Snooker: Fit Ebdon ready for long haul

Peter Ebdon hopes his dedicated fitness regime can lead to glory at the Embassy World Championship in Sheffield.

The 31-year-old Northamptonshire-based player believes he has got himself in the best possible shape for the marathon 17-day tournament.

It certainly looked to be having the right effect in Ebdon’s opening match as he got stronger the further it went, turning a 5-4 first-session lead into a 10-4 victory as he turned the screw on Ireland’s Michael Judge.

Ebdon knows what it is like to spend the May Bank Holiday Monday - traditionally the last day of the event - at the Crucible Theatre as he reached the 1996 final only to go down 18-12 to Stephen Hendry.

And with that experience having taken its toll physically, the world number seven is only too aware of how important it is to have the body prepared for the rigours of the game’s most prestigious competition.

‘‘Physically I’m as strong as ever,’’ said Ebdon, who meets Joe Perry in the second round over the best of 25 frames starting on Friday.

‘‘I’ve been swimming every day since last August, usually around half a mile, and paying a lot more attention to my diet over the last four or five weeks. That’s something I’ve not always done.

‘‘I enjoy the longer matches but I know how much they take out of you. The year I reached the final, I started the tournament weighing 11st 8lbs and finished it at 10st 3lbs.

‘‘I just hope that the longer I go on here, the more my physical work will pay dividends.’’

Perry, Ebdon’s next opponent, is the only qualifier to have reached the last 16 so far - having ousted Joe Swail, but he will not be taken for granted by this season’s LG Cup runner-up.

‘‘I said a while ago that Joe was a potential top-16 player and now he has achieved that this season,’’ said Ebdon, who reserved a special word after his win over Judge for his new practice partner, James Wattana.

‘‘Joe is a very good, improving player and his victory over Joe Swail showed how classy he is.’’

Other players to progress on day three of the tournament were Stephen Hendry, who recorded an emphatic 10-4 triumph over 19-year-old Shaun Murphy, and Ken Doherty, a 10-8 victor against Stuart Bingham.

Seeded players aiming to join them in round two today are Jimmy White and Stephen Lee, who both became bogged down in one of the more pedestrian Crucible sessions yesterday.

It was hardly surprising that Lee was involved in a battle of attrition against Chris Small, the sedate Scot whose matches always tend to be protracted affairs.

Lee eked out a 5-4 advantage and will hope to get his fluent potting game in top gear today.

Much more surprising was that White, known as the ’Whirlwind’, found himself leaving the arena with one frame of his session still to play against Dominic Dale.

Both men struggled badly but it was the popular Londoner who had control, moving 6-2 ahead.