John Parrott has qualified for this year’s Embassy World Championship at the Crucible after a nerve-wracking 10-9 victory over Pakistan’s Shokat Ali last night. Parrott had trailed Ali 9-7 but he dug deep to rattle off three crucial frames in a row to ensure his return to the Crucible for the 19th successive year.
The 37-year-old Liverpudlian was forced to take part in the qualifiers as his world ranking has dropped out of the elite top 16. But he will not have expected to have been involved in such a tight match with Ali, gold medallist at the 1998 Asian games.
“It would’ve killed me travelling to Sheffield knowing that I wasn’t involved in the tournament,” said Parrott, who is also a pundit for BBC. “Working for television is a great job but it isn’t the same as playing. Last month I missed out on the Masters at Wembley for the first time in years. That was bad enough – but not being at the championship would have been absolutely terrible.
“You need something like this to convince yourself carry on playing. If that fightback doesn’t give you the self-belief that you’re still capable nothing will. I hardly made a mistake in those last three frames when the pressure was on and it really mattered. Of course, the result’s a real boost,” said the 1991 world champion.
Filed by Tom Grealis
