Countdown for Brazil Masters 2011

I hope you have your dancing shoes ready because we are heading to Brazil. Yep, Brazil Masters will start tomorrow and there's not way in stopping this beautiful madness. Snooker has found a safe bridge over the Atlantic Ocean and into the heart of South America. The fans are waiting to see the legends of snooker at work, while the national stars are eager to experience the feeling of playing against them. Who will win? Now that's a tricky question that only time will provide it with a dignify answer.

So for the next four days in Brazil's state of Santa Catarina, snooker's heavy names will try to blow the Brazilians' mind. Just a figure of speech, of course for the people are well aware of the players' prestigious careers. It's just the perfect opportunity to experience LIVE, a genuine snooker cue battle. And I believe that each snooker fan should have that chance, at least once in his or her life.

Much has been said about this tournament: that the location is just a fancy SPA resort that takes your breath away, but is not suitable for such an event, that the tickets’ price is a bit high, this causing distress among those who wanted to take part in the audience and many more.
If these affirmations are true or not - we shall find out soon enough, but just between you and me ... I think the most important thing here is that snooker is evolving towards a global sport. I don't think many people are aware of the magnitude this sport has in Brazil and how important is this event for the country. There are so many snooker fans out there that are just dying to see their favourite players and even though not all the famous players accepted Barry Hearn's proposal, the line-up is still a great one.

The arena where the snooker gladiators will fight

We have the wonderful seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, we have the golden "Nugget" Steve Davis, the current world's number one Mark Selby, the Australian Open's champion Stuart Bingham, the "Bulldog" Stephen Lee, the colourful Peter Ebdon, the one and only Shaun "The Magician" Murphy, the revived Mark Davis, the eager to win Jamie Cope, one of Scotland's best exports Graeme Dott, the restless Ricky Walden, the "Pinner Potter" Martin Gould - all of them arriving safely due to Ali "The Captain" Carter special skills to fly snooker's private jet.

Who will dare to face such a great line-up you'll ask. Don't you worry, for Brazil has its own snooker stars, the first one by far being the Brazilian with the most incredible smile and terrific cue action, Igor Fugueiredo. As tradition requires, we also have two wild-cards in the person of Noel Rodrigues (you know him from the World Cup) and Sobradinho de Dues.

So without any further ado, let the snooker begin. The hours are more decent, all the matches being played when the European continent has finished its day job, but on the other hand, they will end late in the night (depending on your time-zone).
The rule at hand is "best of 7" including the quarter-finals, the semis and final being played by "the best of 9".

And here is Day 1 match schedule:




*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:



Useful link for watching snooker:
www.liveworldsnooker.tv (subscription required)
www.sportlemon.tv
www.mypremium.tv