Shaun Murphy shocked the sporting world when he won the World Snooker Championships as a 150/1 outsider. Soon afterwards people discovered the 23 year old was a Christian. Here he tells his story.

MIKE: Do you ever have that thing where you're in a pub and somebody challenges you to a quick game of pool?

SHAUN: "Yeah it happens ALL the time! It's something that, when you're playing badly and the results aren't going your way, it's the worst thing in the world. But soon after The Crucible finished, Clare and I went to Turkey for a week's holiday. The owner of the bar that was next to our hotel was an avid snooker fan and recognized me immediately. So no sooner had we walked through the door then I'd had a picture taken. The next night he'd already had it developed so I had to sign it and then it was up the following night. Pride of place in the bar! And of course, by the end of the week the challenge had been laid down that I had to play him at pool. He told everybody that he was playing the world champion. So we turned up at the bar, it was packed and there we were playing on this pool table that was ropy.

MIKE: Did you win?

SHAUN: I did as it goes. Pride was at stake! He wasn't the only person in the building who knew who I was so I thought, I've got to fly the British flag and do my thing!"

MIKE: Take us through winning the championships then? So you turn up and you're 150/1 and you're playing the early rounds; at what point did you start getting excited and start thinking, 'This could happen!'?

SHAUN: I got excited before I even kicked off. I'd already won two matches to get to the world championships at The Crucible itself. I had to play two qualifiers and I beat Marcus Campbell. And then on my way to the second qualifier match - which was in Pontins at Prestatyn, North Wales - my coach and I, because I only live 10 minutes from The Crucible, my coach and I did a bit of a drive-by. And we said, 'Right, let's go and win this match and we'll be playing here in a few weeks!' So we actually drove past the venue and cased the joint if you like. Then we went to Pontins, won the match and we qualified. So I was already excited by that stage.

The thing with the world championships which is different to all the other snooker events is that the draw is done live by the BBC on Radio 5 Live. So we were all round in my friend's house listening and my name came out. We'd hoped for a good draw and we got a good draw. I got Chris Small. And that was one of the better draws.
I played my match against Chris. I'd never won a match at The Crucible before on my two previous appearances. I was very nervous because I just wanted to get over the line, and I beat him 10-5. Then I had a few days off. I was into the second round thinking "There's only 16 people left and in a couple of weeks we could be lifting that trophy!

MIKE: So who did you play next?

SHAUN: Next I played John Higgins, who's one of the best players of all time. I'd never beaten John in a competitive match or a practise session; which I've had a few with him. I've been up to Glasgow and practised with him on a number of occasions. Never ever taken a set off him, even in practise. So to come up against him in the second round of the championship was difficult. But I think I beat him 13-8 or something like that. With no disrespect to John, but over the two days I completely out-manoeuvred him and came through the victor. Which led me on to Steve Davis in the quarterfinals, who was my idol as a kid. So to be playing him in his second home was a dream come true! I beat him 13-4.

MIKE: That must have been a shock!

Shaun: "It was a bit of a shock to the system because I just thought, wow, what can I do now?! I've beaten two world champions, a top 16 player in Chris Small and I'm in the semi-finals. Now there's 4 of you left and I've knocked out two of the greats! Then it was Peter Ebdon, an old practise partner of mine because I used to live in the same town as him. We used to practise together quite a lot but we'd never played competitively. We had a real ding-dong of a match. He won the first session heavily. I won the second session heavily and after two were pretty level. Going into the final session we were twelve each and I won the next five to win the match 17-12. It was a real good match and many of the people who I've spoken to who went to the world championships said that they thought that was the match of the tournament - disregarding all others.
So that put me into the final against Matthew Stevens. And what an experience that was! I could hardly pot a ball for the first day and I finished the day's play 10-6 behind and really was miles away from where I wanted to be. Drove home that night saying to the team, well that hasn't really been our day. But I had a belief somewhere that tomorrow, the day after, would be my day. And lo and behold I was right. Went out and eventually came out the winner, 18-16."

MIKE: Afterwards it emerged that you were a Christian. Tell me about your faith. Were you brought up in a Christian household?"

SHAUN: No. I was brought up in a Catholic household. Not mega-practising by any means. Went to Catholic infants and junior school but fell away from it very soon after that. Once the choice became mine whether I wanted to go to church or not. I didn't! And fell away from God really. I always believed in God from being a kid because my mum and dad taught me that. And I used to pray, I didn't know who to or why, but I did. And then I got saved 6 years ago.

MIKE: How did that happen?