16-year-old Stan Moody is touted as one of the brightest prospects in snooker and continued to build excitement on Monday when he won his first ever match in the World Championship.
The Yorkshire teenager won a spot in World Championship qualifying by winning the WSF Junior Championship in Australia and he has made a great start to the campaign.
Moody beat Estonian professional Andres Petrov 10-7 in Sheffield, making breaks of 110, 90, 86, 72, 59 and 54 en route to the impressive win.
Petrov is certainly no pushover, with wins over the likes of Gary Wilson and Jackson Page this season, while he made breaks of 101, 78, 65 and 52 himself in the match, so it was fine work from Moody.
The talented teenager will take on Zhang Anda in the next round of qualifying and hopes to do so with some pressure off after the great start to his week.
‘It means everything,’ he said of the victory. ‘All of the practice has paid off. I came here not expecting anything and just thought I’d enjoy it. When you get to nine it’s a different ball game, that all goes out of the window and you are desperate to get over the line.
‘I’m very proud of myself. I slowed up a bit [at the end], which I thought would happen. There was such relief at potting the winning balls. I couldn’t stop shaking, I couldn’t breathe. I just tried to hold myself together and it worked.
‘I’m just going to enjoy it [against Zhang]. All the pressure is off, I’ve got over the hurdle of winning the first one so hopefully the next one will be a bit easier.’
Moody’s dad Nigel is the driving force behind Team Stan, but former world champion Shaun Murphy has also been a big help to the youngster, practicing with him and offering advice.
‘We first met Shaun a few years ago in Hull and he said he wanted to help me,’ explained Stan. ‘It has gone on from there. In certain parts of games, he has told me what to do. It pays off in matches like this.’
Moody’s second round clash with Zhang is another best-of-19 affair played over two sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.
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