White was brought to Kuala Lumpur for a series of exhibitions matches by three snooker centres - Red Ball Snooker in Sri Kembangan, Pelangi Snooker in SEA Park, Petaling Jaya and Club 2 Snooker & Pool in Bandar Puchong Jaya.
White's visit was made possible by event manager JH Leong of Originalomin - a representative of O'min cues.
It was not widely publicised but even the posters in the three centres and word of mouth saw full house turnouts at all the events.
White played two of our national snooker players - Thor Chuan Leong and Lai Chee Wei - both who will be competing in the Laos Sea Games and Asian Games next year. The others who played White were in-house champions of the respective centres.
While all eyes was on White, Thor, ranked national number one stole the thunder on the second day when he played at Pelangi Snooker, and beat the former 3-2.
Proud Moment.......Thor with White
It was indeed not White's night, as he succumbed to another defeat at the hands of the assistant manager of Pelangi, veteran Lang Kuah Yow, also 3-2.
Lai played White on the first day at Red Ball Snooker and lost 1-3.
With the tremendous response, there is plans to bring White and maybe some other renowned players too next year.
It was a treat for the lucky fans who watched him at the three centres. White at all three centres patiently signed autographs for hundreds of fans who lined up at beach centre to get his signature on cues, cue case, balls, posters and T-shirts.
Malaysian Snooker and Billiard Association secretary general, Melvin Chia was present to give away the certificate of participation and soveniors to White.
ABOUT JIMMY WHITE
Information from Wikipedia *The Free Encyclopedia*
James Warren White, MBE (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player, best known as Jimmy White. Nicknamed the "Whirlwind", White is a multiple World Championship finalist, appearing in six World Championship finals without ever winning the title - although he won the 1980 amateur World Championship, prior to turning professional later that year.
White is also a former World Doubles champion and won the World/Nations Cup three times with England.
Achievements:
With a host of major titles and achievements, including ten ranking tournaments, White's overall record ranks him well up the list of snooker's most successful players. The BBC describes him as a "legend". A left-hander, he reached the World Professional Championship Final on six occasions (1984, 1990-1994) but failed to win the sport's most prestigious title since his first attempt in 1981. Nonetheless, his consistency waned in the 2000s and a first-round defeat in the 2006 World Championship saw White drop out of the world's top 32 player rankings. White's continued slide down the rankings saw him drop to 65th but he recovered slightly to move up to no. 56 for the 2009-10 professional tour.
The World Championship has provided the theater for White's greatest disappointments. In 1982, he led Alex Higgins 15-14 in their nip-and-tuck semi-final, was up 59-0 in the penultimate frame and a red and colour away from the final. However, he eventually succumbed to Higgins' fightback. In the 1984 final he trailed Steve Davis 12-4 at the end of the first day's play, made a determined comeback, yet eventually lost by a margin of only 18-16.
In 1992, he led Stephen Hendry 12-6 and then 14-8. After Hendry pulled back to 14-9, White needed to pot only one red to win both the 24th and 25th frames, obstacles he could not overcome. After the deficit was reduced further to 12-14, White went in-off when compiling a potentially frame-winning break. Hendry drew level at 14-14 without conceding a further point and won the closely contested 29th and 30th frames to lead 16-14. Two century breaks completed Hendry's ten-frame winning streak and a remarkable 18-14 victory. White's defeat may be attributed to a combination of his own inability to secure crucial frames from winning positions, to an opponent who played his best snooker as White faltered, and, less importantly, to one or two instances of bad luck.
White also reached the final in 1993 but found Hendry much too strong: his 5-18 defeat was the second heaviest reverse in a final in the modern era. However, arguably his best chance came in the 1994 final, his fifth consecutive and third in a row against Hendry, with the final session taking place on White's 32nd birthday. White trailed 1-5 early on but recovered well to lead 9-7 and 11-9. Hendry again surged clear 15-13 and 17-16 but a break of 75 from White took the match to a decider. In the final frame, White was on a break of 29 and leading the frame by 37 points to 24. He then missed an easy black off its spot, after which commentator Dennis Taylor observed: "Dear me, that was just a little bit of tension". Had White potted the black, he would have been required to pot only three more reds (with blacks) to leave Hendry needing penalty points to win. As it happened, Hendry cleared with a technically straightforward break of 58 to win the title. Gracious in defeat, White joked that Hendry was "beginning to annoy" him in the post-match interview.
White became the first player to beat Hendry twice at the World Championship, when he added a 1998 first-round win (10-4 after leading 7-0 and 8-1) to his 13-12 second-round success over Hendry ten years earlier. The feat has since been matched by Matthew Stevens and Ronniw O'Sullivan.
White is one of only six players to have completed a maximum break at the World Championship (1992). He has also compiled 253 competitive centuries during his career.
Rather than being deficient in any technical aspect of the game, for instance he is very proficient in using the rest, it is arguable that occasional moments of inconsistency or lack of concentration, particularly at critical points in a match, have cost White dearly. But for these, his record could have been even better. His improvement in the 2003-04 season also highlighted how tough a player White could be when he adopted a more disciplined approach and reined in his array of shots. As a result of this White achieved his first ranking title since 1992, winning the daily Record Players Championship 9–7 against his good friend, the late Paul Hunter. This succeeded in silencing his critics and brought to an end a 12-year drought of ranking wins.
At the beginning of the 2009/2010 season White reached the final of the World Series Snooker in Killarney, his 1st final since 2004, eventually losing 5-1 to Shaun Murphy. Provisionally No. 47 for the season it has seen White have a surprising return of form. His 2nd tournament of the season was theSangsom 6-red World Grand Prix in Bangkok Thailand. White won the tournament, putting an end to his drought of titles by winning his first since 2004. On his way to the final he beat Shaun Murphy, defending championRicky Walden, Mark King and Mark Williams, eventually beating Barry Hawkins in the final 8-6. Only 1 month later in the Paul Hunter Classic he again reached the final, however this time lost to Shaun Murphy 4-0. Two months later on 18 October White reached the final of theWorld Series of Snooker in Prague, his fourth of the season. This time he was victorious, claiming his 2nd title of the season by defeating Graeme Dott5-3.
Despite being best known for snooker, he is also a pool player. Along with Steve Davis and Alex Higgins, White was a member of Europe's victorious Mosconi Cup team of 1995, and won the deciding match against Lou Butera.
Tournament Wins
Snooker
Ranking Wins
- Mercantile Credit Classic - 1986, 1991
- Rothmans Grand Prix - 1986, 1992
- British Open - 1987, 1992
- Canadian Masters - 1988
- European Open - 1992
- UK Championship - 1992
- Players Championship - 2004
Non-Ranking Wins
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Team Wins
- Hofmeister World Doubles - 1984 (with Alex Higgins)[3]
- Fersina Windows World Cup - 1988, 1989 (with team England)
- Nations Cup - 2000 (with team England)
Amateur
- English Amateur Championship - 1979
- IBSF World Amateur Championship - 1980
- Indian Amateur Championship - 1980
Pool
- Mosconi Cup - 1995 (member of winning European team)
Poker
- Poker Million - 2003
3 comments:
Tony,
Your reports are all way different from all the other sports blog.
While others create the" love- hate" sensitivities, yours ventures into areas when no one else would tread.
Very interesting- keep it up and hope to read more in the future...
Thank you very much for your support. It is people like you who keep the fire in me burning. Wished you would have left a name behind though so that I can thank you personally. Cheers for now!
Brilliant write up! Keep up the good work.
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