The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Robertson beats a courageous Hunter

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 19, 2006

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Robertson beats a courageous Hunter

SHEFFIELD: Australia's rising snooker star Neil Robertson won his first round match at the World championship 10-5 against cancer-afflicted Paul Hunter at the Crucible Theatre here on Monday. Robertson next faces another Englishman, Stephen Lee, in the second round.

Hunter, 28, displayed real courage in battling back from 8-2 down to win three of the next four frames before eventually bowing out 10-5.

"It's been tough for me because I've not really enjoyed playing while I've been ill," said three-time former Masters champion Hunter.

"I've been in pain but I've just had to give it a go to try to keep my ranking up. Next year I will try to get back to where I should be.

"I didn't think I would make it here yesterday because I was in a pretty bad way, but I sweated it out and battled through. It's quite tough because I have pain in my side 24x7 now but I just have to get on with it."

Back to treatment

Now attention reverts to Hunter's medical treatment, which resumes on Wednesday.

"I start on my third course of chemotherapy for another 16 weeks," he explained.

"I'm worse off than I was last year. This treatment is to try to stop the cancer from growing and if it works then I will have more to try to shrink it."

Robertson admitted it was "probably the most difficult match" he had ever had to play.

"There was no joy in it for obvious reasons," said the 24-year-old from Melbourne.

Third time lucky

Earlier, Stephen Maguire made it third time lucky at the Crucible as he reached the second round with a 10-6 victory over Mark King.

The fourth seed was unlucky to be drawn against Ronnie O'Sullivan on his two previous visits to Sheffield and lost both times, although last year he pushed the `Rocket' to a deciding frame.

This time, however, Maguire finally got over the initial hurdle to ensure he will end a disappointing campaign on a brighter note.

The results (first round):

Mark Williams (Wal) bt Anthony Hamilton (Eng) 10-1 (104-0, 74-26, 84-0, 75-9, 0-115 (115 break), 78-22, 86-38, 72-47, 85-19, 73-4, 58-2).

Stephen Maguire (Sco) bt Mark King (Eng) 10-6 (90-33 (56), 75-56, 14-64 (50), 24-63, 0-91, 68-1 (68), 73-32 (62), 74-21 (60), 71-15 (70), 23-76 (71), 82-16 (78), 49-61 (60), 77-18 (77), 65-53, 41-74 (54,) 66-21).

Neil Robertson (Aus) bt Paul Hunter (Eng) 10-5 (27-100, 95-34 (70) 6-64 (64) 73-13, 119-7 (83), 68-6, 66-62, 70-42, 90-35 (85), 60-39, 16-64, 9-65, 70-40, 8-61, 64-22).

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