Neil Robertson wins Grand Prix

The 24 year old snookerstar from Australia, Neil Robertson won the Grand Prix yesterday. In the final he beat the even younger Jamie Cope (21 year old) from England. Robertson claimes Australias first ranking title ever and hopes his victory will inspire other young players in Australia.

At 8-2 to Robertson it seemed as if Cope just wanted the match to be over. After a lot of uncaracteristic misses from Cope who seemed taken by the moment Robertson advanced from 5-2 to 8-2 without problems. But then a couple of misstakes from Robertson gave Cope the chances and the time at the table he needes and he managed to pull back to 8-5 aganinst a now most nervous Robertson. Though Robertson managed to control his nerves in the next frame to secure victory 9-5.

Roberson said that his 5-1 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan built up his confidence for the rest of the matches. In the interwiev after the match Robertson said it was a good thing the audience weren't placed closer to the table, because if they were he'd probably have nocked a couple of them down with his shaking elbow in the last frames. He also said this has been the best week of his life! Robertson said he has been training hard for this event training at least six hours a day, and without visiting the pub or drinking a beer for the last month - the following week he has other plans. Now his going to relax and enjoy his victory!

For the resluts in the semi- and quarter finals see here: Globalsnookercentre.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Joe Perry dominates the group stages

Yesterday evening the group stages were finished and the field is now down to 16 players. Even though the short matches and the group stages format is most exciting for the audiance - the disadvantages of the format became obvious in i e the match Ding Junhui vs Joe Perry - where Junhui were out of the tournament if Perry won one frame (Junhui didn't seem to excited to be there after Perry won the first frame...).

The most impressive performance in the group stages came from Ronnie O'Sullivan and Joe Perry. O'Sullivan won all his 5 matches in his group looking most confident and in great form. Joe Perry lost only one of five matches in his group - Stephen Maguire (3-1), Ding Junhui (3-0), Mark Allen (3-0), Andrew Norman (3-0), Graeme Dott (2-3).

Stephen Hendry, Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy failed to advance from the group stages.

Here are the matches in the next round:

ALAN McMANUS Winner Group 2A - MARK SELBY Runner up Group 2E

RYAN DAY Winner Group 2B - IAN McCulloch Runner Up Group 2F

RONNIE O'SULLIVAN Winner Group 2C - DAVID GRAY Runner Up Group 2G

NEIL ROBERTSON Winner Group 2D - ANDREW NORMAN Runner Up Group H

MATTHEW STEVENS Winner Group E - JOHN HIGGINS Runner Up Group A

STEPHEN LEE Winner Group F - MARK KING Runner Up Group B

ROBERT MILKINS Winner Group G - JAMIE COPE Runner Up Group C

JOE PERRY Winner Group H - KEN DOHERTY Runner Up Group D

Follow the results on www.worldsnooker.com, bbc sport, or on globalsnookercentre.

Royal London Watches Grand Prix - snookertournament in Aberdeen

The group stages of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix is now running. In the first round of the groupstages Ronnie O'Sullivan won over Steve Davis 3-1, John Higgins beat James Wattana 3-0, and Graeme Dott (world champion) lost against Ding Junhui 0-3. Read more about the results of the group stage matches at worldsnooker o

You can follow the tournament live and read more about the results at www.worldsnooker.com or on bbc sport.

Young snookergenious Paul Hunter is dead

It's tragic having to inform you that 27 year old snookerplayer Paul Hunter died from cancer this
monday evening. He was one of the best young snookerplayer in the world steadily raising in the ranking lists until he started with cancer treatment last year.

Hunter was also a most appreciated player both of the audience and the other players. A determined and talented player who if he would have stayed healty probably would have become an embassy world champion.

Regards to his wife Lindsey and his baby daughter Evie Rose.

Read more:
sportinglife.com
BBC Sport

Jonni Fulcher wins Swiss Open 2006

The swiss player Jonni Fulcher won this weekends eurotour event Swiss Open. Congratulations!

He won it by beating the maltese sooker star Tony Drago 10-8 in the final. In the semifinal he won over Dejan Dabovic from Austria (10-7). Tony drago won in his semifinal against Francesco Diaz.

A lot of top players fell in the earlier rounds. Such as Oliver Ortmann, Ralf Souquet, David Alcaide, Nick van den Berg, Niels Feijen and Thomas Engert.