Welsh Wonder - World Champion Mark Williams On The Rise

“Welsh Potting Machine” Mark Williams was in imperious form in winning the World Snooker Championship 2018 final last month. Where can the now three-time World Champion go from here?

Mark Williams, one of many amazing snooker players from the 'Class of 92' impressed in one of the all-time great Crucible finals, knocking in some amazing long reds to hold off fellow resurgent veteran John Higgins to take the match a 18-16 winner.

Despite already being a firm fan favourite for his lade-back and honest nature, Williams earned himself a new army of fans for his antics throughout the three weeks in Sheffield, including sharing sweets with an audience member during the final, and even following through with a bet to do his final press conference completely naked!

This third world title for Mark Williams represents the end of an incredible turnaround-season where he was considering retiring from the game after failing to even qualify for the 2017 World Championship, he won two ranking titles within a few months and seemingly he had gotten his snooker mojo back.

At the age of 43 traditionally snooker players would be on the decline in form, but Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan have completely turned the form book on its head last season, winning the lions share of the ranking titles.

Despite the great form this season, many betting sites, including NetBet Sport, were offering odds of up to 40/1 only a few months before the World Championship started, for Williams to lift the famous Crucible trophy.

Going in to next season Williams will no doubt be amongst the top 5 players favoured for every event, and I can't wait to see how he deals with this added pressure and how he goes about defending his World Championship crown at the 2019 event in Sheffield.