International Championship Chengdu China Oct 26 to Nov 2

[tariq]

Any live stream links? Eurosport seem to have car racing when snooker is listed???

[Odrl]

Any live stream links? Eurosport seem to have car racing when snooker is listed???

http://www.sportingvideo.tv/20141025...10-927359.html

Watching Xiao-Milkins here, because Eurosport for some reason thinks Fu-Lawler is the more interesting match. :smile:

[tariq]

Thanks for the link, yeah this Lawler match is borderline depressing even the crowd have disappeared!

[Odrl]

I don't know what it was like up to 2-2, but after the interval it wasn't really great stuff. Milkins took a 5-2 lead, needing a bunch of chances. After that Xiao started playing a bit, but couldn't quite force the decider. Back to Fu-Lawler then... :smile:

[robertmac]

Many big names are out and my fave players
are among them. Ding who didnt qualify and
Robertson and Trump.
Milkins and Lawlor are not interesting to watch
but those are the matches showing. Better matches
will start within the hour.

[Odrl]

No interest in snooker today? :smile:

Pretty comfortable win for O'Sullivan, after Li Hang failed to take a couple of his early chances. O'Sullivan plays Mark Williams next, so he is a strong favourite to reach the semi-finals now. I enjoyed the second half of Bingham-Allen as well. It went pretty scrappy for a couple of frames, but Allen finished very well, with two centuries in the last three frames. A bit of payback for that Shanghai final, but it will mean very little if his run ends in the quarter-finals. :smile:

[Looki]

A nice day of snooker today. The choices for the TV tables in the morning weren't the one's I fancied but luckily live scoring is always there. William-Baird match seemed were interesting, would've been perfect for the telly I think.

[itsnoteasy]

In what sense? Phones and cameras going off or no one in attendance?

I don't know how many people have to gather before its classed as a crowd, but I would be surprised if there was enough at that match to qualify.
If the future of snooker is in China, it doesn't look in good hands from this evidence.

[robertmac]

Here are the remaining matches.

Quarter-finals:
Robert Milkins v Marco Fu
Michael White v Mark Allen
Mark Williams v Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ricky Walden v Jamie Burnett

I would pick Fu, Allen, O'Sullivan and Walden.

[gettingbetter]

James Wade beat Phil Taylor two weeks ago in the World Grand Prix after losing to him 19 or 20 times in a row.

O'Sullivan has beaten Mark Williams the last 16 time in matches that have been more than seven frames. Hopefully that changes.

[Byrom]

Well i am going Williams Fu Mark Allen and Walden -

People are writing him off but I would love to see Williams regain some old form just for one or two more events - I remember for a season or two - he was such a talent - totally unplayable - his game back then really was a thing of beauty.

[robertmac]

I would also like to see Williams win as he has
such talent indeed yet his temperment seems
to get in his way. I hope its a close match.

[gettingbetter]

Well i am going Williams Fu Mark Allen and Walden -

People are writing him off but I would love to see Williams regain some old form just for one or two more events - I remember for a season or two - he was such a talent - totally unplayable - his game back then really was a thing of beauty.

I don't think anyone is writing him off, but even though snooker isn't a high impact sport, being aged 39 isn't going to help.

He did have good run in the early 2000s and between 2010 and 2011. I wonder if those final frame losses to Higgns (2010 - UK), Bingham (2011 - Australian Goldfields) and Selby (2011 - Shanghai Masters) have had an impact on him.

[rich45]

Really enjoying this tournament, and it is rare but I actually like all the remaining players (now that Milkins has polished off Fu). Hoping for a Ronnie victory but will be happy with any of the other attacking players lifting the trophy. Going to enjoy the next few days

[Odrl]

Very good match this morning. A couple of mistakes from both players, but punished pretty heavily, and a good break from Milkins in the decider. Can he finally reach his first major final now? :smile:

Looking forward to O'Sullivan-Williams as well, although unfortunately a recording later on in the afternoon for me. Obviously O'Sullivan is a big favourite, considering their head-to-head, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a one-sided match. They've had some really good ones in the last decade, particularly in the 2008 and 2010 World Championships, as well as the 2010 Masters. I also enjoyed their quarter-final in the 2008 Shanghai Masters, where Williams didn't really do much wrong, but still lost. That's the thing in these matches... either Williams is a little off his game and O'Sullivan just dominates the match, or Williams plays really well only for O'Sullivan to play out of his skin and still beat him. :smile:

You could say the head-to-head makes sense, as Williams has had long periods of mediocrity in the last decade and was losing to most top players, and that's true to some extent. But even when Williams was playing the better snooker of the two, around 2010 or so, he was still losing to O'Sullivan.

Hopefully a good match this time, but as I said, I will have to watch it later. :smile: