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Home / Sport

Snooker: Aussie becomes world champion

AAP
4 May, 2010 01:18 AM3 mins to read

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Neil Robertson became only the second Australian to win the world snooker championship title with victory in the final at Sheffield, England today.

Robertson, 28, defeated Scotland's Graeme Dott 18-13 in a marathon best-of-35 frames final at The Crucible Theatre to cap an emotional triumph.

His win comes 58 years
after Australian Horace Lindrum beat a field weakened by a player boycott in 1952.

Robertson's victory also makes him the first world champion from outside the British Isles since Canada's Cliff Thorburn in 1980.

"Oh my God, absolutely incredible, I just can't believe it," said Robertson, who picked up a 250,000-pound (A$411,000) first prize.

"I'd had three goes at it (in the past) really and didn't go any good.

"There's no way in the world the guys that beat me would've thought I could do what I've done.

"But I just kept persisting with it.

"I came over the Cambridge with 500 quid in my pocket and I had to borrow a waistcoat off another Australian player, I couldn't afford to buy one.

"So I can probably buy a few more now I guess."

Robertson was boosted by the presence of his mother Alison in Sheffield after she took a gamble and flew to Britain while Robertson was still contesting the semi-finals.

"My mum and her partner had been travelling for ages and they only had about two hours' sleep before the first session, and it just makes this memory absolutely perfect," Robertson said.

The Australian also went into the last day of the championships still waiting for his Oslo-based Norwegian girlfriend Mille to give birth.

The final played over two days lasted 12 hours and finished at 12.54am, matching the latest finish for a final - John Higgins completed his victory over Mark Selby at the same time in 2007.

It was broadcast on Australian pay-per-view television for the first time.

In securing his title, Robertson maintained his perfect record in ranking event finals, stretching it out to five wins from five appearances.

Thirteen years ago Robertson disappointed his mother by quitting school early to focus on snooker, but after several years of toil as a journeyman player he has realised every player's ultimate ambition.

The record books show Lindrum triumphed in 1952, but that was the year when the sport's leading players staged a boycott and to this day in many circles he is not regarded as a credible world champion.

Robertson certainly is, and the world title is a natural progression for the left-hander after his four previous ranking titles.

He hoped his success would spark greater interest in the game in Australia.

"If this doesn't do anything (for the sport), I don't know, I probably won't call myself Australian anymore," he joked.

"But obviously Australians love world champions and Olympic champions and stuff like that and it would've been a big blow if I'd lost the final.

"I had all sorts of those kinds of pressures to deal with as well, so hopefully this can start something special and we can start to get some events out there now."

Snooker has experienced a tumultuous 48 hours, with last year's Crucible winner Higgins suspended over allegations in the News of the World that he agreed to throw frames in future matches for money.

He firmly denies the allegations against him and has vowed to clear his name.

- AAP

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