25 November 2022 – Sofia

Ronnie and Jimmy entertained a huge crowd yesterday evening in Sofia. Today they will do another one in Plovdiv. Those events are organised by Oleg Velinov and he does a sterling job. Everything ran smoothly yesterday.

It started with the players signing goods and programs in the arena itself.

The match itself was a best-of-9 with a twits or two…

The first frame was in fact played as a “Scotch Doubles”. Each of the pros was paired with a local amateur. Sorry, I don’t know their name. Jimmy’s yesterday’s partner is a really good player. Ronnie played with a young lad, who, maybe, was a bit overawed by the occasion. Anyway, “Team Jimmy” won that frame convincingly. and it counted as 1-0 to Jimmy in the match…

The rest of the match was a rather close and very entertaining affair, Ronnie emerging a 5-4 winner. Both players scored one century. They didn’t refuse many shots as you might imagine 😉

Two of the frames Jimmy won involved very unorthodox shots. In both occasions the white had come to rest touching, or nearly touching, the colour he intended to play. There was not way he could play it without playing a push shot. What to do? Jimmy’s “solution” was to put his cue down, “cut the white” with his hand … and send the colour in a pocket as a result. Under the Bulgarian Exhibition circumstances, this was deemed a legal shot much to the delight of the crowd.

The first part of the match was refereed by Proletina Velichkova, the second part by a young lady whose name I couldn’t get (my hearing is not the best and it was a bit noisy out there before the match!). Both did a great job.

There was a crew filming the match, but I’m not sure if it was for television, probably not given how the players contract works, but there was a big screen in the arena itself and the images have to come from somewhere…

It was a really good night.

Those exhibitions are doing a lot for snooker. Maxime Cassis, the president of the EBSA attended the event and he had brought the president of the Serbian billiards and snooker federation with him. This is how to grow the sport at amateur levels.

Here is a short video shared by Jason

Here are the pictures I took on the night:

26 November 2022 – Plovdiv

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the Plovdiv exhibition.

Ronnie won again, this time by 5-3.

Ronnie, Mink and Zhao Xintong are in Singapore, for the Great Opening of RoSSA, the Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy, as well as some exhibitions. Ronnie will be there for a few days.

I didn’t find much about what exactly happened yesterday, but I did find a lot of pictures, a video and reports in the press

Here is one interview for the Singapore press

Snooker: World champion O’Sullivan aims to revolutionise sport in Asia through Singapore academy

Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan’s visit to Singapore looks set to be a major boost for the sport.

The seven-time world champion and world No. 1 is in town to launch his first Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy (Rossa) at The Grandstand in Bukit Timah and play some exhibition matches with China’s world No. 6 Zhao Xintong, women’s world champion Nutcharut Wongharuthai, Singapore’s Jaden Ong and members of the public.

He will have a hand in developing Rossa’s training curriculum and make more appearances at the academy in the future.

Hoping to leave a legacy and revolutionise and revitalise the sport in Asia, where an estimated 100 million people play it, O’Sullivan said: “I’ve taken enough from the sport. It’s time I give a bit back.”

After having his senses stimulated by a lion dance performance at Rossa on Saturday (June 11), the 46-year-old told The Straits Times how his affection for Asia came about: “Asian players respond to me more. In the UK, everyone just does their own thing and maybe they are a bit shy to share and ask for help.

“But when I go to China, a lot of the Chinese players make me eat with them. We build relationships and I feel like a part of them. We play snooker together and I start to want to show them a few things and it just became closer relationships.”

London-based O’Sullivan is known to be kind and generous with Asian players on the snooker tour and sometimes drops by Victoria’s Snooker Academy in Sheffield to give pointers to players like Zhao, whom he dubbed the “Roger Federer of snooker” and tipped to be a future world champion for his accuracy and smoothness.

Said the 25-year-old, who has two ranking titles: “It’s amazing how I’m now getting tips from my childhood hero, and how he will show up to help us in times of need, even when it comes to issues with travel documents.

“He is a great guy and a great inspiration and I really want to repay his kindness by doing as well as I can.”

Such stories are also why Rossa CEO Gary Tan decided to start the academy with O’Sullivan, and build a professional ecosystem that starts with house rules such as no slippers, no singlets, and no gambling on the premises.

He said: “Discipline, commitment, respect and focus are paramount for us. We want to do the right things, and to do things right. To be the best like Ronnie, you need to have the right approach to the game. Instilling the right values will help create the right culture so players from our academy can have the desired focus and drive to succeed.”

Rossa plans to nurture a base of quality young players and provide them competition opportunities at an Asian amateur circuit and then a professional tour. It also aims to open branches in Thailand and China to build a strong base of players to start an Asian circuit.

Despite feeling a little tired after arriving on Thursday, O’Sullivan proved to be a people’s champion, mingling freely and entertaining all wefie requests, helping to respot balls during a friendly between Zhao and Nutcharut, and giving a quick snooker tutorial to the guest-of-honour, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong.

Mr Tong noted how Rossa is playing a part to take Singapore cuesports to a new level, as it made national pool player Sharik Sayed its first scholar, awarding him free access to practice facilities, a monthly stipend, coaching and mentorship, and sponsoring his overseas tournament participation.

He added: “The opening of Rossa is a vivid example of how private enterprise can contribute to the promotion and development of sport in Singapore.

“Private academies and institutions are key stakeholders that the government will continue to work and partner with to build a strong and vibrant sporting culture in Singapore.“

And this one in Yahoo News:

Snooker great Ronnie O’Sullivan opens academy in Singapore

Chia Han Keong – Editor

SINGAPORE — Seven-time snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan launched his inaugural academy in Singapore on Saturday (11 June), and hopes to launch many more in the region to nurture talents in Asia.

The Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy (RoSSA) is housed in a 16,000 square-foot venue at The Grandstand, with 12 snooker and 16 pool tables. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong graced the opening ceremony with O’Sullivan.

“Rather than start our academy in the United Kingdom, where snooker is already well-established, we feel Asia is the future of the sport,” said the 46-year-old Englishman.

“Singapore, with its strong links to the rest of Asia and its reputation as a global city for events, will serve as a strong springboard for us to launch our plans.”

Widely-regarded as one of the greatest snooker players of all time, O’Sullivan’s seven world titles is a modern-day record he jointly holds with Stephen Hendry.

His accolades do not end there though, as he also holds the records for most career ranking titles (39), maximum breaks (15), century breaks (1,169; no-one else has more than 900), and consecutive World Championship main-draw appearances (30).

Academy to develop strong base, organise competitions

RoSSA will seek to develop a strong base of snooker players, and organise competitions where young talents can hone their skills before taking a stab on the professional circuit. It is planning to hold 23 ranking events in 2022, and another 30 mini-tournaments.

It is also working with Cuesports Singapore (CS) to be recognised as one of the national sports association’s Centres of Excellence (COEs). Currently, the Cuesports Academy at Katong Shopping Centre is the only COE, where young players aged 7 to 16 have been training.

“There are many young talents playing in snooker halls around the region. But many of them find it hard to sustain a living while playing in domestic amateur tournaments,” said RoSSA chief executive officer Gary Tan.

“One of the key targets of RoSSA is to establish a regional amateur circuit which will both provide opportunities for these talents to compete as well as provide a sizeable prize pool for promising players to continue their development.”

To enable promising players to train while they work, RoSSA has provided scholarships to former national snooker player Jaden Ong, 32, and national pool player Sharik Sayed, 34, who is ranked 48th in the world.

RoSSA is hopeful of expanding into the region within the next year, with Thailand the likely next stop for the academy before it looks to expand to China.

O’Sullivan to take part in snooker tournament

As part of the academy’s launch, O’Sullivan will take part in a four-player snooker tournament featuring China’s Zhao “The Cyclone” Xintong, Thailand’s reigning women’s world champion Nutcharut Wongharuthai, and Ong on 18 June.

RoSSA members and the public may also get a chance to take on O’Sullivan in exhibition matches next week.

Here is the video, shared by RoSSA on their Facebook page:

And here another video of Ronnie in action shared by Gappa Gappa

And the pictures I found on social media, mainly Facebook, and mainly shared by RoSSA and the High End Snooker Wanghin and Gappa Gappa who is with Mink in Singapore.

(From left) Snooker great Ronnie O’Sullivan, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong and academy CEO Gary Tan opening the academy at The Grandstand. (PHOTO: Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy)

And here is the schedule for the 4 men’s tournament om 18th of June (shared by RoSSA)

Here’s the schedule for the tournament on the 18th of June!

Session 1: Semi-finals, starting from 12pm

Round 1 (Best of 5) – Zhao Xintong vs Mink

Round 2 (Best of 5) – Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Jaden Ong

Third Place Playoff (Best of 3) – Loser of Round 1 vs Loser of Round 2

Session 2: Final, starting from 5pm

Winner of Round 1 vs Winner of Round 2 (Best of 7)

Who will emerge as Champion? Join us to find out!