Ronnie O’Sullivan showed his prowess extends beyond snooker after thrashing Kyren Wilson in a nine-dart challenge – which left the snooker champ wanting to “headbutt the board”.
Following Wilson’s dismissal of the notion that any young talent could shake up the snooker scene as Luke Littler has in darts, Eurosport tested eight snooker stars, including a lacklustre Wilson, with their own nine-dart showdown.
Wilson claimed: “Snooker is such a hard game to master; it’s much more long-winded than darts.” Yet, he might reconsider after scoring a measly 88 to tie at the bottom with ex-world champion Neil Robertson.
The competition featured big names like Judd Trump, Reanne Evans, Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby. However, ‘The Rocket’ blasted past them all, clinching the contest with a whopping score of 205.
O’Sullivan rocketed off with a slick treble 20, followed by a single 18 and 20 shots. In his second round, a solid score of 53 led him to quip: “I’ve been watching that Luke Littler,” reports the Express.
The 49-year-old finished his third leg just as he had begun, dominating the board with a score of 54. Meanwhile, Wilson’s form during his legs wavered, averaging only 29 and expressing his annoyance vividly: “I wanna headbutt the dart board.”
The Kettering native is certainly a better snooker player rather than darts player, as he came close to securing his first Masters title, but ultimately faced defeat with a 10-7 loss to Shaun Murphy on Sunday (January 19). That said, his journey to the final was still awe-inspiring, having ousted world number one Judd Trump, earning plaudits from O’Sullivan.
In the Eurosport studio, the snooker legend praised Wilson, saying: “I’ve never seen you mistime a shot. I’ve seen you miss balls, never seen you quit a shot. The white is always in the middle of the table, it’s like you haven’t got to worry about that.
“That must give you so much confidence. If you pot a ball, and you quit on it, you think, ‘I hope I don’t do that on the next one!'” Moreover, O’Sullivan reflected on how Wilson’s approach post-World Championship win differs from others, adding: “A lot of people win the World Championship, like Peter Ebdon, Ken Docherty, Graeme Dott, and that was it, they won it.
“But I think with Kyren, like certain golfers, they win one big one and all of a sudden they become a great player. I think Kyren won that tournament, and he’s now a great player. Not a good player, not a very good player, he’s a great player. If he doesn’t win the world title four times, I’ll be shocked.
“He’s a young man. He’s 33, a baby of the game. He has until he’s 45. The way he hits the ball, he’s made for the Crucible. Nobody has ever retained it, and this is probably going to put a bit of pressure on him, but for me, he is the favourite to win that.”
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