2016 European Masters - the preview

The final countdown has begun. Just a few more hours and Romania will be witnessing what real snooker is all about, with the kick off of the inaugural edition of the European Masters.

The arena is set and ready to receive the players and the snooker fans, the draw & match schedule were made public, the tickets are still up for grabs if you haven't decided yet, while me ... I am just buzzing.

Sunday was a very special day, both Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby taking the time to participate in a press conference held at Manufaktura by DonCafe from Bucharest, next to the people who made this event possible, Adrian Thiess and Cosmin Hodor.


The lads were greeted with a pantomime show, where two actors pretended to play snooker on an imaginary table, while the referee was watching them closely. To be fair it was super fun and both Ron and Selbs seemed to really enjoy it.

During the press conference both players expressed their genuine excitement to come back to Romania (where they took part in various exhibition matches in the last year), but the happiest of them all was O'Sullivan who added that he has spoken with everyone about Romania, about how beautiful it is here and rooted for people to come and visit Bucharest.


Although the working schedule was hectic, the players needing to qualify for this event and then for the International Championship from China, they seemed pretty positive about their chances of winning their first match.

For those of you who don't know, both O'Sullivan and Selby need to play one more qualifying match, which will take place this Monday from 7pm (Romania time) in the case of Mark Selby who is taking on Fergal O'Brien and not before 8pm in the case of Ronnie O'Sullivan who will face Daniel Wells.

Selby mentioned that he had a good start this season and that he is confident of his European Masters performance, but if something goes wrong the audience will be far from being disappointed with such great names on the board.


At the same time, O'Sullivan seemed positive about his form and eager to start the balls rolling on the green baize.

That being said my dears, this is it! We are getting ready for a week of snooker drama, thrills and total bliss.

And luckily I shall be there, in the heat of the action reporting for you, so be sure to check out the blog each night and of course, don't forget to hit the follow button on Twitter, or the Like one on Facebook.

Monday match schedule:

10am 
Robin Hulls v. Tom Ford
Anthony McGill v. Ali Carter (televised by ES)

1pm
Barry Hawkins v. Michael Wild
John Higgins v. Michael Holt (televised by ES)

2pm
Andrew Higginson v. Marco Fu
Neil Robertson v. Graeme Dott (televised by ES)

7pm
Mark Selby v. Fergal O'Brien (televised by ES)
David Grace v, Rhys Clark

8pm
Daniel Wells v. Ronnie O'Sullivan (televised by ES)
Yan Bingtao v. Ricky Walden

* all hours are Romania time