Archive May 3, 2025

Mark Williams, the three-time champion, defeated world number one Judd Trump 17-14 to become the oldest player to ever reach a World Championship final.

The Welshman, who turned 50 in March, surpasses Ray Reardon, a 49-year-old who won the title six times and made the 1982 final.

Williams had a 7-3 lead at the start of the match, but his unwavering class showed up as he reined in the 2019 champion to 8-8 on Friday, and he stayed on top of that result for two sessions on Saturday, avenging his 17-16 defeat to Trump in their final-four Crucible thriller in 2022.

I’m not going to lie, I was starting to twitch toward the end. In the final frame, Williams claimed, “I almost missed the black; I did feel a little tension on the back arm.”

“I’m never nervous at any time, but I did during that break.” I’m in a new final, and I’m not sure how I’m doing, to be honest.

Before Trump responded with his 106th birthday campaign, which has resulted in six final appearances, the Welshman returned with the 13-11 lead after taking the first two frames with half-century.

Williams was among the balls when Trump hit a safety shot too thin, so he capitalized with a superb 100 break of his own to take the 16-12 lead at the mid-session interval.

When Williams missed a red in the middle of the left, the 35-year-old Englishman made a 116 clearance to get back to 16-14 to add to his world title starting in 2019.

When he missed a challenging black to the right corner, Williams’ hopes of revival were thwarted, and he scored the famous century of the evening.

“Mark was the more consistent player throughout, and he deserved the victory in the end. No negatives are present; instead, Trump remarked, “I tried my hardest and just ran out of steam.”

You just need to take your hat off to Mark because he was too good over the three days, and I’ll try to improve for the following year, so I’m sure you can take my hat off to him.

In the first left-handed player world championship game, Williams will take on Zhao Xintong from China.

Ding Junhui defeated him 10-3 in the March World Grand Prix and World Open, and he lost to Stuart Bingham and Akani Songsermsawad.

The bookmakers all favored Trump to win this encounter despite his defeat of John Higgins by 13-12 in the Crucible classic.

Trump had arguably been the tournament’s standout athlete, and he had largely displayed a steely resolve to increase his trophy haul in Sheffield.

He would have also become the first player to surpass the £2 million prize money barrier in a single campaign if he had won the blue-riband event, which is a notable example of the excellence he has consistently demonstrated.

Williams will now face one of Snooker’s new players, who is 22 years his junior, who was just two when the Welshman made his debut in the Crucible final in 1999. Despite this, Williams was superior in almost every aspect.

Williams continued, “I came here with not much form, I lost in the first round in the past few tournaments, but I wasn’t really concerned.”

I spent four or five hours working in the club with Lee Walker, Williams’ coach, and Lee [Walker] trying to get some form out of [lenses] and without contacts.

“I tried everything, including varifocals, and contacts, because I really struggled with my eyes during the past couple of tournaments.” Lee chose to decide whether or not I’m playing well and how I’m hitting them, and he said he thought it would be better for me to leave them alone.

Fans were denied refunds earlier on Saturday for what was supposed to be the fourth session of the Ronnie O’Sullivan v. Zhao Xintong semi-final.

There was no competitive action at the Crucible in the afternoon as Zhao won the match 17-7 against the ” Rocket “.

A question-and-answer session with seven-time champion Stephen Hendry and 1997 champion Ken Doherty were substituted for an exhibition featuring Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor, who are both 40 years old after Taylor’s victory in their famous black-ball final.

According to the World Snooker Tour’s (WST) box office policies, it is “unable to provide ticket refunds or exchanges.”

The session’s ticket prices ranged from £121 to £660, including all fees.

On the final day of the competition in Romania, Great Britain defeated Poland 3-0 to advance to the top of the standings of the ice hockey world championship.

With an unbeaten campaign, GB won the World Championship Division I Group A medal, along with victories over Ukraine, Romania, Japan, and Italy.

Josh Waller scored the rebound after Robert Dowd’s saved a shot to give GB the lead for his third tournament goal.

Ollie Betteridge fired the third goal past Poland goalkeeper Tomas Fucik after Dowd added the second goal.

In the third period, GB goalie Ben Bowns saved four crucial saves to seal the victory.