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Ssb - kurt to the point
Among the qualifiers for next month’s China Open is Kurt Maflin, a Londoner now flying the flag for Norway.
Kurt won four matches to qualify for Beijing, a more than creditable performance, and compiled four centuries, including the highest of the qualifiers, 140.
He moved to Norway after entering into a relationship with Anita Rizzuti, a Norwegian women’s player. They have a son, Neon.
Maflin will hope his own name will shortly be up in lights after booking a meeting with Chinese hero Ding Junhui, if he can first beat a local wildcard.
Now 27, Maflin began playing at the age of four and honed his skills at New Cross in London.
Her enjoyed a fine junior career and turned professional in 2001 but, like so many, found it very difficult to stay on the tour.
In Norway, he ran a snooker club with Anita but returned to competitive action to win the 2006 IBSF world amateur title.
He got back on the tour, fell off again but returned through winning the European play-offs last year.
All this came after an accident a few months earlier in which he slipped on some ice and broke his collar bone, leaving him requiring a six inch plate and seven screws in his shoulder.
An even bigger break followed when he made a 147 in the first Players Tour Championship event in Sheffield.
Maflin can now look forward to an appearance in the final stages of a ranking tournament for the first time, rubbing shoulders (or maybe not, given his misfortune) with the game’s biggest names.
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Kurt won four matches to qualify for Beijing, a more than creditable performance, and compiled four centuries, including the highest of the qualifiers, 140.
He moved to Norway after entering into a relationship with Anita Rizzuti, a Norwegian women’s player. They have a son, Neon.
Maflin will hope his own name will shortly be up in lights after booking a meeting with Chinese hero Ding Junhui, if he can first beat a local wildcard.
Now 27, Maflin began playing at the age of four and honed his skills at New Cross in London.
Her enjoyed a fine junior career and turned professional in 2001 but, like so many, found it very difficult to stay on the tour.
In Norway, he ran a snooker club with Anita but returned to competitive action to win the 2006 IBSF world amateur title.
He got back on the tour, fell off again but returned through winning the European play-offs last year.
All this came after an accident a few months earlier in which he slipped on some ice and broke his collar bone, leaving him requiring a six inch plate and seven screws in his shoulder.
An even bigger break followed when he made a 147 in the first Players Tour Championship event in Sheffield.
Maflin can now look forward to an appearance in the final stages of a ranking tournament for the first time, rubbing shoulders (or maybe not, given his misfortune) with the game’s biggest names.
More...