Snooker: Williams bids to end dry spell

In addition to plain old professional pride, Mark Williams has five separate motivational forces pushing him forward at this week’s £597,200 (€964,818) Regal Welsh Open in Cardiff.

The most pressing concern for the patriotic Welshman, who badly wants to triumph on home soil, is to end a barren 16-month spell stretching back to his last tournament win at the Grand Prix in October 2000.