Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White have already snooker events appeared at Jackson’s and Kyren ‘The Warrior’ Wilson will be there on Saturday.
Wilson is a four-time ranking event winner and has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, reaching the final at the 2018 Masters and the 2020 World Snooker Championship.
The 30-year-old, who lives in Kettering, is offering a special prize – one member of the audience can win a one-hour practice session with him on his personal table in Northampton.
Everyone who buys a ticket will be included in the draw to win the practice session.
Referee for the evening will be Patricia Murphy, who made a name for herself on the professional snooker tour and currently officiates professional pool and snooker exhibitions.
Tickets are still available for the special event at Jackson’s – doors will open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start.
Tickets cost £40 and are available by emailing [email protected] or by calling 01664 500041.
Matchroom Boxing Was “nearly Finished” Until Chris Eubank Saved Them
Former Matchroom chief Barry Hearn revealed the boxing, snooker, and darts promotion company was “nearly finished” before Chris Eubank burst onto the scene.
Hearn was the promotional driver of the former WBO middleweight champion’s legendary bouts with Nigel Benn in the 1990s. The pair enjoyed a hugely successful period alongside each other, including a spectacular five-year reign between 1990 and 1995 that saw them simultaneously hold WBO titles in the middleweight and super-middleweight divisions.
The eccentric fighter, who once claimed to have a “granite” chin, retired with a phenomenal record of 45 victories, 23 knockouts, five losses, and two draws. And Hearn admitted Eubank proved to be a huge catalyst for Matchroom’s enormous success as they were teetering on the edge of extinction.Read More Related Articles Read More Related Articles
“Well it has to be Chris Eubank, obviously,” Hearn said in an interview with JOE, when asked who the best fighter he has ever managed was. “We had near 20 world title defences and we came from nothing.
“The recession of the late 80s nearly finished Matchroom. We were losing a lot of money, and then along came Sky and Chris Eubank.
“So God smiled on me as he always does, and I somehow got out of all the problems and produced a company that is now one of the global leaders in sport.” As well as his devastating power and phenomenal capacity to take one huge punch after another, Eubank’s eccentric personality made him a “promoter’s dream”.
Do you think Eddie Hearn has already surpassed Barry Hearn’s legacy? Let us know in the commentsBarry Hearn says the recession in the 80s almost finished off Matchroom
And Hearn could not contain his smiles and laughter when he was asked about Eubank’s natural propensity to attract huge crowds and sell tickets. “The great thing about Eubank is, you have to remember, in boxing the fighters sell a lot of tickets and, you know, they get more appealing to promoters the more tickets they sell,” Hearn added.
“But Eubank was having none of that, I said to him ‘how many tickets do you want for your first fight’ and he looked at me with disdain. “He said, ‘I am the fighter, I am the warrior, I don’t sell tickets. You’re the promoter, you sell the tickets’.
“It seemed to make sense, he never sold any tickets, but his image sold out venues. Whether you loved him or hated him, you were never going to ignore a Eubank fight. He was just a wonderful promoter in his own right.”Read More Related Articles Read More Related Articles
Snooker Great Ronnie O’Sullivan Opens Academy In Singapore
Snooker great Ronnie O’Sullivan (left) imparting a few snooker tips to Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth. (PHOTO: Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy)
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.
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“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.
(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)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.
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