SPORTS: One Snooker Champion, One Top Sailor …
- May 6th, 2010
- Posted by EUEditor
Neil Robertson, 28, this week became to first Australian to win the World Snooker Championship in over fifty years; as in an entirely different field of competition, lone sailor Jessica Watson, 16, was making her way along the EastAustralian coast, towards a hero’s landfall.
POT BLACK
Neil Robertson from Melbourne won his twelve-hour final 18 frames to 13 at the Snooker championships in Sheffield, England, (5.5.10).
Though a long-standing professional he’d not been in the top order until recent times, explaining that it had taken some time to get into the habit of practicing enough, every day.
The title was last won by an Australia, Horace Lindrum, in 1952.
His win was being called a triumph for plain-dealing in a sport which has had its scandals; with even this year allegations of top players pulling games for money, in the lead-up to the world event.
SYDNEY WAITS FOR JESS
Queenslander Jessica Watson who’s been battling some heavy weather on the way up from Southern Tasmanian waters is expected to claim her title within ten days – as the youngest non-stop around-he-world sailor.
She’ll be putting in at Sydney Harbour for a grand welcome by the Opera House, probably on Saturday week (15.5.10).
The Jessica Watson website reports on the approaching end to a voyage that featured its share of good sailing conditions and bad:
“Jessica left Sydney on 18 October 2009 and has so far overcome every challenge that Mother Nature has thrown at her to achieve her goal.
“Jessica needs to cross the finish line at Sydney Heads to officially complete her voyage. She will then cruise down Sydney Harbour before disembarking at Sydney Opera House.â€
Her pink-painted boat, Ella’s Pink Lady, is an S and S 34 class yacht.
Some tentative grumbling was heard this week from British quarters, armchair admirals wanting to know if she’d sailed far enough North and so on; causing Australian handlers to re-check the rules and declare things shipshape in the legal department – all in order for the home-coming..
Reference
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Jessica Watson, Home, “Jessica Watson due back in Sydney on Saturday, 15 Mayâ€,
5.5.10. http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/the-latest-news, (5.5.10).
Neil Robertson, Home, http://www.neilrobertson.net/, (5.5.10).