Well the World Cup of Darts was at the weekend, and it is fair to say that the event has become truly global. Who would have thought a few years ago that Belgium would reach the final or that Finland would have made the semi? It seems as though if you have two decent players playing their best then you can go along way, the Spanish team sums this up. How did England win this event with Lewis playing so badly?
Well mainly because they have Phil Taylor averaging 105+ in every game and Scotland and Holland were dispatched early on. Still in the match against Wales they got lucky big time as Wales basically threw the win away from 3-1 up and 100+ ahead. I suppose that can happen with Ritchie about, its worth watching any event just to see this man play, his arm flailing bout all over the place after every third dart. The Belgium team on the other hand were the definition of steady with both players playing well throughout although Ronnie might have found the going a little though towards the end. So the answer what do you need to become World Cup of Darts Champions? As the German fans kept reminding us, 'there's only one Phil Taylor'.
Monday, 4 February 2013
German Masters Glory for Carter
This week the snooker bandwagon moved into Berlin for the third
staging of the German Masters. The event which is staged in the
Temperdom has been a roaring success with near capacity crowds in
attendance at every session. The crowd have been very respectful to
the players and there has been a great atmosphere all week. The
coverage on Eurosport was been good enough, although it is
disappointing that once the game on the main table is completed
coverage does not switch to one of the outside tables. It was also
vexing that the first session of the final was not broadcast live,
something to do which tennis or something, pssh.
Ali Carter might not have been the first name on most peoples list when it came to picking a winner, likewise Marco Fu as a potential finalist. But is you look at their respective form Carter's run to the UK semi, where it has to be said he should have reached the final and Fu reaching the Australian Open semi and International quarter, both are also former ranking event winners. There were a number of upsets though most notably young Mr. Trump losing to the Sheriff of Pottingham and Higgins losing out to Peter Lines, both players look woefully short of form at the minute. In the final, well I think it started at 5-3 to Fu, Carter came out firing and knocked in consecutive centuries in great style, from then on Fu never seemed to recover missing a hat full of chances and allowing Carter to take victory with relative ease, his third ranking event in total and who's to say he can't follow up at the Welsh Open next week?
Ali Carter might not have been the first name on most peoples list when it came to picking a winner, likewise Marco Fu as a potential finalist. But is you look at their respective form Carter's run to the UK semi, where it has to be said he should have reached the final and Fu reaching the Australian Open semi and International quarter, both are also former ranking event winners. There were a number of upsets though most notably young Mr. Trump losing to the Sheriff of Pottingham and Higgins losing out to Peter Lines, both players look woefully short of form at the minute. In the final, well I think it started at 5-3 to Fu, Carter came out firing and knocked in consecutive centuries in great style, from then on Fu never seemed to recover missing a hat full of chances and allowing Carter to take victory with relative ease, his third ranking event in total and who's to say he can't follow up at the Welsh Open next week?
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
32,000 carat Gould
Well the Shoot Out is over for another year, time to review how it went. Starting with the venue, well its in Blackpool which is no big surprise with organisers trying to bring a bit of the party atmosphere to the game. Seemed to work well for the most part although why there is a need for walk on girls I have no idea, they only walk about three yards then disappear into the night almost immediately! Most of the players seem to embrace the event although if you've been following Mr. Williams on that twitter machine you'll know not all are overly enthused.
One thing that did hamper the viewing experience for those watching on sky was the at times uncomfortable response to the crowd of some of the commentators when they 'got out of hand' - You can't have it both ways. The actual standard of snooker was somewhat impaired by the shot clock with some lets say unusual shot selection at times. Selby's century was a particular highlight as was the Allen v Maguire semi, a fixture which you wouldn't be disappointed to grace any ranking event final. You can take nothing away from the victorious Martin Gould though who played superbly throughout, still can't work out how he sights a ball in those glasses though, but the man certainly has composure in abundance.
One slight downside perhaps was the absence of Messrs Trump and Robertson two real stars which the crowd would no doubt have liked to see in action, nevertheless the absence of some of the more established players allowed some of the lower ranked to take centre stage, the real highlight for me though was the sight of Dave Harold trotting around the table, reminded me of a young Steve Cram, marvellous stuff.
One thing that did hamper the viewing experience for those watching on sky was the at times uncomfortable response to the crowd of some of the commentators when they 'got out of hand' - You can't have it both ways. The actual standard of snooker was somewhat impaired by the shot clock with some lets say unusual shot selection at times. Selby's century was a particular highlight as was the Allen v Maguire semi, a fixture which you wouldn't be disappointed to grace any ranking event final. You can take nothing away from the victorious Martin Gould though who played superbly throughout, still can't work out how he sights a ball in those glasses though, but the man certainly has composure in abundance.
One slight downside perhaps was the absence of Messrs Trump and Robertson two real stars which the crowd would no doubt have liked to see in action, nevertheless the absence of some of the more established players allowed some of the lower ranked to take centre stage, the real highlight for me though was the sight of Dave Harold trotting around the table, reminded me of a young Steve Cram, marvellous stuff.
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