Wilson Strikes Gold at World Games
Kyren Wilson has won the gold medal at the snooker competition at The World Games 2017 with a 3-1 defeat of Ali Carter in Sunday’s final.
Both players were competing in the Games for the first time, a multisports event staged by the International World Games Association every four years during the year following the Olympic Games.
It was world number 11 Wilson who made the stronger start, limiting his opponent to just 12 points during the first two frames as he took a 2-0 lead in the best of five final.
Two-time Crucible finalist Carter showed his class in the third frame with a clearance of 113 to keep his hopes alive, but it was to be Wilson’s day as he sealed victory with a run of 77 in the following frame.
Wilson becomes the second player from Great Britain to win gold at the World Games (Nigel Bond 2009), and at the time of writing the second gold medallist from Great Britain at this year’s Games (Acrobatic Gymnastics, Men’s Group).
Wilson said: “I am over the moon, it is very quickfire snooker best of fives so it’s probably who gets off to the best start. Ali is obviously a great player and to win a gold medal against him in the final is the icing on the cake.
“I just felt that my long game was there straight away so I was getting in first and at 2-0 I didn’t think he had seen a ball really. I missed a silly brown running off three cushions for a red and that’s when Ali stepped in and made a century so I knew if I got my chance again in the next frame I had to make it count and luckily for me I did.”
Wilson now plans to give his gold medal (which will be presented later today) to his son Finley on his return and has enjoyed the week in Wroclaw.
“He’s used to the chocolate gold medals so I am going to have to stop him from eating it!” explained former Shanghai Masters champion Wilson. “He will be very happy, he has been ringing be every day saying ‘daddy bring home the gold medal’ so he’ll be over the moon.
“It has been amazing, it has been nice to see what the other athletes have been up to and where they have come from and their stories. It has been a fantastic event from what I have seen and hopefully snooker will continue to play a big part in it.”
Runner-up Carter was similarly pleased with how the event has gone as a whole and is looking forward to taking the silver medal home to his own son Max.
“It’s typical of a best of five match really,” reflected current world number 13 Carter. “I didn’t do much wrong, Kyren didn’t miss a lot and I seemed to be snookered every time I came to the table. It’s about whoever can get the momentum going and he did today so well done to him.
“I’m still proud to be taking home a silver medal, it’s more than I came here with. Obviously I wanted the gold but nevertheless I’m proud to be taking home the silver which is more than I came here with this week. It’s all building blocks for me, good practice and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.
“The event as a whole has been very successful and how our sport is not in the Olympics I will never know, hopefully this week will help us to take it there in the future.”
The medal ceremony for the snooker discipline will be held later today (Sunday) in Wroclaw, with Iran’s Soheil Vahedi joining Wilson and Carter ont he rostrum after he secured the bronze medal yesterday.
