Stan Moody is {the teenager} who believes he can do for snooker what Luke Littler has for darts.
Moody, who will make his World Championship debut on Monday within the first spherical in opposition to world quantity two Kyren Wilson, will not be discovered missing for confidence or perception in his capability.
“I feel it is fairly honest,” he says of the Littler comparability.
“Snooker’s quite a bit tougher than darts, I might say. There’s not many younger gamers coming via.”
The 19-year-old Moody is the youngest participant within the draw on the Crucible this 12 months.
He sits forty fourth in snooker’s world rankings however is a participant many count on to change into one of many sport’s elite.
Reaching the World Championship major draw at his age makes him the primary English teenager since Judd Trump in 2007 to make his debut on the match.
In darts, the ‘Littler impact’ has despatched gross sales of darts and dartboards stratospheric, and the game has a booming viewers, whether or not on tv, web sites or at venues.
What might the Moody affect be? Extra gamers turning as much as their native membership and giving snooker a strive, maybe.
“Hopefully. I feel individuals assume it is a boring sport, an outdated man’s sport, but it surely’s not – it may be enjoyable,” says Moody, who hails from Halifax, West Yorkshire, and turned skilled in 2023 after profitable the WSF World Junior Championship.
“That is why I prefer to play extra attacking, play quick, and encourage younger gamers to do it and imagine they’ll do it.”
There are echoes of Trump’s discuss of “attractive snooker” and “naughty snooker” when he made his sensational run to the 2011 last in Sheffield as a 21-year-old.
Moody says it’s inspiring to see somebody equivalent to two-time world champion Littler, who can also be 19, dominating in darts.
“After all,” he mentioned.
However Moody is not involved that he has but to rule the roost in snooker. He is positive his time will come.
“Snooker’s quite a bit tougher to dominate, particularly these days, with the usual the place anybody can beat anybody,” Moody says. “Darts is not actually like that – there is a high few who’re superb and Luke’s era is wonderful and that is what I am attempting to be in snooker. Acquired a bit to go but however I am going to maintain going, maintain attempting.
“I do know I can play to this degree. I’ve overwhelmed plenty of high gamers. It is about doing it constantly and I am going to climb up the rankings.”
In qualifying for the World Championship, Moody recorded wins over fellow Englishman Robbie Williams and China’s Jiang Jun to arrange a Crucible match in opposition to 2024 world champion Wilson. He even discharged himself from hospital for the Jiang match, having gone down with a nasty case of tonsillitis.
Moody caught the attention of many for the primary time on the 2022 Snooker Shootout, when he competed as a baby-faced 15-year-old. There, he beat China’s Lu Ning within the single-frame format, with the win incomes him plaudits from snooker legend Jimmy White who described Moody as a “severe participant”.
He nonetheless seems each bit {the teenager} who could be pressed for ID in a bar.
Moody has twice reached quarter-finals this season, doing so on the Wuhan Open final August and the British Open a month later.
His run within the Wuhan Open included a shock victory over former world primary Ding Junhui.
On the British Open, his journey to the final eight included victory over Wilson. Earlier this 12 months, he additionally beat John Higgins on the World Open.
He’s the kind of participant who loves snooker unconditionally, sitting for hours at a time watching YouTube movies of the game’s best moments.
However Moody places his enchancment in outcomes of late all the way down to not worrying about public notion of his performances.
“I finished checking social media and the damaging stuff and all of the stress and expectation,” he mentioned, after clinching his place within the Sheffield major draw.
“I relaxed a bit, began going for extra photographs in the way in which I wished to play, and never pondering ‘if I miss this what’s going to different individuals assume?’ – enjoying and having fun with it and seeing what occurs.”
If the Littler comparisons are honest, what about listening to feedback evaluating him to Trump, snooker’s world primary?
“I do not know, we’ll see,” mentioned Moody. “Judd’s completed much more than me within the sport, he is quite a bit older. Hopefully I can beat a few of his data, however I am by myself journey, by myself path.”
