Action from day 1 of the 2017 Betfred World Snooker Championships

Day one of the 2017 championship seemed to rattle through so quickly - Mark Selby and Stephen Maguire emerged as 10-2 winners over Fergal O'Brien and Anthony McGill respectively and so Dennis Taylor came out around 8:30pm to entertain the crowds with some trick shots.

 Defending Champion Mark Selby walks out to start the matches on day 1.

 Fergal O'Brien in his match against Mark Selby.

 Mark Selby at the table.

 Stephen Maguire in his first round match against Anthony McGill

 Anthony McGill breaks off

 Mark Selby breaks off at the start of the evening session 8-1 ahead

 Referee Jan Verhaas checks the re-spotting of the white ball after a foul

Last snooker blog entry for a while - honest!

It's all over for another year, the Crucible is being put back together as a theatre.  All we have is lots of memories from the last 18 days - 17 days of competition and the press day that preceded the competition.

For the press day, we were given the opportunity to photograph the top 16 players with the trophy outside the Crucible.  In the end 14 turned up in time for the photo, though Judd Trump and Neil Robertson did make it 5 minutes later for the press conference.  And they all graciously signed a mount frame for the occasion - my best reminder of the 40th playing of the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield.

2016 World Snooker Championships - the last evening

A few pictures from the evening of the last day of the 2016 World Snooker Championships.

 Mark Holmshaw, Barry Hearn and Richard Caborn

Kell Brook and Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Councillor Talib Hussain

 Jason Ferguson, WPBSA Chairman, and Julie Dore, leader of Sheffield City Council

 Referee Paul Collier

 Ding Junhui makes his entrance

 Closely followed by Mark Selby

 A few frames later, and Leicester have two reasons to celebrate

World Snooker Championship - Mark Selby beats Ding Junhui

World number one Mark Selby from England beat China's Ding Junhui 18-14 at the Crucible Theatre to win his second World Championship title.  

Selby lead 14-11 going into the final session in the best-of-35 match.  Ding, bidding to become the first Asian player to win the world title, claimed three frames in a row to take it to 16-14.

But Selby pulled out the stops and made it a double celebration for Leicester on the night.

 Mark Selby waves to his family after winning the 32nd and deciding frame.

 Ding Junhui receives the silver medal from Fred Done, watched by Steve Davis.

 Mark Selby with the trophy and confetti.

 Fred Done, Mark Selby and Steve Davis.

 Mark Selby and family.

Ding Junhui reaches the final of the World Snooker Championships

On a day when Mark Selby and Marco Fu played out the longest frame in Crucible history and so delayed the deciding afternoon session between Ding Junhui and Alan McManus, it was Ding who settled the best.

Resuming at 14-10 up in the best-of-33 match, Ding Junhui became the first Asian player to reach the World Championship Snooker final with a 17-11 victory. In doing so, his seven century breaks was a record for the most centuries in a Crucible match, previously held by Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry.

Coming into the tournament as ranked #17 Ding, along with Alan McManus, had to go through three qualifying matches, and becomes the first Asian player to reach the final of the World Snooker Championships.

 Alan McManus breaks off in frame #25.

 Both players stand away from the table and think about the options.

 Referee Olivier Marteel, Ding Junhui and Alan McManus contemplate the table.

Frame 26, Ding looks for the snooker on the pink but McManus comes back to win it and make it 15-11 at that point.