2010 Apr 07 Talking Balls: Frustrated Ding, Crazy Wei and Left-out Ross
Local hero Ding Junhui fell at the final hurdle in the 2010 Sanyuan Foods China Open. Mark Williams beat Ding 10-6 after coming from behind to win his first ranking title since 2006. The home crowd were understandably disappointed – their shouts of "Ding, kill him! Finish him!" had no effect on the outcome.
A Chinese journalist asked Ding if he gave up in the final few frames of the match. Ding’s response was "What do you mean by "give up"? Come back after you watch some snooker." He then refused to tell the hack when he would return to England.
CFA supremo Wei Di will forge ahead with his controversial plans to overhaul the traditions of the domestic league to allow the various age groups of Team China to play within it. The plan is that the Under-21s will play in the CSL, the Under-19s in the second tier and the Under-17s in the third flight. These teams will not feature on the league table and will play all matches midweek but the points that teams earn against them will count toward the league. In a league that has been mired by corruption it’s a remarkably bold step to take. The oddest scheme in world football begins later this month.
Wei Di also explained how Golden Whistle Lu Jun used to fix matches: "Say he's bribed by team A, then he gives team B free kicks in some non-dangerous areas, like in midfield. It looks like it's in favor of team B, but actually it's good for team A because it stops team B's attacking process and breaks their tempo..."
Oddness and football apparently make good bedfellows. That is according to an unnamed Beijing Guoan player and his opinion on Maurice Ross: "We lost four goals to Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, three of them on his right side of defence. All he knows is blaming other players, and he never takes responsibility. Some media reported he suffered from depression for a while, we didn't believe it back then, now thinking about it, he's the only player who doesn't get along with others, and sometimes he just walks away from you in the middle of a conversation. At first we thought it's the language barrier, but look at Joel, Ryan, Otto and Darko. If they can fit in well, why can't he? He still considers himself as the big shot, I mean, come on, I know he was playing for the Scottish National Team, but he's not any more."
Beijing Guoan lost 2-1 to Shenzhen at home on Sunday, Ross didn't play...
Finally, Liu Xiang is doing his bit for Shanghai’s Expo – have a look at his single here.
You might also be interested in :
Talking Balls: Brawling Ballers, Goal Grabbing Goalies and Talented Teenagers
The big sports story comes from the CBA. China’s Basketball Association is currently in the best-of-seven series finals. Guangdong Hongyuan took a 2-0 lead in the CBA final against Xinjiang Guanghui at home with a 85-80 win. Then things got interesting. Du Feng of Guangdong got into an altercation with Xinjiang’s Charles Gaines. The Guangdong player aimed a headbutt at Gaines and was swiftly dealt a blow to the temple. The punch knocked Du out. A Guangdong fan then tried to take on Gaines and general mayhem ensued while the stadium announcer appealed for calm. To see the fight click here, here or here. The CBA are set to fine both players.
Talking Balls: Patriots, Stars and Subsitutes
Tickets are now on sale for the Sanyuan Foods China Open 2010. That’s snooker for the uninitiated. Tickets are priced at RMB 20-2,010 and available by clicking here. To have a look at the schedules and find out when you might see Ronnie O’Sullivan click here.
There’s been more fall-out from the Winter Olympics. Gold medal winner Zhou Yang has come under fire for thanking her parents when everyone knows that you should thank your country above all. To remind her of this was State Sports General Administration deputy director Yu Zaiqing who said “Thanking your parents is not a problem, but should thank the country first. Must put the country first, don’t just thank your parents and that’s it.”
Talking Balls: Dopers, Dopes and the Dopey Looking
Remember Mohamed Kallon? The former Inter Milan star was banned for eight months in 2003 for testing positive for Nandrolone and then ended up setting up his own club back in his native Sierra Leone. Well Mr. Kallon no longer plays for the egotistically named Kallon FC, no, he’s back in the big time … at Shaanxi Neo-China Chanba. Joking aside, Kallon was one of the brightest talents in the world game and at 30 years-old his signing has placed Shaanxi as favourites for the CSL title. Bad luck for Beijing’s hopes of retaining the trophy.
Talking Balls: Meat Pie, Humble Pie and Pie in the Sky
Some sports are better than others. Snooker should be right up there at the top. The reason? You can win your own body weight in pies. Ding Junhui did just that a little over a week ago. Ding won a world-ranking event when he beat John Higgins 10-8 in an exciting climax to the Pukka Pies United Kingdom Championship at the Telford International Centre. Ding collected a first prize of GBP 100,000, the largest prize of his career, rose to sixth in the provisional world rankings and was presented with his own weight, 68kg, in Pukka Pies, a total of 276 pies. That’s champion.
Talking Balls: A Smoking Rocket, Marbury Mania & The Olympic Underground
The Olympics are around the corner, or should we say, further along the line. Transport London, which runs the capital's world-famous Tube, have decided to cash in on the Olympics. They've released a map with a twist: All of the stations are now named after famous Olympians. We admit that it's better than the 2012 mascots but as merchandise goes, it's still pretty bad. There are 13 Chinese Olympians on the map:
