Snooker Titans Trophy Cluj: a genuine snooker treat

It's been a few days since the mighty Snooker Titans reached the lovely city of Cluj and I am still mesmerized of what happened there.

Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis, Mark Selby and the amazing Reanne Evans got together in a genuine clash of styles, on 18 & 19 of June at the Polyvalent Hall from Cluj. As expected, it was a genuine treat for all the snooker fans: cracking pots, surprises, a lot of laughter and a tremendous display of snooker skills from all the players.


Everything started with the press conference, on Saturday around 4pm, a perfect moment to watch Steve Davis in his element: making jokes all around about how at his age he is "glad to be alive" nonetheless to be here in Romania and that the most important thing in snooker is "balls" (you may interpret that as you wish hehe).

The opening match featured the names of the current world champion, Mark Selby and the most powerful woman in snooker these days, Reanne Evans; and to be quite honest it was a genuine delight to see them.


The 1st frame landed on a re-spotted black, which was magically potted by Selby who then added breaks of 67, 62, 86 and 84 to go 5-0 before Reanne could win the fifth frame, Mark wrapping it up quite quickly and grabbing the last frame to win 6-1.

The same scoreline was to be the "name of the game" for Ronnie O'Sullivan and Steve Davis who were up next.


"The Rocket" was sure to get a standing ovation (as did Sir Steve Davis in all fairness), top breaks of 85 and 112 getting him a 3-0 lead, before Steve could make a 53 (tremendous shot on the pink!) and get his first frame on the board.

Sadly though, it was also going to be the last, as Ronnie got going with breaks of 43, 97 and 107 to get his place in the final.

The second day of cue action started with the classical autographs session, which was a genuine delight for all the snooker fans who gathered at Nuka Bistro from Cluj, the lads being very happy to take pictures with them and sign their card or book, in my case (thank you Steve!).


But back to more serious matters: the evening started with the likes of Steve Davis and Reanne Evans who played their match on a "best of 7" rule, because Mr "Nugget" had a surprise for the audience: a trick-shot treat.

Needless to say he amazed the audience with his unique sense of humor and made us all fall in love with his jokes. Oh, and the trick-shots were great too. Not that he managed to get too many (as he himself said it), but they were pretty cool to be quite honest.

In the end though, the most important thing is that he captured our attention and that the entire audience was hooked on what this living snooker legend was showing us. And yes, I know it's a clique, but you can't buy stuff like that.


During the break, the lovely Sabina Virtosu and her colleague Cassandra Mathews from "The Aces" delighted the crowd with some amazing music.

The last match of the day, which was also the final, featured the names of the five-time world champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan and the current world champion, Mark Selby.

The first to break the ice was Selby, who made a total clearance of 112 points, but Ronnie used a 66 to get the following one and runs of 26 and 45 to go 3-1 up.

"The Jester from Leicester" fought back with breaks of 80 and 96 to draw level, but O'Sullivan put his nose back in front with a great 125 total clearance.

Still, the next three frames were cashed by Selby whose breaks of 44, 93 and 100 proved quite enough for a 6-4 victory over the most talented snooker players of all times.

All four players got a trophy and had to deal with an ecstatic crowd that literally wanted "a piece of all of them".

The next day the lads (Ronnie & Selby) switched from snooker to tennis, as the organizers took them for a bit of peace and quiet to a tennis field.

Lucky us that we had the chance to see them once more and we bumped into them (Selby, Ronnie & Reanne) at the airport, just before we took off. Well, that's what I call a true farewell ;-)

So, another edition of Snooker Titans Trophy in the can and what an edition it was!
Pure snooker bliss!

Photos by Monique Limbos

P.S. So, so happy to have met Monique!