Luca Brecel slammed 'lazy' British snooker players before winning world title
Luca Brecel beat Mark Selby to win the Snooker World Championship.
Luca Brecel described upcoming British snooker players just a year before lighting up the Crucible to win his maiden world championship as 'lazy'. The Belgian overcame the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby on his way to glory but previously believed younger British stars needed to learn from their more experienced compatriots.
Brecel is currently enjoying the most successful week of his snooker career after claiming his first-ever world title at the Crucible in Sheffield. The 28-year-old beat Selby 18-15 in the final after a run to the last two that included memorable comeback wins over O’Sullivan and 20-year-old sensation Si Jiahui.
This year’s event was a far cry from his previous attempts at the Crucible with the Belgian failing to make it past the first round in any of his previous attempts. He was knocked out by Noppon Saengkham but ahead of the match, he took aim at young British snooker stars with no UK players under the age of 30 seeded for the championship for the first time since 1980.
"For the new generation [of British players] it's all about social media and money,” Brecel told the Press Association in 2022. “These days they all seem so lazy and it will be difficult for more players like [John] Higgins and [Mark] Williams to break through.
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"I've heard a lot of players complain about the 128 [draws] but I think you just need to get on with it. You must accept it's going to take a long time to be good at something. Impatience is the word."
The Belgian is the most impressive of those younger players starting to come through in the world of snooker. The sport has been widely dominated by the likes of O’Sullivan, Selby and Higgins for some time but Brecel and others including Si Jiahui and Hossein Vafaei are starting to challenge.
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Brecel was positively buzzing after claiming victory in Sheffield this year describing his success as a ‘great feeling’.
"It's amazing. [Selby is] the worst opponent to have in the final,” he told the BBC post-match. “He just keeps coming back, he's such a fighter and at 16-15, I didn't fancy winning at all to be honest.
"I was missing balls by a mile. I don't know how I did it. Once I got to 17, I fancied if I got a chance to clear up, which I did and it's a great feeling."