Let's go back to the day Ken Dahdi ascended to the summit of Snooker: May 5, 1997
Text / The Irish Independent
At the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, it was an unprecedented evening in the history of Irish sport: Dubliner Ken Dahdi became the first snooker world champion in the Republic of Ireland. It all happened in 1997.
Belfast people Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor also brought the glory of the snooker world champion back to the island of Ireland, but the glory dedicated to the south of [the island of Ireland] was brought by Dahdy, who himself took it to the next level.
In the final of the 1997 World Championships, Dahdi defeated the then world number one Stephen Hendry 18-12 to ascend to the world championship throne, and he was treated like a hero when he returned home. The following year, Dahdi's defense was clear to the final, but was beaten by another Scot, John Higgins, by the same score.
On that night of glory, the Irish Independent reported this:
"Ken Dahdi did it! Crowned as the new King of the World Championships, he was the third Irishman in history to win the Snooker World Championship and the first Republic of Ireland to receive this honour. ”
For now, Dahdy has knocked Hendry down, just the 1997 World Championship final that may be the most overlooked, but it is all an afterthought for Ireland, who is ecstatic after the game.
BBC Emcee David Wien had to go to great lengths to preside over the award ceremony, as Dahdi's group of relatives and friends was so excited that the security was helpless, and iron fan Pat Koufeld, a butcher from Dundrum, and Dahadi's amateur mentor Paddy Miley frantically embraced the world champion.
Dahdi's mother Rose hugged her son
With an unconcealable smile on his face, Dahdi had been like this since the last set when he had secured victory, and what made him even happier was that it allowed his mother to temporarily "let him go".
"Now my mom probably won't keep nagging me to get a serious job!" After winning the cup, Dahdi said that the title brought him a prize of 210,000 pounds, "Stephen lost the red ball that made him 13-15, I felt stable, and unlike the first three stages of the final, I started to get nervous." ”
"I don't know when this joy will settle down, and while I never doubted that I could one day win the world championship, I always believed I could do it, but at the moment I really can't believe it."
"My parents have worked hard all their lives and earned a meager income, so I know exactly what this huge check for the championship prize money means."
It must be said that even if Dahdy failed to play well, it is understandable: how easy is it for a 27-year-old to take the center stage of Crucible for the first time, or to play against stephen Hendry, the winner of the 6-time World Championship at that time.
Hendry was intoxicated, and he couldn't explain why. "If I knew why I was playing so badly, I wouldn't have stood here as a loser to answer this question." Hendry said, "Obviously I'm going to win my 7th World Championship at some point in the future, and I'm still the number one in the world. ”
Hendry was already a 28-year-old "veteran" at the time, experienced, but the whole game only really played a threatening performance when he was 12-15 behind, but the score needed to score, and Hendry's accuracy was only a little higher, not enough for him to win the coveted seventh world championship title.
Ray Reilton and Steve Davis each have six World Championship titles, and the "Hens" need this title to set a new record. Dahdi gave him enough opportunities to hit the new record, but unfortunately he performed too badly, and the only consolation was that his runner-up bonus pushed the total career bonus to break the 5 million mark.
The Scots never came back from the deficit, from 3-5 to 5-11 to 9-15, 12-15 until the 30th set, when Hendry had no chance.
In the 1992 World Championship final, Hendry won 10 consecutive sets to win 8-14, back in 1997, before the last stage, Dahdi had taken a 15-9 lead, and Hendry had reached the point where there was no way back.
We all know that he has this ability, but it is a real pity that this time he did not change his life as he did in the past, and those present could not witness a miracle again, but would cherish and remember a happy and truly self-indulgent Dahdi.
The game didn't have the same chronological sense of history as Alex Higgins' 18-15 victory over Ray Reilleton in 1982, nor was it as tense as Dennis Taylor's 18-17 blackball showdown over Steve Davis in 1985.
But for Dahdi himself, it was a personal milestone of greater significance than writing an epic.