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Ssb - hitting the ground walking
It takes a long time to get from the UK to Hainanfor the Haikou World Open and, for that matter, a long time to get back again but thisdoesn't matter so much if you come home with the £75,000 first prize.
This tournament seems to be being treated as a brandnew event. I vaguely recall it was actually staged last season and won by NeilRobertson, who is nevertheless not being regarded as defending champion.
Of course, the format was different in 2010/11: bestof fives up until the final, which was best of nine.
Given the trek to get there, this would surely havebeen too short a length of match and so the World Open has now fallen into theaccepted format for ranking tournaments in China: best of nines up until thebest of 11 semis with a best of 19 final.
I have no problem with any of that, unlike thewildcard round which seems to go against everything Barry Hearn believes.
He has stated - correctly - that sport should be ameritocracy. Those who have qualified for the World Open have done so on merit,so to have to play unknown and likely very dangerous local invites is a slap inthe face.
The one caveat to this is that Hainan is a new areafor snooker (outside the invitation event won last year by John Higgins) andsupport has to be built up.
However, regardless of the rights and wrongs ofwildcards it is a spectacularly bad decision to play them all on the same day,as is happening on Monday.
Shortly after Hearn's ascension to the reins ofpower, and recognising his genuine efforts to build bridges with the media,myself and a colleague met with a World Snooker representative to discuss a fewideas for improvements in how tournaments are run, with particular regard toformats.
One thing we impressed on them was the need to hitthe ground running: to start events with star names.
Not all TV viewers follow the intricacies of thecircuit. If you tune into a tournament on day one and don't recognise any ofthe players you could be forgiven for believing it isn't a major event at alland therefore not watch a single further minute all week.
Television is the sport's shop window. The topplayers are its star attractions.
At least two last 32 matches should be played onMonday to provide pulling power for broadcasters. This could easily be done,indeed was at last season's China Open following our suggestion, but was forgottenat the Shanghai Masters and has been forgotten again this week.
The knock-on effect is that the last 32 isconcertinaed into two days and well known faces are thus forced to play onoutside tables.
Sorry, but this isn't good enough. I will supportany new event, evangelise the sport in the face of any doubter and fully supportHearn in his attempts to globalise the game, but more thought needs to go intoscheduling.
Put simply: why should a top player, who has climbedthe rankings through the force of their own hard work and hard won results, schlepall the way to Hainan Island and play a match in a cubicle which nobody back homewill see while an invited player enjoys full TV exposure in a match which,pride aside, means nothing to them?
There is TV and streaming coverage on Monday but theWorld Open starts properly on Tuesday with the last 32: a seven day tournamentwhich lasts six days.
There is, of course, not actually a full field. AliCarter and Ronnie O'Sullivan have withdrawn, affording byes to Marcus Campbelland Tom Ford respectively.
Otherwise it's the usual faces and the winner willmost probably come from the group of ten or so players who are the main candidatesfor any big title.
More...
This tournament seems to be being treated as a brandnew event. I vaguely recall it was actually staged last season and won by NeilRobertson, who is nevertheless not being regarded as defending champion.
Of course, the format was different in 2010/11: bestof fives up until the final, which was best of nine.
Given the trek to get there, this would surely havebeen too short a length of match and so the World Open has now fallen into theaccepted format for ranking tournaments in China: best of nines up until thebest of 11 semis with a best of 19 final.
I have no problem with any of that, unlike thewildcard round which seems to go against everything Barry Hearn believes.
He has stated - correctly - that sport should be ameritocracy. Those who have qualified for the World Open have done so on merit,so to have to play unknown and likely very dangerous local invites is a slap inthe face.
The one caveat to this is that Hainan is a new areafor snooker (outside the invitation event won last year by John Higgins) andsupport has to be built up.
However, regardless of the rights and wrongs ofwildcards it is a spectacularly bad decision to play them all on the same day,as is happening on Monday.
Shortly after Hearn's ascension to the reins ofpower, and recognising his genuine efforts to build bridges with the media,myself and a colleague met with a World Snooker representative to discuss a fewideas for improvements in how tournaments are run, with particular regard toformats.
One thing we impressed on them was the need to hitthe ground running: to start events with star names.
Not all TV viewers follow the intricacies of thecircuit. If you tune into a tournament on day one and don't recognise any ofthe players you could be forgiven for believing it isn't a major event at alland therefore not watch a single further minute all week.
Television is the sport's shop window. The topplayers are its star attractions.
At least two last 32 matches should be played onMonday to provide pulling power for broadcasters. This could easily be done,indeed was at last season's China Open following our suggestion, but was forgottenat the Shanghai Masters and has been forgotten again this week.
The knock-on effect is that the last 32 isconcertinaed into two days and well known faces are thus forced to play onoutside tables.
Sorry, but this isn't good enough. I will supportany new event, evangelise the sport in the face of any doubter and fully supportHearn in his attempts to globalise the game, but more thought needs to go intoscheduling.
Put simply: why should a top player, who has climbedthe rankings through the force of their own hard work and hard won results, schlepall the way to Hainan Island and play a match in a cubicle which nobody back homewill see while an invited player enjoys full TV exposure in a match which,pride aside, means nothing to them?
There is TV and streaming coverage on Monday but theWorld Open starts properly on Tuesday with the last 32: a seven day tournamentwhich lasts six days.
There is, of course, not actually a full field. AliCarter and Ronnie O'Sullivan have withdrawn, affording byes to Marcus Campbelland Tom Ford respectively.
Otherwise it's the usual faces and the winner willmost probably come from the group of ten or so players who are the main candidatesfor any big title.
More...
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