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.

WHERE WAS THE WESTERN MAIL?

There were a few raised eyebrows at the lack of coverage from the Media Wales group in the early days of the BetVictor Welsh Open in Cardiff.

The publishing group, operating the Western Mail and South Wales Echo as well as Wales on Sunday newspapers, was actually the official media partner for World Snooker at the ranking event on its return to the Cardiff and the Motorpoint Arena following 10 years in Newport.

The Newport paper, the South Wales Argus, even after losing the event still had a representative on site more often than not with plenty of Welsh interest in the early rounds, and former winner Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens still standing by the last-16 stage. Williams was still there for the final weekend.

But during the first four days of the event there was practically no coverage at all in the Media Wales titles, including no mention of Carmarthen’s Stevens’ first win over defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan for 12 years - and no reporting presence in the media centre.

Glancing through the sports pages there was plenty of coverage of the ice hockey – and even skittles. World Snooker could be forgiven for banging their heads against the nearest brick wall. After years of seeing many good snooker stories dismissed out of hand, we know how they feel.

CHILD'S PLAY FOR WILSON

Kyren Wilson was still in a happy daze walking around Cardiff on Monday night, after a Sunday he won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

The 23-year-old from Northamptonshire saw son and first child Finley Kyren Wilson born at around 7am last Sunday – and then dashed north to Barnsley for a China Open qualifier, beating Matthew Day 5-3 to clinch a trip to Beijing.

World No59 Wilson, one of the sport’s rising stars, admitted: “I just don’t want to be away from him for a second and keep looking at his picture on my phone. Obviously I would have stayed with Sophie if he had been born later but when he arrived in the morning she told me to go to Barnsley and play the qualifier, so winning it topped off an amazing day.”