Snooker star feared for his life after terrifying cancer diagnosis but is now fighting for World Championship
SNOOKER star Jack Lisowski has fought back from adversity to become one of the world’s top players.
Dubbed “Jack-pot”, the 32-year-old is looking to make some noise at this year’s World Snooker Championship after coming through qualifying.
Lisowski’s reward for qualifying was a first-round clash with former finalist Ding Junhui.
The Cheltenham-born ace has plenty of perspective on his sporting exploits, having fought cancer before turning pro.
Aged just 16, Lisowski was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.
As a teenager he had to undergo 16 rounds of chemotherapy before eventually being given the all-clear.
In 2013, three years after turning pro, Lisowski admitted the fear he felt after receiving his terrifying diagnosis.
He said: “You are 16 and you have your whole life ahead of you and something like that happens and you start fearing for your life… you wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“I felt really ill, and started thinking really negative things, and I was convinced I was going to die.
“But my consultant told me: ‘I will do my best to cure you, and I’m confident I can’.
“I never looked back from there, and every scan after that saw the lump go down.
“I still have to go for scans, but it’s looking pretty good. There were nine months of chemotherapy and 16 courses, and all that time I was thinking about my snooker and how I was going to give it everything when I got back.
“At that time I was too ill to practice, and had months of frustration.”
On the perspective that his illness gave him, Lisowski added: “It definitely means snooker is not the be-all and end-all anymore.
“When I lose it’s probably on my mind for 10 minutes then it’s out of my mind. I am not sulking for days, or anything like that.”
Lisowski, who led Ding 7-6 on Wednesday morning, pointed to the Chinese star’s run to the final in 2016 as a qualifier as an example to follow.
He recently told World Snooker Tour: “It can work out in your favour sometimes. I’ve seen players like Ding get to the final.
“It can actually be really beneficial to get a few games under your belt. I haven’t played many matches recently so it could be a good thing.
“I’ve been a seed the last few years and no matter who you get, you need to play really well because the qualifiers are always on it.
“They’ve had a few best-of-19 matches under their belt and they are sharp. Hopefully that will be the same for me.”