China Open ends on unseemly note despite 'brilliance'
Updated: 2008-04-01 09:55
Stephen Maguire's televised 147 and his 19-frame final showdown were highlights of the China Open in Beijing, but the tournament may be remembered more for Ronnie O'Sullivan's lewd comments, which insulted the biggest snooker fan base in the world.
The 27-year-old Scot Maguire had quite a week, scoring Asia's first-ever 147 in a ranking tournament and winning the 48,000 euro ($75,900) check for his second title of the season, in a final match that ended at 12:20 am on Monday.
 Stephen Maguire from Scotland (Center) poses with his trophy of the 2008 World Snooker China Open in Beijing March 30, 2008. Maguire beat Shaun Murphy from England in the final. [Xinhua] |
With local star Ding Junhui ousted in the second round, the long matches of the later rounds challenged the patience of spectators. But Chinese officials and organizers thought the high quality of many of the tournament's matches gave Ding-crazed fans a top-notch display of snooker.
"You might enjoy it or say it is boring just because Ding was out in an early round, but this is true snooker," said Wang Liwei, vice-director of the Multi-Ball Administrative Center, the governing body of snooker in China.
"The quality of the games was perfect. Some players, Maguire and Shaun Murphy for example, were in great form and played their best games ever. You can feel the brilliance of this ancient sport."
Maguire slipped past Murphy 10-9 in the final on Sunday to win the fourth trophy of his career and became the first player to win two ranking titles this season. But Murphy, despite his narrow loss, will still take top spot in the provisional rankings and is set to take part in the World Championships - the last and the most important event of the season - in Sheffield on April 8.
An impressive Mark Selby reached the semifinals to remain fourth in the rankings, and Ryan Day, who also made the semis, will jump three spots into No 7.
The China Open also witnessed the longest frame in snooker history during Murphy's 5-3 first-round win over Dave Harold. The frame lasted 93 minutes, surpassing both previous records for the longest televised frame (Mark Selby v Marco Fu, 2007, Maplin UK Championship, 77 min) and longest in professional snooker.
O'Sullivan in hot water
Ding's loss was not the only upsetting news of the tournament. Former world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, known as "the Rocket", marred the gentlemanly image of the sport and its players when he was caught making unseemly sexual references during a press conference following his first-round loss to Hong Kong's Marco Fu.
 Ronnie O'Sullivan plays a shot against Hong Kong's Marco Fu during the first round match at China Open in Beijing on March 26, 2008. O'Sullivan lost 5-4. [Xinhua] |
While a Chinese translator took questions from the press, O'Sullivan looked bored and then brandished a hand-held microphone suggestively. He followed with a tasteless sexual comment and began laughing.
In a poll conducted by Sohu.com, 71 percent of participants called the comments "intolerable" and believe O'Sullivan's actions harm the image of snooker.
Rodney Walker, chairman of World Snooker, the sport's governing body, has launched an investigation into the matter and called O'Sullivan's actions "unacceptable".
O'Sullivan later apologized for his lewd comments.
"I am not going against Chinese friends and fans, really," he told Sina.com, the tournament's official website, through an interpreter. "I just came for the tournament. I enjoyed the match and I care about my friendship with Chinese friends."
This was not O'Sullivan's first brush with controversial behavior. In May 2007, for example, he was fined 1,000 pounds ($1,985) for walking out of his Maplin UK Championship quarterfinal with Stephen Hendry. He also tested positive for marijuana ten years ago and was subsequently stripped of his Irish Masters title.
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