The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsThere is an all-Leicester affair in the first round of the Betway UK Championship as youngster Joe O’Connor faces world number one Mark Selby in possibly the toughest test of his career so far.
It will be a great watch seeing former junior world pool champion O’Connor going head to head against former snooker world champion Selby.
The 19-year-old is drawn against a world champion for the second year running after being beaten by Australian Neil Robertson in last year’s tournament.
Selby had a disappointing tournament last year, losing 6-4 to Ireland’s David Morris in just the second round. The Jester from Leicester will be hoping for a better season this year with more ranking titles to add to his collection.
This is one of the highlights of O’Connor’s early career playing against a fellow Leicester man whose accolades include the UK Championship title and the Shanghai Masters, in addition to his World Championship win in the 2013-14 season.
Both players have a background in pool tournaments and now O’Connor has proved to be successful in his junior career he will grow to try and perform on the snooker stage.
There is no better player to face than Selby as his professionalism and attitude towards the sport has been something to be admired over the years. It will be an important learning curve for O’Connor as he can watch Selby’s game and hope it will develop his own; specifically Selby’s safety play which is one of the best around.
It will be a great occasion for O’Connor as he will get the opportunity to prove himself on a big stage and he will aim to produce what would be one of the biggest upsets of the tournament.
