Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 16, 2023
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Cliff Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "the Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the 1980 World Snooker Championship, becoming the first world champion in snooker's modern era from outside the United Kingdom. He remains the sport's only world champion from the Americas. Ranked world number one during the 1981–82 season, he was the first non-British player to top the world rankings. In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship. He is the first player to win the Masters three times (in 1983, 1985, and 1986) 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 in Snooker Legends events and on the World Seniors Tour, winning the 2018 Seniors Masters. He retired from competitive snooker after the 2022 UK Seniors Championship. (Full article...)