Ronnie O’Sullivan finished top of the leaderboard by some distance in the darts challenge (Image: Eurosport/YouTube)
decimated in a nine-dart challenge that left the reigning world champion wanting to “headbutt the board”. After the 33-year-old ruled out the possibility of a youngster taking the snooker world by storm, much like Luke Littler has done with darts, Eurosport posed a nine-dart challenge to eight professional snooker players, including Wilson.
The world No.2 claimed: “Snooker is such a hard game to master; it’s much more long-winded than darts.” But the same may be said for darts after Wilson’s woeful score of 88 that left joint-last on the leaderboard alongside former world champion Neil Robertson.
Fellow competitors included Judd Trump, Reanne Evans, Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby. A perennial winner on the snooker stage, O’Sullivan stretched his taste for victory to the oche as he won the challenge with a final score of 205, 32 more more than the second-placed Selby.
The Rocket made a supreme start to proceedings having thrown a treble 20 before hitting a single 18 and single 20. His second leg of the competition saw him rack up a respectable score of 53 which prompted the 49-year-old to say: “I’ve been watching that Luke Littler.”
O’Sullivan ended his third leg as he started; on top. He collected 54 from his final go as he cemented his place at the leaderboard summit. Things didn’t as smoothly for Wilson who averaged 29 over his three legs and was noticeably frustrated after his second leg as the peevish star said: “I wanna headbutt the dart board.”
The Kettering native is certainly more impressive with a cue in his hand rather than a dart. Wilson narrowly missed out on winning his first Masters title after losing 10-7 to Shaun Murphy on Sunday (January 19). His run to the final saw him knock out world number one Judd Trump which led to receive stunning praise from O’Sullivan after the game.
Speaking in the Eurosport studio, the eight-time Masters champion told Wilson: “I’ve never seen you mistime a shot. I’ve seen you miss balls, never seen you quit a shot. The white is always in the middle of the table, it’s like you haven’t got to worry about that.
Kyren Wilson was a frustrated figure during the nine dart challenge (Image: Eurosport/YouTube)
“That must give you so much confidence. If you pot a ball, and you quit on it, you think, ‘I hope I don’t do that on the next one!’”
O’Sullivan added that unlike players in the past, Wilson’s world title has sparked a new level in his performances. “A lot of people win the World Championship, like Peter Ebdon, Ken Docherty, Graeme Dott, and that was it, they won it.
“But I think with Kyren, like certain golfers, they win one big one and all of a sudden they become a great player. I think Kyren won that tournament, and he’s now a great player. Not a good player, not a very good player, he’s a great player. If he doesn’t win the world title four times, I’ll be shocked.
“He’s a young man. He’s 33, a baby of the game. He has until he’s 45. The way he hits the ball, he’s made for the Crucible. Nobody has ever retained it, and this is probably going to put a bit of pressure on him, but for me, he is the favourite to win that.”