Neil Robertson Wins the Riga Masters

Plant-based snooker star Neil Robertson has won the Riga Masters, beating Jack Lisowski 5-2 in the final in Latvia on Sunday, July 29 to claim the first ranking title of the 2018/19 season, the WPBSA reports.

The Australian took the first two scrappy frames, then made a superb 117 to go 3-0 up. Lisowski, playing in his first ever ranking final, pulled frames back but Robertson won a safety exchange on the last red in the seventh to seal it. Earlier in the day he had thrashed Stuart Carrington 5-0 in the semi-finals.

It's Robertson's 14th ranking title, taking him level with Mark Selby in joint sixth on the all-time list, and he becomes the first player to win in Riga twice after his 2016 victory. He also pockets £50,000. SnookerHQ notes it is the fourth time in six seasons he has won the opening ranking event, and he has now won silverware in every calendar year since 2006. Not bad for a man who changed his cue this summer for the first time in 20 years.

Robertson switched to a 100% plant-based diet in late 2014, inspired by fellow player Peter Ebdon. He doesn't call himself vegan because he hasn't been able to find vegan snooker shoes, but he never eats animal products. He has described his routine:

I always start the day with a carrot juice with my juicer followed by a 6 banana smoothie with half a bag of kale for breakfast. I bring another smoothie with me to the club which has another 6 bananas in it mixed with some other fruit. When I get home I make a salad and for dinner usually a pasta or rice dish.

Originally, he said, it was about health: “I felt I needed to eat healthier to give myself the chance to get the most out of my career,” he told Great Vegan Athletes.

Robertson joins a summer of plant-powered success. Catra Corbett ran 310 miles from San Francisco to Yosemite in record time, Vivian Kong won Asian fencing gold, and JaVale McGee lifted his second NBA title.

Twelve bananas a day and another trophy. Powered by plants.