Allen aims to succeed O’sullivan and become the next trailblazer
● After taking his Dafabet Masters title, Northern Irishman says the sport can survive without its retiring superstar
Mark Allen is on a mission to spearhead a new era for snooker after dethroning want-away superstar Ronnie O’sullivan at the Dafabet Masters last week.
O’sullivan, the sport’s biggest name, re-iterated his desire to quit during last week’s tournament and says he is unlikely to compete in April’s World Championship – with filming for his TV show Hustle rumoured to begin at the same time. However, Northern Ireland star Allen, 31, insists the sport can survive without its main attraction.
And he intends to lead the charge after becoming the first player aside from O’sullivan, pictured, and world No 1 Mark Selby to win a major title since December 2015 when he beat Kyren Wilson 10-7 on Sunday night.
“I won’t rest on my laurels. Hopefully this is the first of many,” he said.
“Snooker will certainly live on after Ronnie.
“We have had this situation in the past but the game moves on.
“We appreciate what Ronnie does but if he does not want to play then so be it.
“The likes of Ronnie, [John] Higgins and Selby over the years have made winning these big ones easy but it is really not.
“I can vouch for that. I was a bundle of nerves out there. But hopefully now I have the experience of putting one over the line I can go on and win more.
“It is a tough sport and there are plenty of people who have never won one so I am very proud to have one.”
Allen became Northern Ireland’s first Masters champion since Dennis Taylor in 1987 and shut up the critics who doubted whether he could turn undoubted potential into major trophies.
The Antrim ace celebrated in Belfast last night, playing an exhibition match against compatriot Joe Swail to help raise funds for a struggling snooker club.
When he landed at Belfast International Airport, he was greeted by family, friends and fans before hoisting the Paul Hunter trophy aloft. It was by far the biggest win of Allen’s career and he pocketed £200,000. He will now gear up for the World Championships in Sheffield as one of the favourites, but he admits he doubted whether he could win a major and hopes his win can inspire other players.
“It has been 13 years and you might say you believe in yourself but the longer it goes on, the more you question whether you are ever going to win one of these triple crown events,” he added.
“I have won nine tournaments and never got close to a triple crown event. You will always question yourself a bit and then people on social media say you will never win one, you’re not good enough.
“Mark King and Anthony Hamilton won ranking events last year and so many players have taken confidence from that. I think people will look at me the same. Players will think ‘I am as good as him – why can’t I win it?’
“It will spur them on. It is a breath of fresh air for the game. Kyren and I were outsiderscomingintothetournament and I think we deserved to be in the final.
“It is good to put Northern Ireland snooker back on the map, it has been a long time.” Greg Rutherford will not defend his long jump title at this year’s Commonwealth Games due to what he perceives to be a lack of preparation.
Rutherford topped the podium in Glasgow 2014, bettering the silver he earned at Delhi four years earlier, but an ankle injury forced him to miss last summer’s World Championships and he underwent surgery to correct a hernia problem in August.
Having taken some time away from competitive athletics, the 31-year-old, also a gold medallist at Olympic, world and European level, feels he would not be sufficiently ready to compete on Australia’s Gold Coast in April.
He said: “Withdrawing from Team England is not a decision that’s been easy for me to make.
“However, in previous years I’ve attended major championships without a good training block behind me and my performance has suffered as a result.”
Rutherford’s place has been taken by 400 metres hurdler Jacob Paul.