Billiards

O’Sullivan Nominated For BBC Award

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O’Sullivan was overwhelmed with emotion at the Crucible in May.

Ronnie O’Sullivan, who won a record-equalling seventh World Championship title in 2022, is on the shortlist of nominees for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award for the second time in his career.

The shortlist was announced today, with the ceremony to be televised from 6.45pm on BBC One on Wednesday. The winner will be announced on the night after a public vote.

The nominees are:
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Gymnast Jessica Gadirova
Footballer Beth Mead
Curling’s Eve Muirhead
Cricketer Ben Stokes
Athlete Jake Wightman.

In May, O’Sullivan beat Judd Trump 18-13 in the final of the World Championship, a landmark moment in his extraordinary career. He equalled Stephen Hendry’s record of seven Crucible crowns, confirming beyond doubt his status as snooker’s greatest ever player.

During 2022 he also won the Champion of Champions, as well as the Hong Kong Masters in front of a record crowd of 9,000 fans.

O’Sullivan turned professional in 1992 – three decades later he is World Champion and world number one. His records include 21 Triple Crown titles, 39 ranking events, 15 maximum breaks and nearly 1,200 centuries.

The 47-year-old was nominated for BBC Sports Personality for the first time in 2020. That was the first time a snooker player has been in the mix for the main award since Stephen Hendry in 1990. The only snooker player to win it was Steve Davis in 1988.

WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “I’m delighted to see Ronnie nominated again for one of the most prestigious awards in sport, and I hope the public get behind him and vote him the winner this time. Capturing a seventh world title was a remarkable milestone and the outpouring of emotion from Ronnie at the end of that final showed exactly how much it meant to him. There can be few competitors in the history of British sport with such remarkable longevity, charisma and capacity to appeal to fans of all ages. The public should vote for him based on his unique talent and achievements across three decades.”

The 69th awards, presented by Gary Lineker, Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott, will take place at Media City in Salford on Wednesday evening.

Votes can be cast by phone or online on the night and the number to call for each contender will be revealed during the programme.

The prestigious award has been running since 1954. Here are the former winners:

1954 Sir Chris Chataway
1955 Gordon Pirie
1956 Jim Laker
1957 Dai Rees
1958 Ian Black
1959 John Surtees
1960 David Broome
1961 Sir Stirling Moss
1962 Anita Lonsbrough
1963 Dorothy Hyman
1964 Mary Rand
1965 Tommy Simpson
1966 Bobby Moore
1967 Sir Henry Cooper
1968 David Hemery
1969 Ann Jones
1970 Sir Henry Cooper
1971 HRH Princess Anne
1972 Dame Mary Peters
1973 Sir Jackie Stewart
1974 Brendan Foster
1975 David Steele
1976 John Curry
1977 Virginia Wade
1978 Steve Ovett
1979 Lord Sebastian Coe
1980 Robin Cousins
1981 Sir Ian Botham
1982 Daley Thompson
1983 Steve Cram
1984 Torvill and Dean
1985 Barry McGuigan
1986 Nigel Mansell
1987 Fatima Whitbread
1988 Steve Davis
1989 Sir Nick Faldo
1990 Paul Gascoigne
1991 Liz McColgan
1992 Nigel Mansell
1993 Linford Christie
1994 Damon Hill
1995 Jonathan Edwards
1996 Damon Hill
1997 Greg Rusedski
1998 Michael Owen
1999 Lennox Lewis
2000 Sir Steve Redgrave
2001 David Beckham
2002 Paula Radcliffe
2003 Jonny Wilkinson
2004 Dame Kelly Holmes
2005 Andrew Flintoff
2006 Zara Phillips
2007 Joe Calzaghe
2008 Sir Chris Hoy
2009 Ryan Giggs
2010 AP McCoy
2011 Mark Cavendish
2012 Sir Bradley Wiggins
2013 Andy Murray
2014 Lewis Hamilton
2015 Andy Murray
2016 Andy Murray
2017 Mo Farah
2018 Geraint Thomas
2019 Ben Stokes
2020 Lewis Hamilton
2021 Emma Raducanu

O’Sullivan Nominated For BBC Award World Snooker.

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