Antoine Cuschieri produced a strong rally to come from behind and complete a stunning victory over Lee Kendall in the Masters final at the World 8-Ball Pool championships in Blackpool on Monday night.

The 33-year-old came from 8-5 down to beat the English player 10-8 and scoop a £5,000 pay cheque for the tournament winner.

Cuschieri was mobbed by delighted Maltese team-mates after sinking the winning 8-Ball.

Crestfallen Kendall had to make do with a £2,000 consolation prize. But it seems that it wasn’t much consolation for the long serving player who was clearly upset.

In contrast and within seconds of his winning pot, Cuschieri was on the phone home, breaking news of his famous win over last year’s World Championship runner-up.

Cuschieri said: “At the beginning I didn’t think that luck was on my side. But I still believed I could do it as I’d beaten some good players just to get to the final.”

“It’s certainly the best and biggest win of my career,” added Cuschieri who has been playing pool for two decades.

“Hopefully, my win will be a big boost to all the young players back home and give them belief they can also win titles like this.”

Cuschieri reached the tournament final by edging out Liam Farrell 9-8 in the semi-finals while Kendall boosted his tag as favourite by swamping Giuseppe D’Imperio 9-2.

Cuschieri also claimed the scalps of Jack Pople (8-2), Kris Hampson (8-2), team-mate, Chris Tabone (7-5), Partab Singh (7-3), Lucas Venter (7-2), Craig Waddingham (7-6) and Andrew Moore (7-1).