Action from Day 4 of the Betfred Snooker World Championship 2017

Another busy day at the Crucible...different for me as I was back at the day job and also needing to cover the evening session of the UK Swimming Championships at Ponds Forge....

Last year's runner-up Ding Junhui overcame Crucible debutant Zhou Yuelong 10-5

 Zhou Yuelong in the press conference after the match

  Ding Junhui in the press conference after the match

Judd Trump who started his match against Rory McLeod by winning the first four frames, seen here playing in the eigth frame which then tied the match at 4-4.

 Referee Olivier Marteel

On table 1, Liang Wenbo ran out 10-7 winner against Stuart Carrington

The 'green carpet' at the 2017 Betfred Snooker World Championships

To mark the 40th anniversary of the World Snooker Championships being held at the Crucible in Sheffield, the green carpet was rolled out to welcome players past and present to a special 40th Anniversary show at the theatre that has been 'home' to snooker since 1977.

 Ray Reardon and Terry Griffiths

 Dennis Taylor and Cliff Thorburn

 Ken Doherty and Steve Davis

 Stephen Hendry

 Ryan Day and Xiao Guodong

 Ryan Day

 Anthony McGill and Stephen Maguire

 Ronnie O'Sullivan and (in the background) Gary Wilson

 Jimmy Robertson and Mark Allen

 Ali Carter and Graeme Dott

Noppon Saengkham and Neil Robertson

 Luca Brecel (doing a good job of keeping Marco Fu hidden behind him)

 Barry Hawkins and Tom Ford

 John Higgins and Martin Gould

 Yan Bingtao and Shaun Murphy

 Zhou Yuelong and Ding Junhui

 A selfie with Ding Junhui

 Stuart Bingham and Peter Ebdon

 Judd Trump and Rory McLeod

 Mark Selby and Fergal O'Brien

Watching snooker at The Crucible - Richard Bean's "The Nap"

Sheffield's Crucible Theatre - home of the World Snooker Championship since 1977 - is an actual theatre throughout the rest of the year.  So it was no leap of imagination to stage a play about snooker at the cathedral of snooker - perhaps the only surprise is that it has taken so long.  The joy is that it has definitely been worth the wait.

Jack O'Connell shines as the local lad who comes good, despite the best intentions of his dad, Mark Addy.  Louise Gold almost steals the show as the sex-change gangster and Ralf Little out does BBC snooker pundit Rob Walker in his hyped-up presenter role to complement his hapless agent.  It works on local jokes and fruity language which has many laugh-out-loud moments for the audience.

Snooker at The Crucible, not in the sporting sense...

Richard Wilson has directed a hoot which deserves a good run and perhaps even a transformation to a TV play to reach a wider audience.

2015 - a year in review

As the year starts to draw to a close it's time to look back on another great year for sporting photography.

The year usually starts off with a host of indoor athletics meetings, culminating in the UK Indoor Athletics Championships (http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/british-athletics-series/indoor-british-championships/) at the EIS in Sheffield where Katarina Johnson-Thompson set a new UK record for the high jump of 1.97m:

As Spring really starts to get going, Sheffield hosts the Snooker World Championships (http://www.worldsnooker.com/) over 17 days at the Crucible theatre.  Ronnie O'Sullivan again was a main focus of attention and, having missed all of his noteworthy antics this year (taking his shoes off, putting the chalk on the table, hitting the table with his cue...) it was good to see Stuart Bingham come good and claim the title:

Manchester hosts one of the series in the 'Great City Games' (http://www.greatcitygames.org/manchester) where athletics comes out of the stadiums and onto the streets.  Jessica Ennis-Hill continued her comeback with a strong performance in the 100m hurdles:

June saw me splash out on a GoPro Hero4 (http://gopro.com/) which has been very impressive it's capabilities for recording video while stuck on the end of a long pole (basketball) and propped up at the base of the water jump (athletics - steeplechase).

Nottingham hosted National Table Tennis day (http://tabletennisengland.co.uk/news/how-will-national-table-tennis-day-inspire-you/) in July and the highlight of this fest was playing a game against Desmond Douglas:

September saw the 10th running of the Great Yorkshire Run (http://www.greatrun.org/great-yorkshire-run) and I was fortunate enough to be asked to be the official photographer for the day which resulted in a double-page spread in Athletics Weekly:

And so the year finishes with Sheffield Sharks (http://www.sharksbasketball.org/) delighting the home crowd at the EIS with a hard-fought 69-66 win over the London Lions:

A brief rest over Christmas and then it's back to it starting 2nd January 2016 with the 'Finish Line' indoor athletics event at the EIS, Sheffield.

All the best to everyone over the festive season and especially for a great year in 2016.

So, farewell Michaela Tabb

Former referee Michaela Tabb's court case against World Snooker has reached a 'confidential accommodation'.

Michaela Tabb after the 2012 World Championship final

She was the first woman to referee in a ranking tournament (2002 Welsh Open) and went on to referee two World Championship finals (2009 and 2012).

She'll be missed on the circuit where she was a popular figure.

Things that take a long time to do....

In 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off on 16th July, spent 21 hours on the moon and splashed down 8 days later.

The Snooker World Championships at the Crucible in Sheffield run over 17 days each year.

The 2012 Olympics in London ran from 27th July to 12th August - 17 days in total.

The 2014 Football World Cup ran from 12th June to 13th July - a total of 32 days......which only just beats the 29 days that it took EE to unlock my Samsung phone.

So, the moral of the story is: we can put a man on the moon, but if you ask EE to do a simple thing, expect it to take a little longer - much longer.

It's over...the Betfred 2015 World Snooker Championship has it's gripping finish!

On a late night at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield, Stuart Bingham finally overcame Shaun Murphy 18-15  to win his first World Championship.

Beginning the session with a  14-11 lead, Murphy started a comeback that, at 15-15, had him the bookies favourite.  The 31st frame was an epic 63 minute 31 seconds long but Bingham eventually took it to close in on victory.

He made a steady break of 65 to go 17-15 in front and clinched the title with a brilliant 88.   In doing so, he became the oldest champion since 45 year old Ray Reardon in 1978.

Collecting £300,000 as the winner, he should rise from tenth to second in the world rankings.

 Stuart Bingham salutes the crowd who had cheered him on both days of the final.

 It had been a good final, enjoyed by both players who were genuine in their respect of each other.

 Barry Hearn, who has done so much in the last five years to turn around world snooker, and Kell Brook (IBF welterweight world champion).

 Fred Done of Betfred who were so welcome back to the Crucible this year.