Antrim ace has Ronnie O’Sullivan in his sights
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Mark Allen: looking forward to playing Ronnie O’Sullivan.
ANTRIM snooker hotshot Mark Allen is hoping it will be 'fifth time lucky' in meeting legend of the game Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Maplin UK Championships.
The 22-year-old sporting hero spoke as he was on the verge of making it through to the second round of the tournament after obtaining a 6-2 overnight frame lead against English rival Stuart Bingham.
At the time of going to press, the final outcome had still not been decided, although the local player and former World Amateur Champion was clearly the bookies' favourite to make it through to the next stage of the crucial contest.
He won the opening frame of the game, dazzled the crowd with a second frame win after coming from 41 points behind, and kept up his early fantastic form for the rest of the day's play,
Speaking to the Guardian just before he picked up his cue to continue the contst, Mark praised the performance of his first round opponent, and spoke of his desire to finally play the bad-boy of snooker Stephen Hendry - who is defending the UK Championship title - for the first time in a professional capacity.
“Stuart Bingham is a great player and is known for scoring very heavy, however, on Sunday he missed a couple of balls which gave me a few chances to clinch the lead," Allen said.
“Although I'm leading him overnight, I'm not taking anything for granted, yet I'm confident that a win for me is very possible if I don't take my foot off the pedal. If not, then at least I will be happy that I put in a good performance."
During his career, Allen has seen off some of the top players of the game, including boyhood hero Hendry, whom he defeated during last year's UK tournament. However, the scalp he is most looking forward to claiming is O'Sullivan's, and he explained how he has came close to facing the snooker hellraiser four times previously.
“There have been four occasions when we have been due to meet but one or other of us has been beaten before the draw would have thrown us together," he added.
“Ronnie always plays well, and is known to bring great entertainment value to the game. It would be a dream come true to finally get the chance to play him. I just hope I can keep going in this tournament in order to face him, and increase my chances of actually winning the title."
