By Elliott West
Introduction
Cast your minds back to 1994, the year Nelson Mandela became the president of South Africa and the film The Shawshank Redemption hit the cinema screens. In the world of snooker, players had travelled to Helsinki, Finland for the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship, a title won by Jonathan Birch, Brian Morgan, Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Robin Hull and Kristján Helgason in previous years.
The Final
Held at the Grand Marina hotel, the final drew David Gray against Quinten Hann. In a see-saw battle that ebbed and flowed over three sessions of seven frames, Hann, then only 17, squeezed home an 11-10 victory. A shock result at the time because Gray was brimming with confidence, not only being the under-17 champion but also holding the No 1 seed.
When it came down to play, Hann got the better start, finishing the first session 5-2 with breaks of 69 and 72 with Gray making the highest break of 66 in frame three. When play resumed that night, Quinten quickly made it 6-2 and was by now, totally in charge of the match. However, his opponent didn’t seem phased by this barrage of Australian breaks and quickly turned the match on its head when he fired off six frames in a row with a top break of 77.
That gave David Gray an 8-6 overnight lead and that stage looked like the favourite to win the match. Both players walked out to a packed audience. A final that became pulsating with Hann reeling off another four frames to lead 10-8. Gray again kept his nerve, winning frames 19 and 20 to level the match up at 10-10.
Like so many finals, this one came down to a deciding frame. It didn’t really matter what had gone before because it was down to the player who could keep their focus and string a break together, who would seize this crown. With the audience totally engrossed and the atmosphere electric, both players made a cautious start. However, it was Gray who made the first mistake and left a rescue over the middle pocket. Hann seized his opportunity and made a 64 break which virtually sealed the match. Gray couldn’t come back and the Australian won the frame 77-21. This provided Australia with its first-ever amateur world snooker champion titleholder.
