Congratulations to Jan Verhaas who on his Twitter page a short while ago has revealed that he will be the man in the middle for this season’s World Championship final at the Crucible…
Jan’s confirmation:
“Its official!!! On May 1st and 2nd, I will be refereeing my 4th World Final!!!! well chuffed.”
The pinnacle of the career for any referee, this year will (as Jan says), mark the fourth occasion that he has been selected to take charge of the season’s biggest match.
His first final came back in 2003 when he was the referee involved in one of the best finals in recent times, that between Mark Williams and Ken Doherty which the Welshman eventually came through to win 18-16.
Three years then passed before he was again chosen for the final between Graeme Dott and Peter Ebdon which at the time set a record for the latest ever finish to a world final. There was no danger of that third time around however as Ronnie O’Sullivan wasted little time in finishing off Ali Carter to win in 2008.
Hopefully all will go well for Jan and there will not be a repeat of last year when his arrival at the tournament was delayed by the volcanic ash that was causing chaos at the time!