Desperques equals record with 12th island snooker title
It is surely now a matter of when and not if Martyn Desperques becomes the outright record holder of the most Island Championship titles.
The best player of the modern era drew level with the 1950s-and-60s great Norman Wale on 12 titles when he beat his good mate and old rival Adam Shorto 5-2 in the 2022 showpiece at the Gremlin Club on Saturday and then revealed he believes he is still getting better.
‘I’m playing the best snooker I’ve played in a long, long time, probably ever to be honest. They always say it comes with age and I think it does,’ Desperques said.
‘Look at Ronnie [O’Sullivan] – back to world No. 1.’
The reigning champion admitted it was nice to draw level with Wale and, on a personal note, achieve three successive titles for the first time.
‘I’ve only ever had back-to-backs, so three in a row is special and matching Norman is even more special.
‘I’m not going to lie, I don’t really look at records but when people start talking about it then you start looking so I was like “actually there’s only a couple in it all of a sudden”.
‘But I did not start playing snooker when I was 18 looking at records, it was just that I love the game and that was it really – take it from there and see where it gets me. I just love playing the game.’
Match report in Tuesday's Guernsey Press
