WALKER'S 'MEATBALL' CONUNDRUM

MC Rob Walker has had trouble coming up with a nickname for Ricky Walden since the world No7 requested that ‘Marathon Man’ be dropped, given how long ago it was he completed the 26 miles in his only running of the New York race.

However during a conversation on the subject in the media centre it emerged that in China Walden is known to all as ‘The Meatball’. This is because the initials RW, when spoken in Chinese, sound the same as for the dish.

While Walker was mulling over whether or not this would work for a British audience, it was pointed out that the same nickname could also be used for him.

WALDEN TREATS HIMSELF AFTER CHINA WIN

Ricky Walden again pulled rank over Mark Allen at the Champion of Champions in Coventry with a 4-0 group-phase win, after beating him 10-7 in the final of the International Championship in Chengdu the previous weekend.

And the world No8 from Chester had been the ‘daddy’ on the plane home from China, treating himself to a business class flight home while Allen and losing semi-finalists Mark Williams and Rob Milkins contented themselves with economy (or ‘World Traveller’ in British Airways speak).

With £125,000 in his pocket and a heavy night of celebrations to get over Walden shelled out the extra cash for an upgrade and a more comfortable 12-hour flight home. That meant a different check-in queue - and a left-turn after boarding the aircraft.

PANDAS FROZEN OUT OF FINAL WALK-ON

Very few among the UK-based officials and media escaped having to wear some part of a panda costume in Chengdu to keep promoter ‘Jerry’ happy. But tournament director Mike Ganley decided to spare the two finalists the indignity of being escorted into the arena by a bear apiece.

A trial run on the Saturday was enough to convince Ganley, generally keen to indulge local sentiment and help publicise Sichuan province’s most iconic creatures, that the black and white costumes did little for the gravitas of the occasion to the wider world and the plug was diplomatically pulled.

Instead a chuckling Mark Allen and Ricky Walden left the mascots in the corridor on their way out to start the best of 19 frame showpiece.

WALDEN BOMBS OUT BLEARY-EYED BURNETT

Jamie Burnett could be pleased with his week’s work in Chengdu, the world No51 reaching a first ranking quarter-final for four years, and picking up a welcome cheque for £17,500.

But he also accurately predicted his own demise with downbeat assessments of his wins over a below-par Judd Trump and a Peter Ebdon who struggled with the table conditions.

Burnett said after the 6-2 win over Ebdon: “I have really found it hard to get proper sleep this week, I am on about two hours a night and not playing particularly well, even though I am into the quarter-finals. If I run into a good player playing well, I could have big problems.”

That proved highly prophetic as an on-song Ricky Walden ran out a 6-1 winner on Thursday afternoon to grab a place in the last four.

The late re-scheduling of the PTC Grand Finals may have been warmly greeted for the return of top-level snooker to Preston’s famous Guildhall, steeped in history, but the switch did present certain difficulties for those having planned trips to the Far East assuming they would be in Thailand after the Haikou World Open and prior to the China Open in Beijing. Ricky Walden and his girlfriend had originally intended to spend a week in Hong Kong with friends along with manager Lee Gorton, plans that had to be hastily re-arranged by the player once the Lancashire date was announced for the tournament, leaving his pal to make the trip alone. And Jamie Jones was among those players having booked flights to Bangkok and left scrabbling trying to recoup the outlay.