Posts tagged Mark Allen

Trump triumphant in Group Three of Championship League

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748 days
by in Uncategorized

Judd Trump, the 2009 Championship League winner, moved a step closer to a return to the Premier League Snooker competition by winning Group Three of 2010’s Championship League, last night.

The 20-year-old sealed his place in the winners’ group after defeating Mark Allen, 3-2, in the Group Three play-off final; and also overcame the challenges of Neil Robertson, Marco Fu, Ali Carter and Joe Perry earlier in the session.

Trump had previously failed to qualify from Group One and Two, but he made sure of his place in the winners’ group after beating Carter 3-0 in the play-off semi-final, before a narrow 3-2 win against Allen.

The left-handed player had enjoyed a tremendous start on day one of Group Three, winning all four of his first four matches, and only slipped up against Stephen Hendry on day two of the group.

“I’ve played decently in spells but I probably played better in the first two groups as I’m still missing a few easy balls,” Trump said.

“I enjoy this event, I don’t know what it is about it but I just relax and play well. It’s a good tournament and I like the atmosphere.

“It’s just more quick-fire compared to other competitions and the best-of-five format suits me.”

He now joins Stephen Maguire and John Higgins in the Championship League winners’ group, which is scheduled to take place in the last week of March. The winner of that will be guaranteed a place in the Premier League Snooker competition, and Trump will be keen to get there again after reaching the semi-finals of last year’s tournament.

An exciting and talented youngster, Trump caught the attention of the snooker world in 2004 by hitting a competitive maximum break of 147 aged just 14 years and 208 days. It was a remarkable achievement made all the more exciting by the fact he had broken Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record set in 1991.

Since then, the Bristolian – nicknamed Haircut 100 because of his boyband hairstyle – has continued to progress at a fast pace, and is expected to be a major challenger for the big prizes in the sport before too long.

Rob Swan

Angry Allen must focus his aggression

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760 days
by in Uncategorized

There has been a lot of buzz around 23-year-old Mark Allen from Northern Ireland lately. This young, upcoming star became professional only four years ago and despite his age,

Allen has already had a very impressive career. He is currently number 11th in the world rankings and on his record you’ll find a last 16 placement in the World Championship, a semi-final in the Northern Ireland Trophy, a quarter-final in the China Open and a victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan that took him to the quarter-finals in the World Championship. With all of the above and a Jiangsu Classic victory to boot, Allen has every reason to be proud.

But this natural-born talent has had some serious mood issues in the past. The Northern Ireland team banned him from the Pontin’s for banging his cue, hitting the table and behaving rudely to other people. In the 2007 Aberdeen Grand Prix, Allen took out his anger on the snooker table again.

He was warned by the referee but replied with cuss words which in turn resulted in Ken Doherty calling him “a disgrace” after the match. Doherty was later blamed for being a bad loser by Allen since he had recently lost to him.

But let’s hope Allen doesn’t forget that snooker is a gentleman’s sport. Temper tantrums are probably looked upon more seriously in snooker than in other sports and can lead to tournament bans. Besides, they might affect the game negatively.

After all, big snooker stars like Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis always seemed to be able to maintain their composure throughout the most trying situations. If Allen can learn from the legends, he might be able to reach his full potential. If he can avoid future bans, who knows how far he can go?

Watch out for Allen in the 2010 Masters. Last year he made it all the way from the wildcard position to the quarter-final. This time around he’s in the top 16 and is therefore automatically qualified for the tournament. His first match will be against John Higgins.

The new kid on the baize

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795 days
by in Uncategorized

In a couple of years, Michaela Tabb might not be the only female referee on the pro tour. A new star is rising in the snooker  universe.

Molly Newbold is only 17-years-old and has already refereed five matches at the Masters qualifiers, one of the matches involving Robert Milkins and Barry Pinches.

Tabb is of course Newbold’s biggest idol and role model.  Newbold has the same composed, focused attitude as Tabb and even though she was indeed nervous about the matches, her performance at the event was really impressive. The merits don’t stop there.

Newbold has also refereed exhibition matches with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Mark Allen and supervised a frame where Mark Selby compiled a maximum break.

So what was it that dragged this young girl into the absorbing game of snooker? Well, her interest was sparked thanks to her Dad, who taught her the rules of the game while watching television. For some reason, Newbold wasn’t as interested in playing snooker herself as she was in the refereeing part.

Her biggest goal is to become a full-time snooker referee, even though she has an impressive academic background. We might see this young woman refereeing a World Championship final sooner than we think. Time will tell.

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