2002 World Snooker Championship 2002 World Snooker Championship The 2002 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2002 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 2002 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he lost in the semi-finals 13 frames to 17 against Stephen Hendry and became another first time champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first World title. Peter Ebdon won his only world title by defeating seven-time World Champion Hendry 18–17
World Snooker Championship to win the World Snooker Championship all won a championship in their 40s, the last of which was Reardon. It was forty years until another player in their 40s would win the title, when Mark Williams achieved the feat aged 43 in 2018. The 1979 championship was won by Terry Griffiths. Griffiths had only been a professional for 7 months and played two qualifying matches to reach the Crucible. In the semi-final Griffiths was trailing 16–17 to Eddie Charlton, before winning 19–17 at 1.40 am, and then beat Dennis Taylor 24–16 in the final, winning the record first prize of