To Hull and back

I love sport because it's one of the only walks of life where fairytales can happen.

In the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open qualifiers today, Robin Hull played in his first ranking event match since the 2007/08 season, after which he was forced to prematurely retire from the sport due to illness.

A virus hindered his balance, meaning he couldn't walk in a straight line, never mind play snooker.

He played in the World Championship in 2002 and earned a place among the top 32 in 2003, but many people thought we'd seen the last of the Finland's greatest player of all time.

But after breezing through this year's Q School, he took his place back on tour - and won his first match today 5-1 against professional newbie Dechawat Poomjaeng.

This marks a remarkable turnaround for a player who is still one of only three players to have made more than 100 competitive centuries but not been a member of the top 16.

Based on today's display, it looks like we could still be seeing some more of 36-year-old Hull.