Milkins up to the Challenge

Milkins: Pro Challenge winner

Considering the field, this is definitely the best tournament I've won. These Pro Challenge Events are brilliant, they are great match practice and give extra chances to the players to earn money.

Robert Milkins
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Robert Milkins beat Joe Jogia to win Pro Challenge Three in Leicester, and hopes that the win will help his crusade to get back to his best.

Milkins reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship in 2002 and the Irish Master semis in 2005, but the world number 55 has since slipped down the rankings.

However, he showed his very best form at the Willie Thorne Snooker Centre in Leicester as he made two centuries and two half centuries on the way to a 5-3 success over local favourite Jogia.

Both had sprung a surprise in the semi-finals earlier as Milkins edged out rising star Judd Trump 5-4 and Jogia whitewashed in-form Ricky Walden 5-0.

After becoming the third winner in World Snooker's new Pro Challenge Series, following Stephen Maguire and Ken Doherty, Milkins says he is now trying to revive his career.

Fool

"I was a fool to myself for a while because I didn't work hard enough, but everything is turning around now," said 33-year-old Milkins.

"I've been practising hard for the last two years now. At first I didn't get the results, but since I got to the quarter-finals of the Bahrain Championship last year it's been going well."

Milkins also reached the last eight of the recent Grand Prix by beating top 16 players Ali Carter and Mark King.

"Considering the field, this is definitely the best tournament I've won," he added. "These Pro Challenge Events are brilliant, they are great match practice and give extra chances to the players to earn money."

A superb break of 137 saw Milkins off to a fast start in the final, then Jogia levelled with a run of 55. Milkins regained the lead with a 92 and took control of frame four with a 55, only for Jogia to snatch it with a 55 clearance for 2-2.

Breaks

The next two were shared, Jogia making a 69 in the sixth, before Milkins knocked in a 118 to go 4-3 ahead, and he finished the job in a scrappy eighth.

"I played really well - I had scraped through my previous three matches so I was surprised at the standard I produced in the final," added Milkins.

"This gives me a lot of confidence going into the Pukka Pies UK Championship qualifiers. A couple of years ago the other players must have been thinking I was a plum draw, but now hopefully they will see my results and it will put some fear into them."

Jogia, a former English Open champion, said: "I just missed one or two balls today but I've enjoyed the whole week and I played well. I think these Pro Challenge Events are fantastic and a lot of the players I've spoken to agree with that."

The fourth event out of seven in the Pro Challenge Series runs from January 4 to 6.