Fights, meltdowns and a golden oldie: memorable Snooker World Championship moments!
With the start of the World Snooker Championship, Sport magazine talked us through some of its favourite Crucible moments.
ROCKET MELTDOWN: EBDON 13-11 O'SULLIVAN, 2005
With Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-6 to the good, all looked lost for Peter Ebdon in this 2005 quarter final. Ebbo, however, had a plan: he’d do nothing. For long stretches of time. He took three minutes deliberating over one shot, then five minutes compiling a break of 12. This played on the nerves of The Rocket, who sat in his seat laughing, talking to spectators and scratching his forehead so hard he drew blood. Ebdon’s tactics won him few fans, but did win him the match as O’Sullivan spectacularly imploded.
COMEBACK KEN: DOHERTY 17-16 HUNTER, 2003
Ken Doherty does not really resemble Freddie Kruger of A Nightmare on Elm Street fame, but in 2003 he showed a similar ability to keep coming back from the dead. Doherty already had two final-frame wins behind him by the time he trailed Paul Hunter 15-9 in the semi final. He surged back again, claiming an epic 17-16 triumph. He didn’t have enough left to win the final, losing 18-16 to Mark Williams, but he did play a tournament record 132 frames of snooker.
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!: HICKS 10-4 HANN, 2004
“You’re short, bald and always will be, and can have me outside whenever you want,” was the cheery message Aussie bad boy Quinten Hann gave to Andy Hicks at the post-match handshake of the Crucible’s most ill-tempered game. It led to a boxing match between Hann and Mark ‘The Royal’ King, the snooker pro who offered to step in and fight Hann for Hicks. Quinten duly won the grudge match.
THE FAB FOUR: SEMI FINALS, 1999
The strongest semi final line-up in Crucible history came in 1999, when Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and John Higgins all made the last four. Each is now a multiple world champion, each has been a world number one. And, fittingly, it produced a standard of snooker, and winner, worthy of the all-star draw. Hendry bested O’Sullivan 17-13 and a youthful Williams 18-11 to claim a record seventh world crown.
ALL SHOOK UP: TAYLOR 18-17 S DAVIS, 1985
A reserved, pencil-thin Plumstead lad and a pudgy Irishman who appeared to have put his glasses on upside down. It doesn’t sound like a contest to rival Ali v Frazier or Federer v Nadal, but what drama Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor gave us back in the 1985 final. Davis – a brilliant metronome of a player – eased to an 8-0 lead, but Taylor fought back to 9-7. From there, it was cat and mouse until the final-frame, final-black decider. Davis, as white as a sheet, missed a cut into the corner pocket and Taylor, face as red as a beetroot, stepped up to slide in the winning pot. Pandemonium. The new champion raised his cue above his head and shook it, before wagging his finger at the erupting crowd. Around 18.5 million stayed up after midnight to watch it on TV. If you’ll forgive the pun, it’s one of the most remarkable spectacles snooker has seen.
WHEN I'M 64: FRED DAVIS' SEMI FINAL, 1978
One of the game’s greats, Davis was past his best by 1978 – 64 years old and having suffered a heart attack in 1970. Remarkably, he reached the semi finals of the World Championship, beating John Virgo, Dennis Taylor and Patsy Fagan before being pipped 18-16 in the semis by Perrie Mans. By contrast, 2011’s oldest competitor is 44.
Words by Alex Reid.
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