It’s not easy for Neil in Hong Kong

The Australian vegan didn’t have an easy challenge in the invitation-only event that selected the world’s elite, being given arguably the toughest route to the final.

4 August 2017

In the first round he was drawn against Mark Selby who successfully defended his World Title earlier this year, and won 5-3 to progress to the next round. There he faced Marco Fu, the pre-tournament favourite who was playing in front of a home crowd. Neil took the win by six frames to four.

This set up a final against Ronnie O’Sullivan, who had disposed of John Higgins and Judd Trump for the chance to meet Neil. O’Sullivan made a tournament highest break of 143 in the fifth frame to lead Neil 3-2, following which vegan power prevailed and Neil won the next four to take victory.

Neil is currently ranked seven in the world and has now beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan in two of the three finals they’ve contested.

We were in touch with Neil soon afterwards, when he described the victory as "One of the best wins of my career especially the players I beat to win it".

There was more good news from the trip too:

"Hong Kong is a great place for vegans as there are so many vegan restaurants. My favourite was The Loving Hut which I went to most nights!"

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