Stuart Bingham: A privilege to try and end Crucible 'curse'

Stuart Bingham sees it as a privilege to be in the position to try and break the 'curse' of the Crucible, where no first time world champion has ever successfully defended their title.

Bingham, 39, returns to the scene of his unexpected triumph on Saturday when he faces Ali Carter in the opening round of this year's World Championship.

The Basildon-player arrives in Sheffield hoping to break with tradition and achieve what many of the greatest snooker stars in history have so far failed to do.

Since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977, as many as 16 first-time champions have failed in their bid to claim back-to-back titles, including Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Over the past 39 years, only two first-time winners have reached the final when defending - these are Joe Johnson (1987) and Ken Doherty (1998).

Regarding the 'curse', Bingham said: "It's an honour to have the Crucible curse tagged on me this year.

"A lot of people haven't experienced what I've had in the last year, so to have that chance to break the curse is going to be great.

"Nobody's ever done it, so the odds are stacked against me. I'm looking forward now to Saturday and kicking it all off."

And he faces a difficult opener against Carter who may be the world No 31 but is a two-time runner-up - losing both of his finals against O'Sullivan.

"There's been a bit more pressure, mainly pressure on myself to try to play like a world champion," added Bingham.

"It took me near enough 10 months to get used to it. The last couple of months have been pretty good. Life has been fantastic.

"I've been on things like A Question of Sport and other TV shows, and I've been to places I'd never dream of going, so it's been fantastic really.

"I wouldn't change it for the world. I remember when people like Shaun Murphy and John Higgins were world champion, and you'd definitely raise your game by 10 per-cent when you played those type of players to try to beat them and make a name for yourself.

"I knew that was going to happen to me but I thought I'd be good enough to handle it but, for a while, obviously that wasn't the case."