Bowen delighted with Ding show

Bowen, a massive Ding fan, moved into a front-row seat vacated by Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club owner Jim Everett as the Chinese sensation took on the blonde-haired Aussie Neil Robertson.

But whether the pint-sized potter still had his eyes open at 11.30pm as Ding wrapped up a 3-1 victory over crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan with a 76 break in the final, is another question.

During the summer, young Bowen spent a few weeks in China but he was disappointed to find no trace of the Chinese number one when he visited a Ding Junhui snooker club.

Ding now leads the partypoker.com Premier League Snooker table.

Earlier, happy-snapper Kevin Legg and I ‘enjoyed’ 45 minutes sitting in the players’ lounge, known as the Green Room (although it’s now a nice shade of blue), while waiting for an interview with Bristol wonderkid Judd Trump, who was having a last-minute practice.

I helped myself to a bottle of water while Kevin poured himself a cup of coffee.

Veteran commentator Clive Everton was occupying his normal chair, referee Paul Collier was engrossed in some football match on Sky Sports and presenter Andy Goldstein and warm-up man John McDonald were getting changed.

The unflappable promoter Nigel Oldfield was answering every query and phone call with “yes”.

In walked the golden boy. Is Trump the only player to have a fellow professional as a groupie? Trailing in his wake was world number 40 Jack Lisowski.

No doubt inspired by my ten-minute interview, Trump lit up the Guildhall with a 139 total clearance in his first frame against O’Sullivan.

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