Stephen Lee reaches snooker World Championships
9:17pm Monday 9th March 2009 in Latest Sport News
Stephen Lee beat Judd Trump to book a place at the Crucible
Trowbridge snooker star Stephen Lee beat Bristol's Judd Trump in a tight match today to qualify for the World Snooker Championships.
Lee, who had already beaten Trump earlier this season, won 10-8 in the final qualifying round clash to book a place at the Crucible tournament next month.
The win will come as a big relief to Lee, who was nervous ahead of the clash.
"I'm a bit nervous to be fair," said Lee before the match.
"It's probably the biggest game of my life at the moment. I've been putting the work in, but I just don't know when the form's going to turn up."
Lee has struggled recently and has dropped out of the world's top 16, but he beat 19-year-old Trump at the Northern Ireland Trophy earlier in the season en-route to the quarter-finals.
After reaching the Masters final in 2008 he has slipped down the rankings, is now playing only intermittently and finding it difficult to transfer form on the practice table to the competition table.
"It's really hard to actually get any momentum," he added.
"You need momentum, you need confidence and you need to have tournaments quick flowing.
"If you've got problem you can work it out the next week and put it right, but we have to sit and twiddle our thumbs and wait for the next opportunity and that's frustrating."
For full reaction pick up a copy of Friday's Wiltshire Times.
