Inside wild World Snooker after-party as champ Brecel leaves at 4am and Selby stays even LATER for karaoke with legend
NEW world champion Luca Brecel partied until 4am after his snooker success – with beaten finalist Mark Selby staying out even later.
The pair partied the night away after the Belgian Bullet held off Selby’s spirited fightback to win 18-15 at the Crucible.
It was Brecel’s first World Snooker Championship victory and he scooped up a huge £500,000 win bonus.
And the 28-year-old celebrated his maiden win in style with a wild night out.
Four-times world champ Selby also appeared to enjoy his evening as he classily celebrated with his opponent.
The pair were joined by friends and family at a private VIP party at the Mercure Hotel as they partied the night away in Sheffield.
The event is a traditional shindig for the snooker champion and those who attended certainly seemed to make the most out of it.
Selby even had the DJ play ‘We Are the Champions’ in a wonderful gesture to Brecel.
The Belgian wore a baseball cap and could be seen looking all loved-up with girlfriend Laura Vanoverberghe.
story showed the snooker star affectionately sticking his tongue towards her cheek while Queen’s hit song rang out across the venue.
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Brecel, wearing a baseball cap, a DSQUARED2 top and ripped jeans, was also pictured with his arm around Selby as the pair abandoned their waistcoats and dickie bow ties.
The Belgian Bullet still had his winner’s medal draped around his neck as he smiled for the camera.
Brecel left the party at around 4am but had one final act before finally going to sleep.
He took a picture of the sparkling world championship trophy on his bed and captioned the photo “Champion of the world. Goodnight.”
But Selby stayed up later and took to the karaoke with a snooker legend.
The 39-year-old sang Sweet Caroline with the 1997 world champion Ken Doherty.
Selby was looking to win his fifth world championship and had looked in good nick after hitting the first ever 147 in a Crucible final.
But he could not overcome Brecel who had never even won before at world level ahead of this year’s tournament.
But the snooker whizz quickly made a name for himself as he dispatched seven-times world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarters before pulling off an unprecedented comeback from nine frames down against Si Jiahui.
His achievement is even more extraordinary given Brecel claimed he had only practised for 15 minutes in the weeks before the tournament began.
He instead spent his time throwing darts, playing computer games and partying with friends until 7am.
Brecel also revealed his unusual preparation before his incredible win over O’Sullivan.
He said: “Before the tournament I was out partying and staying up late until 6 or 7am, playing Fifa with my friends, having drinks and not practising.
“Even after I beat Mark Williams I got home at 7am by car, and that same day we went out again until five or six in the morning.
“I was drunk as hell. The next day I had to drive back up again, so it’s a totally different preparation.”
