Tony Drago wins Legends League as Ronnie O'Sullivan-backed Pluto Snooker 900 channel launches in style

The Maltese cueist rolled back the years as he stormed to the title, winning all three of his matches to finish top of the four-man round robin ahead of 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson who finished as the runner-up.

Several of the sport’s biggest icons from the 1980s and 1990s were on the baize at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading this week as the ‘world’s first’ 24/7 dedicated snooker channel went live.

The Snooker 900 - where frames can only last a maximum of 15 minutes, and with a 20-second shot-clock in play - returns, and will be the flagship attraction for the new channel.

Over the next 12 months, a total of £600,000 in prize money will paid out in this amateur-only series - a staggering amount for snooker’s secondary tier.

The 900 concept - that was created by World Seniors Snooker Tour Chairman Jason Francis - hit our screens a few years ago with Anthony Parsons and Hayden Staniland winning the first two editions. Events on the seniors circuit have also been played under this format, and now the series is back, and has evolved.

Event days will run from Monday to Wednesday with afternoon and evening sessions. Most weeks, there will be approximately 18 hours of new, live action, while the rest of the time on the channel there will be classic content and episodes of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s training series ‘The Rocket Method’.

Fans in a plethora of countries can watch all this coverage for free by downloading the Pluto TV app onto their smart TVs or mobile device.

Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan has thrown his support behind the channel that will also showcase the women's, junior and disability categories.

The record 23-time Triple Crown event winner believes that the quick format could encourage youngsters and new fans to the sport.

The ribbon was cut on Monday with two special challenge matches under 900 rules with Ken Doherty - who made the first century break on the new channel - defeating Jimmy White 6-1 in the afternoon, before White returned a few hours later to get the better of Drago by the same scoreline.

Former world number 10 Drago - who has recently turned 60 years of age - came back the next day to be part of the Legends League competition that also featured Johnson, 1991 World Champion John Parrott, and former world number two Tony Knowles.

The four contestants played each other once in a four-frame match under 900 rules, with a point awarded for every frame they won, and an additional point dished out for every century break they made.

In the opening session, Parrott and Knowles shared a 2-2 draw before Drago defeated Johnson 3-1.

A few hours later, former ranking event finalist Drago extended his lead at the top of the table with a 4-0 win over Knowles.

Johnson and Parrott then played out a 2-2 draw during which Johnson made a 95, followed by Parrott in the next frame fashioning a break of exactly 100 to pick up a bonus point.

The final day began with Johnson defeating Knowles 4-0, but the title would be decided in the final fixture between Drago and Parrot.

And it was Drago who got the job done in style, running out a 4-0 winner to claim the title with a 100% record and having dropped just one frame en route.

On Wednesday evening, Drago, Johnson, Parrott and Knowles were part of the first eight-player one-frame knockout tournament where they were joined by David Taylor, Patsy Fagan, Les Dodd and Barry Stark.

1977 UK Championship winner Fagan, who is 74, defeated Parrott, Knowles, and then crafted a half-century break in the final to deny Drago a double as he secured the honour.