"75 Three Heroes" join hands to reach the top 8 of the 2025 Snooker World Championship: age is just a number

On the 29th local time in the United Kingdom, two 99-year-old snooker legends will have a head-to-head confrontation - John Higgins and Mark Williams will compete for a semi-final ticket in the top 8 of the 2025 World Snooker Championship.

The "75 Three Heroes" who reached the top 8 together at the 2025 World Championships, why are they still here?

John Higgins and Mark Williams, plus Ronnie O'Sullivan as the sport's 'Class of '92', show that the trio have combined to win 14 World Championship titles so far, and the key is that they are still collectively strong this year.

Williams turned 50 last month, Higgins reached the 50-year-old threshold 13 days after this year's World Championship final, and O'Sullivan will be in December this year5thCelebrating his 50th birthday. At the 2025 World Championships, they proved once again that age is just a number. The question is, can one of them make it all the way to the tournament again and complete the World Championships?

Williams has become the oldest snooker player to reach the quarterfinals at the Crucible Theatre since Steve Davis, a six-time World Championship champion at the age of 52 in 2010. But Higgins, one of Williams' arch-enemies, stood in his way at this point. "Twenty years ago, we were really rivals – now we go into the training room and nod our heads to each other as if to say, 'Why are we still here competing with everybody?'" Higgins said. ’”

"75 Sanjie" was heroic when he was young. At the 2025 World Championships, they proved once again that age is just a number

Williams agrees. "Typically, the older you get, the worse it gets," he said. Your eyes are moving, everything is moving, your stamina is a little lower, and you're feeling tired more easily. But somehow, the three of us wandered around like a foul stench. ”

O'Sullivan is in the other half of the draw, and theoretically speaking, two of the "75 Three Heroes" are expected to meet in the final of this World Championships. "What a great achievement it would be if one of these three players could win this World Championship and maybe beat a young megalomaniacal kid in the final," Davis said. Perhaps their best achievement ever. Fifteen years ago, Davis defeated Mark King 10-9 in the first round of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, then defeated the then 34-year-old defending champion Higgins 13-11, and then lost 5-13 to eventual champion Neil Robertson in the quarterfinals.

Two of the "75 Heroes" are expected to meet in the final of this World Championship, but one of Higgins and Williams will certainly miss out on the semi-finals

Davis recalled: "It was a wonderful buzz and I probably had lost confidence at the time. Hopefully they (75 Sanjie) don't do that. They were closer to the top of the game than I was. ”