SELBY DRIVES WOOLLASTON JUNIOR TO FINAL

It is almost de rigeur for sports stars these days to make sure their family and young children get to share in their greatest moments and finals, and the BetVictor Welsh Open was no exception for Ben Woollaston, who was making his debut in a major showpiece.

Half an hour before the final against John Higgins Woollaston’s two-year-old son Edward was racing around the players’ lounge and adjacent media centre. In a great show of civic support fellow Leicester player (as well as the small matter of being world champion and world No1) Mark Selby gallantly offered to drive Edward and Ben’s  mum Joy to Cardiff from home, and so was there in person to support his friend. Ben’s wife Tatiana was of course already in town having been refereeing at the tournament.

What with Willie Thorne on duty for the BBC the East Midlands city certainly could not complain about being under-represented at the Motorpoint Arena on Sunday.

POOL SHARK SELBY MAKES IT BACK WITH TIME TO SPARE

A few people had expressed concerns about Mark Selby’s schedule and travel plans to Berlin for the German Masters after losing a tight final of the Chinese Eight-ball Pool World Championship to Darren Appleton on Monday night.

But after a narrow 21-19 defeat the snooker world champion certainly looked cheery enough after jetting in to Germany on Tuesday night, in plenty of time for his opening match on the main TV table against Anthony McGill on Wednesday afternoon.

Selby, with a strong pool pedigree before making it big in the 15-reds game, thoroughly enjoyed the experience and picked up £30,000 for his efforts in the Far East, playing with his trusted snooker cue.

And it was certainly no disgrace losing to Appleton, a former pool world champion and world No1.  Selby had beaten Appleton 11-7 in the eight-ball pool world championship final nine years previously.

ROBERTSON CAN SEE SELBY PACING HIMSELF

Neil Robertson reckons world champion Mark Selby could trim his European Tour commitments after the forthcoming birth of he and wife Vicky’s first child, due in November.

And the reigning Wuxi Classic champion, ranked No2 in the world and just a place behind Selby, admits he wishes he had done the same four years ago.

Australian Robertson, 32, felt an entirely laudable pressure in 2010 to play in as much as possible to try and fulfil an ambassadorial role after his own Crucible triumph.

But that meant he did not spend as much time for the remainder of that year with young son Alexander as he would have liked.

Selby has already clinched his place in next year’s lucrative PTC Finals good and early by winning the first European Tour event in Latvia with a 4-3 win over Mark Allen, giving himself room to manoeuvre.

The Leicester Jester has consistently been one of the tour’s most regular participants over the past decade – playing in virtually everything, arguably to his detriment.

But Selby hinted even before announcing his latest good news that he might be picking and choosing a bit more this term – heading towards what Ronnie O’Sullivan is doing, and a model other top players including Robertson have suggested they might imitate.

Cambridge-based Robertson, who has just seen his son off to school for the first time, said: “It is a busy time of the year, with a lot of big tournaments.

“So I can see that Mark might manage his schedule with the European Tour to miss a few and make sure he spends some time at home with his family, and I completely understand that – especially now he has already qualified for the Finals.

“It is something I wish I had done a bit more in 2010, but I had won the world title for the first time and I did feel a responsibility to represent my sport and play in most events once I got back from a summer back home.

“To be honest it did get pretty tough and my performances if anything started to get worse, so I’d have been better taking more PTC events off and spending some more time at home in between the big events.”

Photograph by Monique Limbos