Robin Hull wins his 15th Finnish Snooker Championship title

Finland’s greatest ever snooker player, former world number 32 and Shoot Out champion Hull has now claimed his nation’s premier domestic title an incredible 15 times.

In a country where the sport continues to increase in popularity - several top stars are set to compete in the upcoming Taom Helsinki International Snooker Cup - a total of 80 players took part in this year’s national championship which was held over three days across two venues; Cabin Street in Helsinki and KeraSnooker in Espoo.

Defending champion Hull won his opening three matches 4-0 before compiling breaks of 120 and 103 in a 4-2 quarter-final victory over Esa Oikarinen. In the last four, the 49-year-old registered runs of 91, 79 and 64 during a 4-0 success against Tuure Lappalainen.

Emerging from the other side of the draw was 31-year-old Niva, winner of this title in 2022 and who was one match win away from the professional circuit in 2020 when he reached the final of the European Amateur Championship in Portugal.

Niva also only dropped two frames in five matches en route to the final; in his last eight 4-0 win against Ville Pirilä he crafted an effort of 124 which would stand as the tournament’s highest break.

In a rerun of last year’s title contest, Niva got off to a brilliant start as breaks of 90 and 59 helped him establish a 2-0 advantage. However, Hull responded, getting off the mark with a 107 in frame three before levelling the tie by securing frame four on the final pink.

The three-time Crucible qualifier then went in front with the aid of a 69 break in frame five and retained the title with victory on the colours in frame six.

It has been reported that Hull has only ever lost once in the history of the Championship - back on debut in 1990 when he was defeated by Mika Stark in round one. In last year’s installment, Hull constructed the event’s first and only (to date) maximum 147 break.