Some reactions to the Crucible draw...

Ryan Day meanwhile is celebrating the birth of his second panda, I mean, child. His wife Lynsey gave birth to the couple’s second daughter almost three weeks ago and he seems to have been boosted by the new arrival.

“After the Welsh Open I took a few weeks off to be with my wife. She had a baby girl towards the end of the month and I am feeling really good about things,” said the table dusting Welshman.

“I wasn’t feeling great about the way I was playing after the Shanghai Masters at the start of the season but since then I have picked up and I have been pretty pleased with my start to 2010”.

Day will face Mark Davis in the first round at the Crucible. Having faced our Mavis on a number of occasions, he reckons that both players will know what to expect.

“I went along to Wembley to watch the draw and beforehand I had butterflies in my stomach,” confessed Day, but they were quickly sorted by chewing on a bunch of bamboo shoots that Ding bought him for Christmas from China.

This season King has failed to make it beyond the last 16 in any of the four ranking events. While he believes he is performing consistently, the world No.16 admits he is not satisfied with making only brief appearances at major events. He’s a great dancer though.

He went on: “This season I have only being doing consistently ok, I don’t want to be going to tournaments and only winning one match – I am not getting any younger and I want to start cracking on. It’s my aim to start making the later stages and maybe even going all the way and winning a tournament”. At this point in the conversation some pigs were seen flying past the window, but Mark pretended he hadn’t seen them and continued...

Meanwhile Ronnie’s first round opponent, Liang Wenbo has been giving his thoughts on his first round tie through his interpretor, that master of the English tongue and renowned funnyman Ding Junhui, he said: “I am delighted that I have almost ensured my place in the top 16 next season, I can now enjoy my match against Ronnie – there is no real pressure on me”.

“For me playing against everyone is the same, as in the world championship every player is desperate to play to their best – there are no easy draws”. He says that but I think he’s telling porkie pukka pies there as I bet he wishes he’d drawn King or Perry.

Sonny wrote:We're in negotiations for some shared logo t-shirts for people to wear at the Crucible

Sonny wrote:We're in negotiations for some shared logo t-shirts for people to wear at the Crucible