CUE A CHANGE
Mark Selby desperate to end ‘ITV curse’ as snooker legend reveals strange gap on glittering CV
The curse looks like it is going to continue
MARK SELBY is hoping to break the the curse that is leaving an unusual gap on his snooker CV.
Selby is one of the very best, but despite a trophy cabinet many would dream of, he is yet to win an event televised on ITV.
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The strange coincidence means events such as the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship have been out of his reach during his career.
While the British Open and the Champion of Champions are also shown on the free-to-air channel.
And although Selby knows that the TV channel the events are on has no direct correlation to his success, he has pointed towards one reason that he think he has struggled to win any ITV events.
Speaking to Metro, he explained that he believes the competitions ITV televise are harder to win due to the calibre of players that he is likely to face during the tournaments.
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He said: "It’s tough, obviously at some point I’d like to think I’d win one, but you just have to look at the tournaments that are on ITV.
"The British Open, it’s been a short format so it’s tough to win. All the other events, Champion of Champions, that speaks for itself, full of people who’ve won events.
"Then it’s the top 32 [World Grand Prix], top 16 [Players Championship], now top 12 for the Tour Championship on the one-year list so to win them it’s not easy."
The best crack that Selby has had was earlier this year when he reached the final of the British Open before suffering defeat at the final hurdle to Mark Williams.
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And his curse continued this week as Selby was unable to break his duck during his Tour Championship opener against Gary Wilson - falling to a 10-8 defeat.
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Although if Selby does end his career without a tournament victory on ITV he will be unlikely to lose any sleep with a glittering career that has seen him named World Snooker Champion FOUR times.