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Allister Carter

After a slow start to the 2009/10 season, Carter soon found a high level of consistency, and was eventually rewarded with a place in the top four of the official rankings for the first time, as he stepped up to a career-high position of No 4 in the world.
The Tiptree cueman won just one match in the first two ranking events - though the birth of his first child, a son called Max, undoubtedly was a factor in his shaky form. Once he had re-established his sleep pattern and practice routine, Carter got going with a run to the quarter-finals of the Pukka Pies UK Championship.
January in Newport saw him defending his Welsh Open title, and he made an admirable attempt to retain the trophy, getting to the final of the totesport.com-sponsored event with wins over Mark Davis, Neil Robertson, Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire. He was no match for John Higgins, though, falling to a 9-4 defeat.
"John played out of his skin and it was hard for me to produce my best when he was like that,” said Carter. "I'm gutted not to retain the title but this is a building block for me.”
The Essex player kept his momentum going by reaching the semi-finals of the Sanyuan Foods China Open, which set him up nicely for the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.
Victories over Jamie Cope and Joe Perry saw him into the quarter-finals, where he enjoyed a memorable 13-12 win over Shaun Murphy, coming from 8-4 down to eventually win on the colours in the deciding frame. However, he was denied a place in the final by eventual champion Neil Robertson, losing 17-12.
The previous season had seen Carter shrug off the unwanted unofficial title of 'best player never to win a ranking event'. At the Welsh Open he beat Jimmy White, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy and Anthony Hamilton to set up a final meeting with Joe Swail, who was playing in his first ranking final after 18 years as a professional. The Ulsterman looked stronger in the early stages and led 5-2.
But Carter ended any doubts that he has the capacity to bring his best game to the big occasion as he reeled off seven consecutive frames to run out a 9-5 winner, firing in breaks of 54, 116, 109, 61, 91 and 67 in a devastating burst of scoring.
"I put myself under a lot of pressure in the first session because I wanted to play well," he said. "In the evening session I forgot about that and just focussed on the balls. It’s a massive achievement and I hope there’s more to come. It means everything to me, it’s what I’ve been practising for since I was a kid. It’s all about winning, to be able to go home and say no one has beaten you."
The 2008 World Championship saw Carter reach his first ranking final and make his first competitive 147 break. He beat Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry to get there, and made that memorable maximum against Ebdon, becoming only the sixth player to make a 147 at the Crucible. "On the last few balls I was just playing on instinct because I was shaking like a leaf,” said Carter, who shared the 147 bonus with Ronnie O’Sullivan, picking up a cool £78,500.
However, it was former practice partner and Essex colleague O’Sullivan who had the last laugh, as a physically and mentally drained Carter managed to win just eight frames in the best-of-35 final.
Carter turned professional in 1996 and was tipped for the top when he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix three years later. He beat six players including Stephen Hendry and Marco Fu at Preston before his run was finally ended by John Higgins. The following month, Carter won the B&H Championship to earn a wild card to the Masters.
Carter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2003 but now has the illness under control. "It’s still there, but it’s in remission and I have regular blood tests now. I’ve seen what happened to Paul (Hunter) and that could happen to any of us.  If you have your health you’re a rich man," he said.
The player nicknamed The Captain is training to be a commercial pilot and hopes to be ready to swap 147s for 747s when he retires from professional snooker. Carter also owns and runs Chelmsford Snooker Centre.

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