Snooker’s most gifted and exciting player O’Sullivan, beat home town player Ian McCulloch 9-5 in the final of snooker’s first world ranking event of the 2004/05 season at the Guild Hall in Preston tonight (Sunday).

In collaboration with his mentor, six-times former world champion Ray Reardon, O’Sullivan’s form has reached new heights over the past year, having won the Welsh Open as well as his second Embassy World Championship crown.

He now leads this season’s ranking list by nearly 9,000 points from second-placed Stephen Hendry.

“It’s great to have won every major title in the sport,” said O’Sullivan. “Being number one and world champion, you get used to winning.

“I won’t be resting on my laurels - I’m going to try to raise the bar again. There’s still a lot of hard work to do and I’m looking forward to the next tournament.”

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Spain will never win the world cup, they have political issues. Until they split into two countries in 20 or 30 years time, they will never be more than a collection of individuals.
And Italy were so far ahead of the aussies it was unreal...or were u not following the game that closely....it was more of a penalty than many of the other fouls in this world cup. That Neill made a clear movement to block the man, AFTER he fell down, plus Italians were unlucky to have a man sent off.

Spain are no more a collection of individuals than England or Italy who are also two teams apparently divided by club differences. It is apparent that these three countries underperform because they have the best three leagues in Europe and nearly all their players play within them. Whereas the likes of Brazil and France (at least in previous years) appear more unified as they come together from different leagues rather than play each other in the same league for rival clubs.

As for Italy-Australia, I did have a nap for the first half but awoke during the second to see the Aussies DOMINATING the Italians. And last time I heard, purposely tripping over a defender and falling on your arse to gain a penalty was cheating. That there have been others less deserving is laughable, as is your assertion that this is the best World Cup since 1982. And no, Ivan Drago is alive and well and last time I saw Mr Balboa, he was suffering brain damage from the brutal punishment endured by my mole and only just managed to beat a HIV positive Tommy Gunn.