Peter Ebdon

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Peter Ebdon
Born August 27, 1970 (1970-08-27) (age 37),
Kettering
Nationality Flag of England English
Nickname(s) Ebbo
The Ebdonator
The Force
Skeletor
Professional 1991–
Highest ranking #3 (1996/97 & 2002/03)
2008/09 ranking #9
Career winnings GB£2,636,795
Highest break 147 (twice)
Tournament wins
Ranking 7
Non-ranking 3
World Champion 2002

Peter Ebdon (born August 27, 1970) is an English professional snooker player and former world champion renowned for his remarkably focused, determined style of play.

Contents

[edit] Career

Ebdon turned professional in 1991, and, sporting a ponytail, made an impact by beating Steve Davis 10-4 in the first round of the 1992 World Championship; he went on to reach the quarter-finals of the event, losing 13-7 to a resurgent Terry Griffiths, however it was a run which earned him the WPBSA Young Player of the Year award as a result. His first ranking title was the 1993 Grand Prix [1]. He climbed the rankings rapidly to reach a career-highest position of number three in 1996; he again reached world number three status at the close of the 2002 season.

Perhaps Ebdon's greatest achievement, thus far, was his 18-17 defeat of Stephen Hendry in the 2002 World Championship final [2], having started the tournament at 33-1 [3]. He had previously reached the final of the tournament in 1996, which he lost 18-12 to Hendry, and was also runner-up at the 2006 event to Graeme Dott in which, at 15-7 down coming into the final session, Ebdon won six successive frames before Dott prevailed 18-14. In the semi-final before the final he led Marco Fu 15-9 before being pegged back to 16-16 before Ebdon took the decider, at the end of which he shed tears of relief. His opponents en route to the final were all ranked between 21-25 in the rankings (although Shaun Murphy was defending World Champion and thus top seed for the event), the first time this has happened.[citation needed]

Ebdon is a remarkably focused and determined player. Until recently, his shot times had slowed down considerably; this attracted some criticism – particularly, in his match against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2005 World Championship. Resuming at 10-6 down, Ebdon won the first six frames of the evening session, at one stage taking three minutes over a shot, and five minutes to compile a break of 12. Ebdon nevertheless won the match 13-11 [4]. Such performances, though lacking fluency, often appear to break his opponent mentally. Ebdon stated after his victory over O'Sullivan, "When I'm trying my hardest I seem to go slow. I don't do it intentionally". When The Times described his slow play as 'cheating', he attempted to sue them for libel and lost. [5]

Among Ebdon's other career highlights was winning the UK Championship in 2006, beating Stephen Hendry 10-6 in the final [6] – in doing so, becoming only the ninth player to have won both the World and UK Championship. Ebdon's shot times were markedly quicker, and this fluency served him well in defeating the defending champion Ding Junhui and John Higgins en route to the final, and compiling eight century-breaks over the course of the tournament. However, he failed to reach a ranking quarter-final in 2007.

Ebdon was only the second player to have made two competitive maximum 147 breaks in professional tournament play – these coming at the Strachan Professional and UK Championship, both in 1992. In the same year, he became the first player to make four centuries in five frames.[7]

Ebdon is renowned for his strict fitness regime in order to condition himself for snooker; he swims one mile a day and has cut down on carbohydrates and sugars in order to maximise physical fitness and stamina.[8]He is a devotee of Napoleon Hill's classic motivational book Think and Grow Rich.

Peter has been criticised in the past for his exuberant outpourings of emotion after winning important frames or matches. However, since one particular outburst after potting the match ball against Stephen Lee during their 2001 World Championship second round encounter – repeatedly punching the air and shouting "Come on!" at the top of his voice - he has toned down his celebrations significantly.

Ebdon is also colour blind. In a frame in which the brown ball is in close proximity to a red, he usually asks the referee for help on which ball is which.

[edit] Personal life

Ebdon was born in Kettering, but lived in Islington, North London until he was 18, before moving to Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. In 2005, he emigrated with his family to Dubai. Ebdon currently resides with his wife Deborah and four children in Dubai. He goes for regular walks on the beach with his dog and is very happy there.[9]

[edit] Tournament wins

Ranking wins
Non-ranking wins

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/world_champs_2002/1971162.stm
  2. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20020922/ai_n12578469
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/world_champs_2002/1971162.stm
  4. ^ http://sport.guardian.co.uk/snooker/story/0,,1471981,00.html
  5. ^ http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1659968.ece
  6. ^ http://www.billiardpulse.com/2006/12/peter-ebdon-wins-uk-championship.html
  7. ^ http://www.snooker.org/plr/bio/pebdon.shtml
  8. ^ [http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-13-2003-39028.asp
  9. ^ Biography on 'Biogs'. Biogs. Retrieved on 2008-02-07.


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