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Ssb - the knives are out
It's ten years since Peter Ebdon won the world title but his determination has not waned and yesterday he pulled off one of his best results for some time.
Ebdon's 5-4 defeat of world champion John Higgins must have been satisfying after a poor campaign in which his top 32 place has been placed under threat.
He is a player who has always worked hard on preparation. Physical and mental fitness have been almost an obsession.
Now, Ebdon has become a vegan after watching a film, Forks Over Knives, which apparently blames eating meat for, well, pretty much everything.
Good luck to him if he believes it makes a difference. He will probably have to produce an even better performance today if he is to devour Neil Robertson, whose flowing coiffure somewhat overcompensates for Ebdon's more sparsely populated pate.
First up is a battle of two of the form players this season: Judd Trump v Stephen Lee.
A few years ago, Lee played superbly to beat Trump in the world qualifiers and afterwards said he hoped the defeat would stay with his young opponent for some time.
I think it's fair to say it's a distant memory for Trump after the year he has had, but Lee is playing some of the best snooker of his career right now and will surely be a serious threat to the defending champion.
Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Stephen Maguire in a thrilling German Masters final a few weeks back and was the model of professionalism in again defeating Mark Williams 5-1 yesterday.
Maguire is another player whom O'Sullivan respects and he has only lost to him three times in 17 meetings.
The fourth quarter-final pits Ding Junhui against Ali Carter after Ding's walkover against Mark Selby.
Wisely, the world no.1 does not want to make his neck problem worse ahead of the World Championship.
The neck and shoulders is an area in which snooker players do seem to suffer, some very seriously. Hopefully Selby's injury is only a minor problem.
More...
Ebdon's 5-4 defeat of world champion John Higgins must have been satisfying after a poor campaign in which his top 32 place has been placed under threat.
He is a player who has always worked hard on preparation. Physical and mental fitness have been almost an obsession.
Now, Ebdon has become a vegan after watching a film, Forks Over Knives, which apparently blames eating meat for, well, pretty much everything.
Good luck to him if he believes it makes a difference. He will probably have to produce an even better performance today if he is to devour Neil Robertson, whose flowing coiffure somewhat overcompensates for Ebdon's more sparsely populated pate.
First up is a battle of two of the form players this season: Judd Trump v Stephen Lee.
A few years ago, Lee played superbly to beat Trump in the world qualifiers and afterwards said he hoped the defeat would stay with his young opponent for some time.
I think it's fair to say it's a distant memory for Trump after the year he has had, but Lee is playing some of the best snooker of his career right now and will surely be a serious threat to the defending champion.
Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Stephen Maguire in a thrilling German Masters final a few weeks back and was the model of professionalism in again defeating Mark Williams 5-1 yesterday.
Maguire is another player whom O'Sullivan respects and he has only lost to him three times in 17 meetings.
The fourth quarter-final pits Ding Junhui against Ali Carter after Ding's walkover against Mark Selby.
Wisely, the world no.1 does not want to make his neck problem worse ahead of the World Championship.
The neck and shoulders is an area in which snooker players do seem to suffer, some very seriously. Hopefully Selby's injury is only a minor problem.
More...