Ronnie’s new book and first crime novel will be out next week, on November 17 and he has been promoting it these last days … he knows how to treat his editors . They got some of the very best cakes in town!
Let’s hope the book is as good as the cakes! Anyway, I’m VERY curious.
Thanks to krdrl for pointing this one to me, and now Ronnie has shared it on his Facebook as well. Enjoy!
Before the event Ronnie said that he was going to help the sponsor to promote snooker in Daqing as well as playing in the tournament. Indeed he is still in China, and with Steve Davis has been doing press conferences, fans meet and greet and snooker exhibitions over the last two days. Here are some pictures posted on twitter and weibo by Jason Francis, Mike Dunn and the Chinese media.
Also on weibo I found these pictures, that are obviously screen captures. earlier this week, Liang Webo had an interview with Ronnie and those images are very likely from the broadcast by CCTV5 of this interview, today. They were obviously discussing Liang’s first ranking title at the English Open 2016.
This article has been published today in the Chinese media
Snooker superstars donate to Chinese welfare
By Chen Boyuan
China.org.cn, October 21, 2016
Ronnie O’Sullivan confirms his attendance in the snooker International Championship 2016 on Oct. 20, 2016 in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]
International snooker superstars, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Stephen Maguire, alongside top local players Liang Wenbo and Marco Fu, donated billiards facilities to an art school for Tibetan orphans in the suburb of Beijing on Thursday.
The donation from these elite players supports the effort to promote billiards-related social welfare in China under the plan of a newly established Billiards Fund program operated under the prestigious China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF).
English snooker player O’Sullivan donated three million yuan (US$444,868) to the fund which is jointly initiated by China Television Sports and Entertainment Company (CTSE), which operates China Central Television’s CCTV 5 sports channel and Guoyu Media in the city of Daqing.
O’Sullivan encouraged Tibetan students to succeed in life despite their difficulties. He was later joined by Higgins, Maguire and Liang to stage exhibition matches for the students while teaching them basic snooker skills.
O’Sullivan also confirmed his participation in the upcoming snooker International Championship 2016, and took the chance to explain that his absence in the tournament last year was due to personal “fatigue issues,” adding that the China tournament was not the only one he skipped last year. He will also serve as a consultant to help with the tournament’s promotion, according to a statement.
The International Championship in China is one of the most prestigious world ranking events. It immediately became the richest snooker tournament ever staged outside the United Kingdom when it was introduced in 2012 with a top prize of 125,000 British pounds.
Judd Trump won the inaugural title in the city of Chengdu. Home favorite Ding Junhui then won it in 2013, followed by Ricky Walden in 2014. In 2015, the event moved to Daqing for the first time and was won by John Higgins.
Apart from the abovementioned players that made the charity trip, Trump, Neil Robertson, and the current world No. 1 Mark Selby, as well as over 10 Chinese players have confirmed their attendance for the tournament to be held in Daqing from Oct. 23 to 30.
Ronnie arrived yesterday in China and the least we can say is that he’s been kept very busy!
He was welcomed by LE TV, a major sport channel at their headquarters but from what I understood from weibo, it was a lot about music. He met the fans, signed autographs and did a bit of coaching too …
He also took part in the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation Billiards Charity Fund launch ceremony, held in one of Soong Ching Ling former residences in Beijing. WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson was present as well.
Of course Ronnie is in China primarily for the International Championship 2016 and he is due to do some work for the sponsor as well as playing. The tournament starts on Sunday and Ronnie’s first match, a last 64 against Xia Guodong, is scheduled on Monday evening (local time, hence afternoon in Europe).
Pictures source: weibo.
Ronnie personally donated 300 000$ to the Charity fund.
and he shared this on weibo:
Very proud day announcing my work with the Soong Ching Ling foundation
NO, it’s not about Ronnie, no he hasn’t withdrawn from the International Championship … in fact he’s already in China where he was made very welcome
and even played some snooker it seems, in a very nice club.
So, no, the bad news is about youtube and specifically snooker videos on youtube.
You may have seen that most of the matches videos I embedded on this site are now – again – disabled. This is because Eurosport has claimed that (at least) two of the main accounts that were offering snooker videos, Snooker Planet and Snooker For All, are violating their rights and asked for them to be taken down.
Now, whilst it is true that those videos were made and published without their permission, it is also true that those channels were providing a service that Eurosport DOES NOT provide, a library and archive service and I fail to see how their existence is hurting their business.
OK, some persons will be happy to watch the matches with a few hours delay for free, rather than pay for the ES player, or Eurosport, and watch them live. But true fans will want to watch them live whenever they get the opportunity and will pay for the player and/or Eurosport. For the record I pay for both.
On the other hand, even the most dedicated fan can’t always watch every match live, some times life comes in the way of snooker. For instance, last week, I was in SWSA in Gloucester, promoting snooker by taking and publishing pictures of the Open Disability Snooker Championship 2016 and I watched the English Open on youtube, later in evenings, or the next morning. In the future I may be forced to chose between promoting the sport I love and watching it. Not happy! Also, when it comes to television, depending on you region Eurosoport might not show the snooker even when it’s on, the quality of commentary is sometimes very poor (it is terrible in French for instance) and they might not show the punditry or show only part of it with a very annoying voice over…
Moreover, people new to the game and interested in its history appreciate to watch matches from the past. An archive and library service contributes to build an educated fan base for the sport, a fan base that in turn will be ready to pay to watch their sport of choice in high quality and when it’s actually happening . The guys behind those channels were providing it for free, and Eurosport is not providing it at all. If all snooker videos were to disappear from youtube, new fans would never have the opportunity to watch the likes of Alex Higgins, Steve Davis or Stephen Hendry in action, except in the odd snippet during an MSI or the rare documentary.
I don’t think snooker is the winner here, nor do I think it’s a smart move commercially, image rights or not. I don’t believe they lose many customers because of such channels, in fact I believe those channels contribute to bring new people to the sport actually.
I want to insist that the above is my opinion and mine ONLY
As for the disabled videos, I will leave the links there for now, and try to find replacements for as many as them as I can … until they are clamped on again …
This summer Ronnie went to the US to film a documentary for History Channel
Here is the trailer for “The Hustler” on Facebook
Enjoy!
Ronnie O'Sullivan 