ROSB CATCH UP #2

Challenge Tour grows stronger, BBC leaves Welsh Open, Ronnie joins SightRighht, 2018/19 season underway!

It's been two months since we last had Snooker on telly. Of course it's not that long when you put it that way, but from the perspective that you spend the year watching it week on week on, it really feels long ago.

In the meantime, WSF (World Snooker Federation) has put in practice the Challenge Tour, a series of amateur events which are a chance for amateurs to earn money and experience, and of course qualify for the main tour.
They just announced that a tournament will be staged in Hungary, after the Oceania and African Federations officially joined WSF. It's good to see the amateur game getting shape after everything that went on with the IBSF. At least this time the WPBSA owns their amateur game.

Elsewhere, World Snooker just released the list of channels that will televise each tournament. Apparently, BBC will leave the Welsh Open and will now have the lowest amount of Snooker events they ever had - only the three big ones.
Free-to-air TV doesn't lose a lot though, as the new Tour Championship (a ranking tournament similar to the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship, that'll be played after both featuring 8 players) enters the ITV pack while the Shoot-Out leaves for Discovery (that'll go on air through Eurosport and Quest) for the first time.
Whether you like the Shoot-Out or not, it's undeniable that it's a wide incoming door for new fans and it's good to keep it on terrestrial TV - even though ITV is much more popular than Quest.
Considering that BBC really won't show the Welsh Open (that still may not be the case), and the Champion of Champion remains on ITV (for some reason it isn't on the list but I can't see this event happening without ITV), we have now 11 Snooker tournaments on free-to-air TV.

While Snooker off season ain't like Football and you don't see players coming from a team to another, Ronnie O`Sullivan has joined the SightRight team and now everybody wants to see him back in action.
Ronnie always seek improvement, in 2004 he won the Worlds in a result of his work with Ray Reardon, and after working with Dr Steve Peters he's won a Triple Crown event in each of the last 7 seasons.
But when you come to think he's 42 now and 2017/18 was his most prolific season (more centuries, money earned, a 147, 7 finals and 5 wins), it's a bit surprising that he'll still commit to something more.
Now forget what he says. His season usually only starts around October (that when he decides to play the 1st half), but yet last season he played everything and seems to be looking forward to the start of the new one. At this age he's still the best player in the World, why would he join SightRight at this stage? Easy, he still can't stand losing and he knows he has to take advantage of his current form before he can't hit such high standards again - don't forget he'll be 43 by the next World Championship.
SightRight may divide opinions, but the players that have joined Steve Feeney's team improved (coincidentally or not), and do not hesitate in thanking him when they have a chance.
In my opinion, Ronnie wouldn't join if he didn't feel it works - he said in the past himself that he didn't believe in it, but seems to have tried and changed his opinion. SightRight's last achievement was seen by everyone - Mark Williams won the World Title for the first time in 15 years after failing to even qualify 12 months before.
No doubt this move is a clear shot at the only tournament Ronnie hasn't won since 2013.

Meanwhile, the Snooker season has started. Though, we only had the qualifiers and real business starts in Latvia next week with the Riga Masters. Ryan Day will be defending the title he won last year - when he kick started the best season of his career, one that saw him win his first 3 Ranking Events. But it'll also be the return of the World Champion, Mark Williams.
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