Stephen Maguire described his 2013/14 campaign as a ‘season from hell’ for him, but the Scot has already ensured that the new season will be a better one as he came back from 6-3 and 7-5 down to defeat Ricky Walden and win the 2014 Sangsom Six Red World Championship in Thailand this evening.
Along with the trophy, Maguire will take home the top prize of around £48,000, together with a place in this season’s Champion of Champions tournament (I will post an updated look at the qualification criteria for that event in due course).
The event, which began back in 2008 in the form of the Six Red Snooker International (coincidentally won by Walden), has grown in status over recent seasons and with good prize money, immediately before the Shanghai Masters, has been able to attract a good mix of top professional and amateur players in recent seasons.
This year has been no different, despite the late withdrawal of 15 red world champion Mark Selby due to illness and as well as some familiar faces, it was good to see players such as Thailand’s Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn make a name for himself with wins against John Higgins, Ryan Day and two-time defending champion Mark Davis on his way to the semi-finals.
You can view all of the results from the event here at snookerorg, before the ranking event action resumes on Monday with the start of the Shanghai Masters.
Stephen Maguire 8-7 Ricky Walden
0-38, 0-33, 55-10, 73-0 (73), 35-42, 0-66 (66), 0-63, 48-18, 5-65, 68-0 (68), 60-5, 20-43, 46-0, 54-0 (53), 55-21