48-534: Lada Classic may refer to: Classic (snooker) , a professional snooker formerly tournament held in Bournemouth Lada English Golf Classic , a professional golf tournament on the European Tour held at The Belfry , Warwickshire in 1979 A series of medium-sized Lada -branded family cars built by Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ , based on
96-402: A 10–3 lead over Terry Griffiths before winning the match in the deciding frame, at 17–16. Thorburn had defeated Virgo 6–1 in the round robin phase of the 1980 Bombay International , but lost 7–13 to him in the final. He won 5–3 against Virgo in the first round of the 1980 Masters , then lost 3–5 to Griffiths in the quarter-final. In advance of the 1980 World Championship , he practiced at
144-412: A 4–10 loss to Jimmy White in the first round of the 1982 World Snooker Championship , Thorburn decided to return to Canada. Thorburn had been number two in the 1980/1981 world rankings , and reached number one in the 1981/1982 rankings . He won the 1983 Masters , recovering from 2–5 against Charlton to win 6–5 in the semi-final, and defeating Ray Reardon 9–7 in the final. In 1983, Thorburn became
192-520: A 51 break after that to win the title. The BBC 's television coverage of the final had been interrupted by the broadcast of live footage of the Iranian Embassy Siege . The conclusion of the final was watched by 14.5 million television viewers. Thorburn is generally regarded as the first player from outside the United Kingdom to win the world championship, Horace Lindrum 's victory in
240-466: A club near the Crucible that was owned by a friend, and gave up smoking and drinking alcohol for a week before the tournament. His first match was against Mountjoy, Thorburn finishing their first session behind 3–5. In the evening, he played cards and drank alcohol with friends until 5:00 am, resuming the match the next day by winning the first five frames in succession. Thorburn won the match 13–10. In
288-650: A dishwasher and working on a garbage truck to help earn money for his stakes. In 1968 he entered his first tournaments, and won the Toronto City Championship. He spent time with Fred Davis and Rex Williams when they toured Canada in 1970, and afterwards became a resident professional at the House of Champions club in Toronto. In July 1970, he reportedly made a maximum break of 147 in a non-competitive game against Fred Hardwick. He made six century breaks in winning
336-771: A house in England with the intention of spending more time in Britain. His manager Darryl McKerrow was killed in a hunting accident during the 1984–85 season, and Thorburn was subsequently managed by Robert Windsor, until joining Barry Hearn 's Matchroom Sport in January 1988. Thorburn was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1984. He was added to the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, and inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. His instruction book, Cliff Thorburn's Snooker Skills ,
384-463: A match against White. Thorburn last qualified for the World Championship in 1994 , where he faced Nigel Bond in the first round. Thorburn led by 9–2 but eventually lost 9–10. At the 1995 Thailand Open , ranked 54th, he defeated three players from the top 16, including second-ranked Steve Davis, to reach the semi-finals. It was the first time he had reached this stage of a major event since
432-405: A row to lead 21–18, and Thorburn took the next two to trail by a single frame. Spencer took the last frame of the session, leading 22–20. In the last session, Thorburn again narrowed the gap to one frame, but then Spencer won three in a row to achieve victory at 25–21. Thorburn reached the final of the 1978 Masters with wins over Doug Mountjoy and Spencer, losing 5–7 to Higgins in the final. He
480-410: A row to leave Thorburn behind 2–6, extending this to 2–9 at the start of the second session, and 5–12 at the end of the first day. Davis wrapped up victory on the second day, at 18–6, this being the first final at the Crucible to be completed in only three sessions. Commenting on Thorburn's performance in the final, snooker historian Clive Everton observed that the long matches he had played in reaching
528-467: A third successive year in 1980 , defeating Griffiths 17–10 in the final, and was part of the Canada Team that reached the final of the 1980 World Challenge Cup , where they lost 5–8 to Wales. He led Higgins 5–1 in the semi-final of the 1981 Masters , but lost the match 5–6. At the 1981 World Championship , as defending champion, he reached the semi-final where he lost 10–16 to Steve Davis . Following
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#1732876975328576-556: Is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980 , defeating Alex Higgins 18–16 in the final. He is generally recognised as the sport's first world champion from outside the United Kingdom—since Australian Horace Lindrum 's 1952 title is usually disregarded—and he remains
624-483: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Classic (snooker) The Classic was a professional snooker tournament, which began in 1980 and ended in 1992. It was originally a non- ranking event, but became ranking in 1984. Steve Davis won the event six times and was the last champion. The tournament started as the Wilsons Classic in January 1980. It
672-455: The 1952 World Snooker Championship usually being disregarded. After the match, Higgins said of Thorburn "he's a grinder", and the nickname "The Grinder" was subsequently associated with Thorburn, seen as apt for his slow, determined style of play. Thorburn has aspired to be known by the nickname "Champagne Cliff", but admitted later that it never caught on. He won the Canadian Open for
720-584: The 1981–82 season , Thorburn was the first non-British player to top the snooker world rankings . He won the invitational Masters in 1983 , 1985 , and 1986 , making him the first player to win the tournament three times and the first to retain the title. He retired from the main professional tour in 1996. Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2014, he competed later in his career in Snooker Legends events and on
768-462: The 1991 European Open . He lost the semi-final 0–5 to Ronnie O'Sullivan . Thorburn effectively retired from the professional tournament circuit after the 1995–96 season . Ranked 91st, and having not entered for any ranking tournaments in the 1996–97 season , he was quoted as saying that when he realized he would have to take part in tournament qualifying rounds for several weeks, "I just couldn't accept that ... When you've played at all of
816-515: The 2018 Seniors Masters at the Crucible Theatre, defeating Jonathan Bagley 2–0 in the final. Shortly before turning 74, he announced that the 2022 UK Seniors Championship would be his last competitive event. Thorburn played his last competitive match on 5 January 2022 against Kuldesh Johal , losing 0–3. Thorburn is the father of one son and one daughter, the latter of whom is transgender. Following his World Championship victory, he bought
864-583: The World Seniors Tour , winning the 2018 Seniors Masters at the Crucible Theatre at age 70. He retired from competitive snooker after the 2022 UK Seniors Championship . Thorburn was born on 16 January 1948 in Victoria, British Columbia . His parents separated when he was eighteen months old. He was abandoned by his mother, and after spending about two years in an orphanage during a custody dispute,
912-488: The 1985 final, and Alex Higgins 9–8 the following year. He won the opening ranking event in the 1985–86 snooker calendar , the Matchroom Trophy , where he beat Jimmy White in the final 12–10, having trailed 0–7. He was then runner-up in the corresponding event the following two seasons, 9–12 to Neal Foulds in 1986 , and 5–12 to Davis in 1987 . In 1988 Thorburn was fined £10,000, had two ranking points deducted, and
960-616: The North American Amateur Championship in 1971, equalling the record, jointly held by Joe Davis and George Chenier , for most century breaks in a single tournament. Thorburn played John Spencer in a series of three exhibition matches in 1971; although he lost all three, he was recommended by Spencer to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association , and he was accepted as a professional in 1972. Thorburn travelled to England in 1973, and on
1008-405: The day of his arrival, the reigning world snooker champion Alex Higgins offered to play him for £5 a frame. Thorburn, receiving 28 points start in each frame, claims to have beaten Higgins in every frame they played, and that Higgins refused to pay up. At the 1973 World Snooker Championship , his first major tournament on the professional snooker circuit, Thorburn defeated Dennis Taylor 9–8 in
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#17328769753281056-595: The design of the Fiat 124 : VAZ-2101 VAZ-2102 VAZ-2103 VAZ-2106 Lada Riva Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Lada Classic . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lada_Classic&oldid=1153684571 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
1104-479: The event the following year, this time defeating John Parrott 13–11. In 1989, Doug Mountjoy won his second consecutive ranking tournament, having previously won the UK Championship , by defeating Wayne Jones 13–11. The following year was a tournament of upsets, as only of four of the top sixteen players reached its seeded place. Steve James won his only ranking tournament by defeating Warren King 10–6 in
1152-514: The final had "left him so drained ... that he was able to offer only token resistance." Thorburn enjoyed a resurgence in form during the 1984–85 season . He reached the final of the Grand Prix , where he lost to Dennis Taylor 2–10. In the semi-final, Thorburn had defeated the reigning world champion Steve Davis 9–7. He also reached the final of the Classic in January 1985, where he met Thorne,
1200-410: The final was Higgins, the 1972 champion. Thorburn won the first frame, and Higgins won the next five. Thorburn won the seventh to make it 5–2, Higgins complaining after the frame that Thorburn had been standing in his line of sight, a claim that author and sports statistician Ian Morrison called "unfounded". Higgins led 6–3 at the end of the first session, extending this to 9–5 before Thorburn levelled
1248-493: The final, where he won 8–6 against Taylor. He reached the quarter-finals of the 1975 World Snooker Championship with wins over Morgan and Miles, losing the quarter-final 12–19 to Eddie Charlton , and, the following year, was eliminated 14–15 by Higgins in the first round of the 1976 World Snooker Championship . The 1977 World Snooker Championship was the first to be held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield . Thorburn became
1296-594: The final. The tournament moved to the Bournemouth International Centre in 1991. Stephen Hendry reached the final of the tournament in 1991 and 1992, but lost 4–10 against Jimmy White and 8–9 against Steve Davis respectively. After the 1992 event, it was discontinued and replaced with the Welsh Open . Sources: Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM (born 16 January 1948)
1344-440: The final. Davis was level at 8 frames each with Tony Meo and only the colours were left in the deciding frame. As Meo lined up on the yellow, a spectator yelled out "Come on, Tony!". Although Meo took time to compose himself after the shout, he missed the yellow and Davis cleared the colours to win. Mercantile Credit took over the sponsorship for the 1985 and the event was renamed Mercantile Credit Classic . Willie Thorne won
1392-412: The first Canadian world snooker championship finalist. He whitewashed Chris Ross 11–0 in qualifying, then recorded a 13–6 win over Williams. In the quarter-final, he won in the deciding frame, 13–12, against Charlton. He overcame Taylor 18–16 in the semi-final, and twelve hours later was facing Spencer in the final. Spencer built a 4–2 lead at the end of the first session , but Thorburn won four of
1440-614: The first player to make a maximum break at the World Championship , during the fourth frame of his second-round match against Griffiths, and only the second player to make an official maximum in professional competition (after Davis at the 1982 Classic ). Thorburn started the break by fluking a red . While he was completing the break, play stopped on the tournament's second table because his friend and fellow Canadian Bill Werbeniuk wanted to watch. The match against Griffiths ended at 3:51 am, Thorburn emerging as
1488-480: The first round then lost 15–16 to Williams in the second round. Later that year, he had a 4–0 win over Pat Houlihan at the 1973 Norwich Union Open before losing 2–4 to Higgins in the quarter-final. In the 1974 World Snooker Championship he defeated Alex McDonald 8–3 in qualifying then lost 4–8 to Paddy Morgan in the first round. He started the 1974–75 snooker season with a victory in the 1974 Canadian Open , knocking out Willie Thorne and Graham Miles to reach
Lada Classic - Misplaced Pages Continue
1536-528: The first televised maximum break (147) in his quarter-finals match against John Spencer . Terry Griffiths won in the final 9–8 against Steve Davis. In 1983 the field was expanded to 16 players and moved to the Spectrum Arena in Warrington . Bill Werbeniuk reached the only final of his career, but lost 9–5 against Steve Davis. In 1984, the event was granted ranking status. Steve Davis met Tony Meo in
1584-411: The latter winning five frames in a row to win 13–8 after the pair had been tied at 8–8. Thorburn was again runner-up in the 1986 Classic , this time losing to Jimmy White in the final 12–13. Thorburn fluked a pot on the green ball in the deciding frame, to leave White requiring snookers to win. White potted the brown and blue , then laid a snooker on the pink . Thorburn failed to hit
1632-495: The major venues in front of capacity crowds, it's hard to focus and get motivated playing with just one man and a dog watching." He played for Canada in the 1996 World Cup , where his team reached the quarter-finals. Thorburn won over one million pounds in prize money during the course of his professional career. Playing as an amateur again, he won the Canadian Amateur Championship in 2001; he had previously won
1680-504: The match at 9–9. Writing in The Times , Sydney Friskin described the match to this point as a contrast of styles: "the shrewd cumulative processes of Thorburn against the explosive break-building of Higgins". He also noted that each player had accused the other of distracting them during the match. Thorburn won the 19th and 20th frames, Higgins taking the following two to level at 11–11. Thorburn went ahead at 12–11 and 13–12, Higgins levelling
1728-437: The match both times, and the third session ending 13–13. In the final session, Higgins won the first frame then Thorburn won the next two, before Higgins equalized at 15–15. Thorburn led 16–15, and missed an easy brown ball that let Higgins in to make it 16–16. With a break of 119, Thorburn moved within a frame of victory at 17–16. In the 34th frame, leading 45–9 in points, he laid a snooker for Higgins, and made
1776-413: The next six frames and they finished the second session level at 6–6. Thorburn took the first two frames of the third session, and it finished with them level again, at 9–9. Thorburn built a 13–11 lead during the fourth session, and extended it to 15–11 before Spencer won four consecutive frames to make it 15–15; the next session again saw them share the frames, finishing at 18–18. Spencer won three frames in
1824-548: The only ranking tournament of his career, by beating Cliff Thorburn 13–8 in the final. In 1986 Jimmy White won his first ranking tournament by defeating Thorburn 13–12 in the final. In 1987 the event moved to the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool , but only just the last 16 played in the final stages, as the opening rounds were played earlier in the season. Steve Davis won in the final 13–12 against Jimmy White. Davis won
1872-465: The only world champion from the Americas . He was runner-up in two other world championships, losing 21–25 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 6–18 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final . At the 1983 tournament, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship match, achieving the feat in his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths . Ranked world number one during
1920-568: The pink, which gave White the points he needed, and White then potted the pink and black to win the title. He won further Masters titles by defeating Mountjoy 9–6 in 1985 , and White 9–5 in 1986 . He became the first player ever to retain the Masters title, and the first to win it three times. Thorburn experienced success in the Scottish Masters, an invitational event which opened the snooker season, in 1985 and 1986 . He defeated Thorne 9–7 in
1968-408: The quarter-final, he beat Jim Wych 13–6, having led 5–3, and 10–6. He led David Taylor 5–3 after their first semi-final session, and 11–4 at the end of the second. In the last session of the match, Thorburn extended his lead to 15–7 by the mid-session interval, then won 16–7 with a break of 114 in the 23rd frame, becoming the first player to reach a second final at the Crucible. His opponent in
Lada Classic - Misplaced Pages Continue
2016-514: The tournament in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977. During the 2006 World Championship , he flew to Sheffield to unveil a life-size painting of the maximum break that he made at the tournament in 1983. Painted by the artist Michael Myers, the work is on display at the Macdonald St. Paul's Hotel in Sheffield. Thorburn competed on the inaugural Snooker Legends Tour in 2010. At the age of 70, Thorburn won
2064-401: The winner, 13–12. He then defeated Kirk Stevens 13–12 (from 10–12) in the quarter-final, and Tony Knowles 16–15 (from 13–15) in the semi-final. During the semi-final, which finished at 12:45 am, Thorburn learnt that his wife Barbara had suffered a miscarriage on the day of his maximum break. He played Steve Davis in the final. From 2–2 after the first four frames, Davis won four in
2112-518: Was an eight-man invitation event recorded by Granada Television . John Spencer defeated Alex Higgins 4–3 in the final to become the inaugural champion. The second event was held in December the same year, with Steve Davis defeating Dennis Taylor 4–1 in the final. In 1982 , the Russian automobile manufacturer Lada became the sponsor of the event and it was renamed to Lada Classic . Steve Davis made
2160-473: Was banned for two ranking tournaments, by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The Association's disciplinary committee had decided that Thorburn had brought the sport into disrepute, as a drug test that he took at the 1988 British Open showed that he had "minute traces of cocaine in his urine sample". He compiled another maximum break in the 1989 Matchroom League , during
2208-506: Was knocked out of the 1978 World Snooker Championship by Charlton, 12–13 in the quarter-finals. In the 1978–79 snooker season he defeated Tony Meo 17–15 in the final to win the 1978 Canadian Open after having trailed 6–10 at the end of the first day of the final, but lost his opening matches in both the Masters (4–5 to Perrie Mans ) and the World Championship (10–13 to John Virgo ). He retained his Canadian Open title in 1979 , taking
2256-646: Was published in 1987 by Hamlyn, and his autobiography , Playing for Keeps , co-written with Everton, was published by Partridge Press in the same year. Thorburn is the head coach for cue sports at the Canadian Billiards and Snooker Association, director of coaching and an ambassador for the Pan American Billiards & Snooker Association, and a member of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association International Expert Coaching Advisory Panel. Thorburn's record in ranking tournament finals
2304-524: Was raised by his father and his paternal grandmother. He was told that his mother had died, but, aged twenty, learnt that she was still alive. He played pool and lacrosse in his youth, and set a one-game scoring record of ten goals in the Greater Victoria Minor Lacrosse Association "midget division" in 1958. He left school at the age of 16, and travelled across Canada playing pool and snooker money matches, taking jobs as
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