnny for two and a half hours to the musical backdrop of The Time of My Life.

ROBERTSON TAKES COMMENTATORS TO TASK

There was plenty going through Neil Robertson’s mind as he wrapped up victory over Judd Trump on an incredible evening at the Crucible on Wednesday. Still euphoric after becoming the first man to make 100 century breaks in a season at a crucial stage of the match to level at 11-11 and then completing a 13-11 victory, the Australian still had other concerns.

On his way out of the arena he headed straight for the commentary box to good-naturedly remonstrate with those inside about jokes making the audience laugh earlier in the quarter-final. Willie Thorne pleaded not guilty, pointing the finger of blame at Terry Griffiths.

World No1 Robertson, a mad-keen Chelsea fan, also wanted to know the crucial score from Stamford Bridge where the Blues had been playing Atletico Madrid in the second leg of a Champions League semi-final. But on the front there was some rare bad news of a 3-1 defeat and exit from the competition.

With the win and the milestone safely tucked away though, as Meat Loaf might have said: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.

PARMAR STILL ON THE SCENE

Mukesh Parmar, the former manager of Mark Selby, was seen around the Dafabet World Championship this week and put in an appearance at the World Snooker party on the Wednesday night at Genting Casino – an evening for all connected with and working at the event, taking advantage of the morning off on the Thursday.

While Parmar’s relationship with Selby on the table was characterised by some considerable success, including wins at the UK Championship and the Masters before a split early in 2013, there were clearly tensions and problems behind the scenes with the three-time Masters champion deciding he would rather handle his own affairs, helped by wife Vikki.

At one time there was speculation Parmar could link up with Neil Robertson as a manager having done some work with him, though that did not come to pass with the world No1 now under a full management deal with Django Fung in the same stable as Judd Trump.

But Parmar, who still runs a snooker club in Leicestershire, indicated that he might dip his toe back in the water of player management if the “right opportunity” came along.

SELT BROUGHT BACK DOWN TO EARTH

Matt Selt is a pretty big noise among the snooker golfing fraternity, with a handicap of just six from his days as a regular at The Mere club in Cheshire. Snooker’s world No56 regularly crosses swords with seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry on the fairways and the pair also make a mean partnership in the commentators’ challenges.

But Selt was brought back down to earth with a jolt on Tuesday in Sheffield. First he played World Snooker press chief Ivan Hirschowitz and lost three times – a front-nine Stableford, a back-nine matchplay, and a last-hole double or quits.

Then in the evening Selt was hanging out with Hendry and Steve Davis in the Mercure bar – just the 13 world titles between them – and was approached by a couple of fans who asked him to move away and take a picture of them with the baize legends.

ROCKET CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF CRUCIBLE

Ronnie O’Sullivan clearly couldn’t get enough of the Crucible after the first session of his quarter-final against Shaun Murphy, perhaps slightly surprised to be leading 6-2.

After turning the match against the Magician on its head with a blistering six-frame burst, aided somewhat by a rising error and miss count from his opponent, the Rocket was back in the building within a couple of hours of the session and eating in the canteen with the riff-raff – which serves as a green room for the rest of the year for theatre productions.

While the assembled officials and hacks tucked into bangers and mash, defending champion O’Sullivan and artist pal Damien Hirst settled down on the next table with a selection of kebabs and salad.

DECISION TIME OVER O'SULLIVAN AND ROBERTSON

The BBC top brass were agonising on Monday afternoon about which of the quarter-finals to show live on Tuesday afternoon, with a potentially difficult choice between Ronnie O’Sullivan v Shaun Murphy/Marco Fu, and Neil Robertson v Judd Trump/Ryan Day at the time of writing.

The case for showing O’Sullivan, who gives the TV ratings a huge spike whenever he is on let alone at the Crucible and the World Championship, pretty much states itself. But bosses were leaning towards the Robertson match.

The prospect of possibly seeing the world No1 reach the historic milestone of 100 century breaks in a single season live on the BBC was one they were extremely reluctant to forego, and the chances were that if Trump prevailed against Day, making the quarter-final an especially attractive match-up, that might tip the balance.

The fact that Murphy and Trump emerged as the winners if anything made the decision, which is awaited with interest, even harder.

COMMENTATORS RENEW GOLF RIVALRY

With no play on the Monday morning of week two at the Dafabet World Championship a number of the BBC commentary team, aided and abetted by professional Matt Selt and assistant tournament director Martin Clark, took advantage of the fine weather and headed for the golf course.

The pairings for the latest leg of the matchplay challenge series were John Virgo and Clark v Willie Thorne and Dennis Taylor, and Selt and Stephen Hendry – fortified by the purchase of some new clubs in Sheffield - v John Parrott and Ken Doherty.

The auspicious occasion took place at Rotherham Golf Club, a fine parkland course of 6,327 yards with a par of 70. No one challenged the course record of 62 – but there were wins for the impressive Taylor and Thorne by 2 and 1, and Hendry and Selt by 4 and 3.