MARK Selby arrived in Berlin looking exhausted but left it as world no.1 after capturing the Kreativ Dental German Masters at a packed Tempodrom on Sunday night.
Read MoreSELBY RETURNS TO WINNERS' CIRCLE IN BERLIN
RUSSIAN ROULETTE SEES REF LUISE PUT ON MASTERCLASS
There was a cuesports first for Inside Snooker in Berlin, where the chance arose to have a go at Russian Pyramid (also known as Russian billiards or Russian pool), a game still found in the city owing to the historical links with the former Soviet Union.
Featuring 15 numbered white balls and a ‘cue’ ball, and played on varying table sizes (this one was the full 12ft by 6ft) the notable features compared to snooker on the same size surface area are the larger balls and much tighter pockets, with literally a couple of millimetres to spare for the ball to go in. The jaws of the centre pockets also make it very challenging to get anything down from much of an angle.
There were probably weren’t any better informed people to be playing with than official table fitter Pete Godwin, who may not have potted too many but was able to quote off the top of his head the size of the larger, heavier balls at 2 and 11/16 inches.
But the undoubted star of the show was snooker referee Luise Kraatz. The Nuremberg official put on a masterclass and while everyone else was struggling to have any success even from a couple of inches waltzed round the table potting them off the lampshades.
MURPHY v SELBY IN BERLIN FINALE
SHAUN MURPHY and Mark Selby will set their friendship aside as they battle for glory in the Kreativ Dental German Masters final at the Tempodrom in Berlin on Sunday.
Read MoreROBERTSON ON BODY CLOCK, 'OWLS' AND 'LARKS'
NEIL Robertson believes that a recent survey focusing on significantly differing performance levels depending on personal body clock rings very true for snooker.
Read MoreSUPERB MURPHY PASSES LIANG TEST
SHAUN MURPHY continued to ride the crest of a wave of form and confidence to reach the Kreativ Dental German Masters final in Berlin on Saturday with another thrilling victory.
Read MoreFOUR SURVIVE FANTASTIC FRIDAY
SHAUN MURPHY will face Liang Wenbo while Mark Selby meets Stephen Maguire for a place in the Kreativ Dental German Masters in Berlin on Saturday.
Read MoreEUROSPORT PICK RIGHT DAY TO SELL SNOOKER
After deciding to make a big statement of intent at the German Masters by having a studio presence for the first time at the snooker, broadcasters Eurosport followed that up with more efforts to spread the word once safely installed at the Tempodrom.
A pan-European media day on Friday afternoon saw journalists from Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Romania, the Czech Republic and Portugal invited and given the VIP treatment including tours of the venue, a masterclass on the practice tables with young German prospect Lukas Kleckers, and some wining and dining.
The practice session did raise an eyebrow from Mark Selby, working on his game on the adjacent table ahead of his evening quarter-final showdown with Judd Trump but it takes more than excited gaggle of hacks and presenters to ruffle the world champion these days.
And the invited party could not really have picked a better day to be in the Tempodrom, arguably one of the finest in recent snooker history taking all factors into consideration. There was a 147 from Trump who went on to lose, four quarter-finals going to a deciding frame, a first ranking success for Shaun Murphy over Ronnie O’Sullivan and that was just the evening.
Earlier, of course, Murphy had obtained a snooker to stay in the tournament when 4-3 down to Mark Allen in another classic last-16 encounter.
A HORROR SHOW...BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT
In what may have to be the last Film Festival-related item, enjoying a drink after play on Thursday a number of those working at the German Masters got chatting to some Northern Irish screenwriters and producers, in Berlin to try and raise investment for various movies they were hoping to make.
In what proved a fascinating insight into what can only be described as a niche area (Irish Gothic horror, apparently with occasional use of possessed leprechauns – maybe not doing everything possible to dispel some national stereotypes) writer Spence Wright and his colleagues (well, apart from the one who was asleep in the corner for the whole two hours) broke off from their pool game and offered up a spirited rendition of ‘Snooker Loopy’ in honour of the chance meeting to the general bewilderment of the bar staff.
Wright describes himself on Linked In as “a horror fan since I was knee high to a Chucky Doll, a child of the vhs video feeding frenzy - now a horror hound writing the scripts and living the nightmare”, and his credits include Red Mist (2008), Unsound (2011), the unforgettable Vampires v Leprechauns (2013) and Deadlocked (2013).
Some fairly obvious gags about snooker and horror, notably those involving slow play and early morning finishes, were all duly cracked.
Tournament director Mike Ganley appeared to know quite a bit about the genre – arguably a little too much – while the festival-goers regretted being tied up in meetings on Friday afternoon and unable to come along and cheer on compatriot Mark Allen against Shaun Murphy.
O'SULLIVAN: BERLIN SAVED MY CAREER
RONNIE O’Sullivan admits that the German Masters will always be a special tournament for him after a 2012 title success that transformed his ailing career.
Read MoreO'SULLIVAN MAKES IT INTO GERMAN 'DAILY MIRROR'
Always keen to maintain international media relations, Inside Snooker took advantage of an offer from a Berlin colleague to visit the nearby offices of Der Tagesspiegel (or ‘Daily Mirror’, if you like) and get a spot of lunch in the canteen. DT is one of the three big newspapers specifically published for the capital as opposed to some of the national titles.
On a day when a full page of the broadsheet in the news section was devoted to the crisis enveloping Bundesliga stragglers Hertha Berlin, who this week sacked their manager with the team plummeting towards the foot of the table, there was still room in the sports section for an excellent page-lead piece on Ronnie O’Sullivan from journalist Joerg Leopold headlined ‘The quest for perfection’.
With the Film Festival in full swing the Rocket, in action against Joe Perry in their last-16 clash, had to share space in Friday’s paper with French actress Audrey Tautou, a member of the jury deciding the festival’s best film and pictured out and about on gala opening night.
MAJESTIC ROBERTSON SWEEPS INTO QUARTERS
THERE SEEMS TO BE a touch of the ‘beware the wounded animal’ syndrome about Neil Robertson judging by his performances so far in the Kreativ Dental German Masters.
Read MoreBURDEN'S SPLENDID ISOLATION
Alfie Burden was fired up for his first visit to the latter stages of the German Masters, having always previously fallen in the qualifiers and never made it to the Tempodrom in Berlin.
Affordable hotel rooms were very scarce in Berlin the week of the tournament, with the International Film Festival and several major trade fairs also taking place in the city.
But world No38 Burden was delighted to have finally secured one very close to what he thought was the venue. Having arrived and checked in he ventured to the Velodrom with his cue for a practice only for the first suspicions to dawn that something was amiss.
Bemused staff at the cycling venue were unable to help and after a couple of phone calls Burden realised that he was in fact out in the eastern suburbs and a good 45-minute taxi ride from the Tempodrom just south of the centre of Berlin.
A couple of very costly taxi fares drove Burden to check out the far more reasonable rates available on the public transport system and the U-Bahn. And though a first-round win over Michael Georgiou made him consider relocating, he stayed put ahead of a stint on the Eurosport studio panel during the Neil Robertson v Xiao Guodong last-16 match.
DING SHRUGS OFF LATEST SETBACK IN LACKLUSTRE SEASON
DING Junhui’s season took another turn for the worse at the German Masters in Berlin as he suffered a first-round exit at the hands of Ryan Day.
Read MoreSELBY OUTLASTS McGILL IN BERLIN THRILLER
‘JUST WHAT I NEEDED’ was Mark Selby’s typically deadpan response to his hard fought 5-4 victory over Anthony McGill in the last 32 of the Kreativ Dental German Masters in Wednesday.
Read MorePOOL 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.
ACTOR FIRTH SEES RED IN BERLIN
THE German Masters took place a week later this year – meaning the tournament clashed full on with the start of the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival (or Berlinale), one of the more prestigious world cinematic gatherings.
So it was perhaps not altogether surprising, though still unexpected, to virtually walk in to Colin Firth milking it on the red carpet at the nearby eight-screen IMAX complex off the Potsdamerplatz, just 15 minutes’ walk from the Tempodrom on the eve of the event.
Firth was in town as part of a whistlestop European tour to promote knockabout spy flick Kingsman: The Secret Service, in which he plays a veteran secret agent.
The actor, now 54 but who still makes ladies of a certain age swoon for his wet-blouse antics in the BBC television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice 20 years ago, hammed up the quintessential English gent like an old pro for the adoring German public both outside and then inside when introducing a debut screening of the film in the country.
Firth then slipped out of a side door where a convoy of black limousines were waiting to whisk him away, along with a few die-hard photographers camped out in the light snow and some selfie-seekers who were left disappointed after the star declined all such invitations.
He then sped off just before anyone could ask if he was hanging around for the Xiao Guodong/Liam Highfield clash the following day.