Tuesday, 18 August 2020

Ronnie O’Sullivan

I salute today the genius in snooker, Ronnie O’Sullivan who just won the World Championship for the sixth time. Known as The Crucible, and held annually in Sheffield, England, Ronnie just triumphed over Kyren Wilson 18-8 last Sunday after an impeccable display of fast and precise cueing. The final was played in front of a select crowd, but the early rounds were all played in an empty hall, but thanks to Eurosport, fans from around the world could follow most of the matches, which were quite thrilling, especially the semi-finals, both of which ended 17-16, between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby, and Kyren Wilson, and Anthony McGill. Ronnie has accomplished 15 maximum breaks in various tournaments – that is getting 15 reds and 15 blacks, plus the remaining colors, a total of 147 points. John Higgins did a maximum in his early-round match this year, but lost in the process. 

Snooker has always been my favorite sport, besides table-tennis, both of which I practiced in my Seminary years, as you can see in the black and white photo from 1973 (BHL – that means ‘before hair loss.’) Ronnie, who is 44, can be temperamental at times, but if he lets his hands and his mind do the work on the snooker table, people can cherish some fascinating play. He also has the record for most century breaks in snooker, so far 1061.

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