DEFOE WINNER TWISTS THE KNIFE ON WILSON

The post-final party at the China Open took place in Beijing ex-pats hangout Paddy O’Shea’s, but there was to be more misery for Gary Wilson after his 10-2 final defeat to Mark Selby.

The Geordie arrived just time for the start of Premier League Tyne-Wear derby between his beloved Newcastle and bitter rivals Sunderland.

And Wallsend’s Wilson could hardly watch as Jermain Defoe twisted the knife with a superb volleyed winner for the Mackems to inflict a fifth derby defeat in a row on the Toon.

KEEPING UP WITH REAL MADRID

The major European football leagues have a big following in China, and there was a moment in the China Open snooker final when all of the Chinese media suddenly started taking pictures of the screens showing the score between Mark Selby and Gary Wilson.

Enquiries revealed this baffling activity was in fact because the score in the snooker at that time (9-1 to Selby) was the same as the score in the Real Madrid La Liga match (9-1 against Granada). At least that wasn’t quite the end of the scoring for Wilson.

WILSON DODGES BEIJING CAB INVITE

The ‘Gary Wilson as former cab driver’ thing has had a decent amount of mileage ever since his good run at the UK Championships in York 18 months back – and it was given new life by his superb achievement in beating Ding Junhui to get to the China Open final.

A CCTV reporter – to be fair, the only one who had gone to a lot of trouble to research Ding’s opponent properly – was therefore not going to blow his big chance in the television interview straight after the semi-final.

“You used to be a taxi driver – how would you like to drive one in Beijing?” asked the broadcaster, alluding to the millions of cars on the Chinese city’s roads and regular gridlock. “No chance,” replied Wilson, whose days of needing to supplement his snooker income look to be well behind him for now.