New sponsor Uk Championships

zack01

World Snooker announced yesterday that this years UK championships will have a new title sponsor. UK based Pukka Pies have signed a one year deal with the possibility of the next two years to follow. The tournament which is the second biggest on the calendar runs from Dec 5th - 13th and is held in the International centre in Telford. BBC and Eurosport will be providing live coverage.

In other snooker news Robert Milkins won the third pro challenge tournament yesterday in leicester,our own Ken Doherty went out in the second round beaten 4-0 by Stuart Bingham, a bit of a surprise as in the previous round his 4-2 win over Lee Spick included a clearance of 120.

Kens next matches see him trying to qualify for the UK c'ships, he needs to win two matches to qualify for the televised stages.

Finally on a lighter note, Jimmy White has signed up to appear on 'i'm a celebrity get me out of here' should be some fun!!
Mind you he's due to play in the qualifiers for the UK c'ships in two weeks time, can't imagine them setting up a practice table in the jungle!!!

celticfc

I like pie!

zack01 wrote: »

Finally on a lighter note, Jimmy White has signed up to appear on 'i'm a celebrity get me out of here' should be some fun!!
Mind you he's due to play in the qualifiers for the UK c'ships in two weeks time, can't imagine them setting up a practice table in the jungle!!!

He's pulled out of the UK qualifiers and seems to be set for a repremand. Foolish really if the WPBSA fine him or whatever. Him pulling out doesn't really affect the tournament a whole lot.


Also....

A 7th ranking event is apparantly set to be added to this years calendar, no announcements as yet though. Maybe details will be announced during the UK Championship?

zack01

Maybe the new tournament you are thinking about is the 'ONEFORSEVEN' tournament to be held in Cardiff Dec 21st. It's not a ranking tournament but just another version of matchplay snooker involving two groups of eight players on four tables.

A player will play one frame against all seven other players and the total points accumulated over the seven frames are added up with the player with the highest total deemed the winner.
An interesting edge is that frame times are a maximum of 21 mins.

As far as i know the players signed up so far include world champion John Higgins, Jimmy White (if he makes it back from the jungle!) and our own Ken Doherty,as well as several other well known faces.

As of yet i hav'nt heard the prize money or if the snooker is to be televised.

celticfc

zack01 wrote: »

Maybe the new tournament you are thinking about is the 'ONEFORSEVEN' tournament to be held in Cardiff Dec 21st. It's not a ranking tournament but just another version of matchplay snooker involving two groups of eight players on four tables.

Nah, the one I heard of will definitively be a World Snooker organised ranking event and probably be in one of the gaps in the calendar in the new year. No announcements from WS yet though.

The onefourseven tourney is run by the good people at the GSC. It's great to see them trying something new but why is it so awkward? Decent line-up though.

Also the 6red WC in Kilarney is coming up in a month, still no word of TV coverage other than "likely".

zack01

Was speaking to Ken last night and he has'nt heard of anything yet,a few of the snooker hacks and players seem to be stirring it up a bit though, there is the annual AGM next month so it may be a ploy by others to get the current chairman Sir Rodney Walker ousted.

Hopefully they can get a new tournament up and running in the new year, as Celtic stated there are plenty of vacancies in the calendar, all we have to look forward to from January is 'The Masters', 'The Welsh Open' The China Open' and lastly 'The World C'ships'

Gingy

Any ideas on potential venues for this new tournament. A 3rd one in China would possibly be a bit much, but I can't think of any other venue apart from Britain and China, the only places where snooker is popular at the moment.

celticfc

Gingy wrote: »

Any ideas on potential venues for this new tournament. A 3rd one in China would possibly be a bit much, but I can't think of any other venue apart from Britain and China, the only places where snooker is popular at the moment.

Don't discount mainland Europe, it is a real snooker hotbed at the moment almost certain to be laden with some decent sponsors.

John Higgins and Pat Mooney have had great success with their World Series of Snooker events over the past year or two and they always seem to get packed houses (apart from Portugal IIRC).

zack01

Heard a whisper that an extra ranking tournament will be held in Malta next Feb. It's only a whisper but it came from a good source.

FlawedGenius

Has the draw been made for the UK Championships?

zack01

Yes, the last round of qualifiers takes place today and the tournament starts proper this saturaday, you can view the draw on [url]www.worldsnooker.com:[/url])