India Open Mar 10-14, 2015

[robertmac]

This tournament should be interesting to see
if the fans come out and support snooker. I
believe they will but time will tell.

Maybe this will be the tournament where Trump
puts it all together and finally wins.

There should be some great snooker played.

[dedaas]

I'd like to see Mehta get far again!

I'd predict Trump to win it, with either Mehta or Higgins in the final. Without Robertson, Selby, Murphy present it should be possible!

[robertmac]

World Snooker posted Feb 9th that it will provide live streaming
of this ranking tournament. Thats great news and hopefully it will
be covered by other service providers.

The time difference there is 9.5 hours which can make for some
difficult viewing here in Ottawa.

http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/New...204252,00.html

[robertmac]

There is no television coverage outside India but the event
is streamed live on liveworldsnooker.tv and associated betting
websites.

This was posted on Inside Snooker.

[Odrl]

There are a lot of people who are really excited about the Indian Open and looking forward to it.
Please dont rain on our parade. :upset:

We had this little discussion back in September, after the Shanghai Masters ended. I'm sure most people know my feelings about the Indian Open by now, so I will do my best not to "rain on anyone's parade", but I would just like to say a few words anyway...

I don't know exactly when I first started watching snooker, but I have always found it fascinating, right from the first time I saw it. I didn't really know when the tournaments were on, so I would just came across it randomly on TV, and there always seemed to be something interesting happening, so I rarely switched the channel. Eventually I started watching the tournaments systematically, from start to finish, and I can honestly say I haven't missed a single major event in the last ten years. Unfortunately there aren't that many people interested in snooker over here, or at least there weren't back then, so it was nice to come across a forum full of people who are as excited about snooker as I am, and we've had some great discussions over the years. :smile:

Somewhere along the line I've developed a little routine before every tournament. I make a draw and stick it onto my living room door, then update it after each match is played, so it's a real "snooker week" whenever major tournaments are on. I also like to have a little look at who might reach the business end, usually boring the people around me with my over-analysis. That's why I prefer to just write it down and post it somewhere where people are actually interested. I've done it for almost every major event since 2008 now, with only a few exceptions. The 2010 World Open was one of them, partly because it had a random draw, so it was pointless to try to guess what would happen past the 1st round, and partly because I felt the format of the tournament was disgraceful, awarding major ranking points for what was essentially a best-of-5 lottery. Luckily that was the first and last event ever staged under that format, but unfortunately the Indian Open shares a lot of its shortcomings.

The term "ranking event" is a little obsolete these days, or at least the way we use it is technically wrong, since most events count towards the rankings now, from the World Championship right down to a PTC somewhere in China. When we say a player has won three ranking events in his career, what we actually have in mind is the kind of tournament ranking events used to be like, matches of at least medium length with a two-session final. And this is also what most people want to see. Snooker fans have repeatedly expressed their preference for the longer matches, on every poll and every snooker forum I've ever come across, and we have repeatedly spoken against the shortening of matches, so I can't help but feel a little annoyed when these things happen.

One of the (very few) unpleasant characters on this forum once described me as someone who was afraid of change, afraid that life would pass me by and leave me behind, or words to that effect. I suppose that could very well be true, but I think these changes are worth fighting against. You can call me a dinosaur if you like, or a traditionalist if you are a bit more polite, but either way, the label is a little absurd for someone who hasn't been watching snooker all that long, even if it does feel like forever. I think the history of the game is important and I am afraid it gets devalued every time an event like this is staged. One of the most incredible weeks of snooker I've ever seen was the 2007 Welsh Open, when Andrew Higginson came all the way from the first qualifying round to reach the final, beating the likes of Higgins and Maguire on his way, before losing 9-8 to Neil Robertson in the final. He even made a 147 to make it even more special. It was the finest hour of his career and probably the best week of his life, but as far as history is concerned, Aditya Mehta's achievement in India last season is worth just as much, and I think that's a travesty. Stuart Pettman famously said in an interview that he didn't think anyone would remember him after he retired, but he too had his 15 minutes of fame, when he reached the semi-finals of the 2009 China Open, beating Mark Allen, Ali Carter and Graeme Dott at the venue. Robbie Williams reached the semi-finals in India last season, with a walkover against Kyren Wilson and wins over Higginson, Dunn and McGill. I have nothing against Williams, well done to him for that run, but it just doesn't compare to Pettman's achievement. The flat draw format has changed things dramatically in snooker, and the lower-ranked players can now avoid the top seeds with a bit of luck, so runs like that are more common, but the best-of-7 format really takes away most of the prestige from that achievement. As far as I'm concerned, the Indian Open is a glorified PTC and not really on par with the ranking events we used to know.

The thing I love about snooker is that no two frames are the same. Here in Slovenia they shove alpine skiing down our throats all winter and I've never understood the appeal of it. Perhaps that's my loss. The way I see it, it's basically a number of people taking the exact same line down the same hill, and the best finish within fractions of a second of each other, so what is there to see? You can look at the results afterwards and get a pretty good picture of what happened, whereas in snooker you have no idea, you just have to watch it. :smile: It's a game of immense diversity, you get one-visit exchanges, great safety battles, maximum breaks, exhibitions shots, or nervy deciders with lots of misses which, ironically, is what people usually enjoy the most. It's funny, snooker is a turn-based game with no real interaction between the two players, and the balls only move for a short time, whereas you are mostly watching the "static" position. It's essentially a fairly slow-paced game, but it's those moments between shots that really build up the tension, and the hushed atmosphere just adds to it. Snooker is not everyone's cup of tea, an acquired taste in many ways, but it's easy to see why so many people love it.

I've always loved the image of snooker, with its dress code and gentlemanly conduct, and I'm a big fan of sports and other things with a strong tactical element, as well as contests where winning and losing doesn't come down to physical force. For me, as a viewer, it's all about the story being told, and snooker is the tool that makes it happen. But you have to give it a chance, otherwise the story won't be an epic one, and I think the short matches don't really give snooker a chance, especially when a ranking title is supposedly at stake. I love all the mind games and the momentum shifts of the longer matches, as do most people I suspect, and it's no wonder that most classic matches that have survived in people's memories over the years have been the longer ones. I am probably a fairly negative person in general, but I'd like to think I see snooker more positively than most. I've defended the players who get attacked all the time for no good reason, I've enjoyed a lot of matches people have described as boring, and I've never really felt the need to concentrate on the things I dislike about snooker, like some people do, but this is an exception. I do not like the Indian Open, I hope it either joins the PTC series or gets upgraded to a proper format if it must remain on the calendar as a ranking event. I will watch some matches when I have nothing better to do, but for me this is not a snooker week, so there won't be any preview either. :wink:

I promised not to spread any more negativism, so this is the one and only post on this subject. If you are looking forward to this event, I wish you a good week and I look forward to discussing the upcoming tournaments with you. :smile:

[Chappy5]

Is there any streams for this besides the official world snooker site?

Australia are not allowed to stream it from that site and the usual ones are not streaming it at all.

Surely there is someone out there streaming this.

[Neil Taperell]

Marco Fu hasn't made the trip i see .

[robertmac]

The video from World Snooker is not real clear and
the camera angles are not the best. Disappointing.
I agree that the best of 7 is far from ideal and some
players can get much easier draws. The new format
is not the best in my opinion.

[Mr Snooker]

I can't to find any live streams for this event, does anybody know of any local Indian streams that maybe showing the event or even the local Indian TV Sports channel fro where the event is been played

[Mr Snooker]

Great Final Frame For Ben Woollaston against Yu Delu, Yu Delu makes a break of 67 to leave 67 points on the table and lead by 67. Ben Woollaston clears the table with a 67 break of his own to force a re-spotted black, Which Yu Delu tries to double but misses it and Ben pots the final re-spotted black into the middle pocket to win the match 4-3 and progress to the last 32 of the event. now that would be a great final frame to see let's hope someone has found it on a streaming site and uploaded it.

[dedaas]

The quality overall is not to write home about.. commentary, sound, camera angle. It's better than nothing I guess.

[robertmac]

The overall quality is indeed poor but yes its better
than nothing.
Trump is 3-0 vs P Lines who is having a bad day.

[robertmac]

They have made some changes as the camera
work is much improved and more like the usual
WS coverage altho not quite there yet.
Trump advances and now its Advani who hopefully
will advance as well.
Ding and Trump do appear to be the favourites.

[tenzin]

Just saw the match between Yu Delu and Ben Woollaston. The Indian channel NDTV is telecasting just 1 and half hour of snooker today. I saw more Chinese in the audience than Indians.

[Chappy5]

How the hell do they expect to promote this event when no one can watch it??

Bet 365 are covering it but you need to be a member to view it and to do that you have to deposit money.

Lucky for me my mate is a Bet 365 customer and i am watching it under his account but like others have said the quality yesterday was terrible. Today the Stream is not even going and has broken.

How this event is a world ranking tournament is beyond me and even Eurosport have snubbed it along with 70% of the worlds Top 15 players! lol