OK, so it's a fraction late this year. Still, 18-14 to Selby, I reckon. He might struggle today, but you never count out a fox, as Tomsk keeps reminding me. Plus, if I had the hopes and dreams of the largest country in the world resting on me, I might play below my best too. Even if, as has been obvious of Ding this tournament, his best is very, very good.
ETA: I should add that whilst my money is on Selby, my heart is with Ding. The chance to finally break the English language's stranglehold on this tournament is finally within the game's grasp. There's obviously great honour in being the first Asian player in the world final [1] but to see that turned into a win would be utterly glorious.
[1] More than that, actually; Ding is first player in the final to come from outside both the British Isles and the Commonwealth, though the two South African finalists (Rensburg and Mans, neither of whom won) played during the 33 years South Africa was outside the Commonwealth.
2 comments:
Spot on! Although as point of fact you can almost always count out a fox and recent exceptions to this rule are a clear sign that the end of the universe is upon us.
I doubt you'll have to wait too long for an Asian winner though. In my brief experience of Chinese TV, snooker was second only to football on the sport channel.
Yeah, wishing I put money on it now.
And agreed about an Asian winner being not just inevitable but fairly imminent. Just from the increased number of Asian players appearing at the Crucible (along with at least one recent player from Thailand) demonstrate how much the game is catching on over there.
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