Please note that this is NOT an official website. At this point in time Ronnie O’ Sullivan does not have an official website, nor does he wish to have one.
The 35-year-old from Malta had never previously advanced beyond the last 16 stage of a Q Tour but managed to win through seven matches to make history for his nation by becoming the first ever Maltese event winner.
Despite falling at the final hurdle, it was an unforgettable coming of age performance 17-year-old Edward Jones from England as he reached the title match at a Q Tour competition for the first time – his previous best run being the last 64.
A total of 109 players from 24 nations contested the four-day tournament, which was hosted alongside the 2026 European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA) European Championships in Bulgaria.
Busuttil was perhaps not one of the tournament favourites upon arrival in Sofia but he swept aside cueists from six different countries to earn a maiden title match appearance.
Victories over Bulgaria’s George Petrunko (4-2) and France’s Niel Vincent (4-0) put the Maltese player into a last 32 contest against former Q Tour event finalist Patrick Whelan.
A top break of 95 earned Busuttil a 4-1 win against Whelan to equal his best run and he then beat Matvei Lagodzinschii, who had earlier made the tournament high break of 137, to reach the final day in Sofia.
Busuttil’s dream run continued as he dropped just a single frame across the quarter and semi-finals – overcoming Riley Powell (4-1) and Sybren Sokolowski (4-0) to reach the final.
Awaiting him was teenager Jones, who had never previously made it beyond the last 64 but had earned a place in the title match with outstanding performances to defeat former professionals Peter Devlin and Dean Young among others.
It was Busuttil’s day, however, as he managed to complete a 4-0 victory over Jones to make history as the first Maltese Q Tour champion.
Reflecting on his success, Busuttil said: “I’m over the moon, I can’t believe it to be honest. I was just playing one frame at a time from the very beginning and this happened!”
“I won the European Six-Reds Championship earlier in the week which gave me some confidence. I wasn’t doing anything different specifically, I just kept going”
Speaking about his final opponent, Busuttil said: “I think Edward (Jones) is unbelievable. I saw some of his matches before the final and he was hitting some big breaks. I think he started off better than me but the first frame was crucial.”
Looking ahead, he added: “I feel confident going forward – I’m aiming for the number one spot now.”
The 2026 Scottish Open Qualifiers were played over the four previous days and, hereafter, you will find the reports shared by WST as well as the full list of results. Ronnie has not entered that event, which was probably the sensible thing to do … It was certainly a better decision than entering and withdrawing again. Anyway…
Scottish amateur wild cards Jack Borwick and Steven Wardropper both scored superb wins in the first qualifying round of the Scottish Open, needing one more victory to reach the final stages in Edinburgh.
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Borwick, age 19 (pictured), enjoyed a 4-1 success against Ross Muir, highlighted by breaks of 54, 50 and 78. The teenager now meets Stan Moody on Tuesday with the winner to progress to the televised stages in December.
Wardropper, age 18, edged out Xu Yichen 4-3, compiling a run of 54 in the decider to set up a match with Jordan Brown.
Austria’s Florian Nuessle fired breaks of 133 and 112 in a 4-3 win over Deng Haohui, while China’s in-form Yao Pengcheng saw off Hammad Miah 4-2. Antoni Kowalski came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to edge out Sam Craigie 4-3. Last season’s Rookie of the Year Michal Szubarczyk notched his first win of the current campaign, beating Ka Wai Cheung 4-2 with a top break of 84.
I am very pleased with Michal Szubarczyk win … but I would have preferred if it had come over another opponent as I like Cheung as well.
Onyee Ng scored a tremendous 4-0 victory in a Hong Kong derby against three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu in the first qualifying round of the BetVictor Scottish Open.
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Three-time World Women’s Champion Ng will face Xu Si on Wednesday with the winner to go through to the final stages in Edinburgh in December.
Ng and Fu, Hong Kong’s most decorated snooker stars, have played three times in ranking events within the past ten months, and Fu won the first two of those but today Ng dominated, making top breaks of 66 and 53.
Jimmy White followed up on last week’s win over Matthew Stevens in the International Championship qualifiers by beating Leone Crowley 4-2 with a top run of 69. The Whirlwind now meets Liu Hongyu.
Liam Davies top scored with 77 in a 4-1 defeat of Julien Leclercq, while Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon fired runs of 74, 80, 79 and 121 in a 4-0 victory over Paul Norris. Jamie Clarke came from 3-0 down to beat Fergal Quinn 4-3 with a top break of 98.
Oliver Sykes edged out Reanne Evans 4-3, while Liam Graham beat Bai Yulu by the same scoreline. Connor Benzey notched his second win of the season with a 4-3 defeat of Anton Kazakov.
Chatchapong Nasa will have the chance to reach for the stars when he takes on defending champion Chris Wakelin in the televised stages of the BetVictor Scottish Open, having beaten Louis Heathcote 4-3 in the final qualifying round.
Thailand’s Nasa won just two matches during his debut pro season in 2025/26, but the much-improved 28-year-old has already won six in the current campaign. Having beaten Allan Taylor 4-1 earlier in the week, he edged out Heathcote today despite seeing a 3-0 lead reduced to 3-3. After taking a 35-minute deciding frame on the colours, Nasa will head to Edinburgh in December to play Wakelin in the last 64.
Iulian Boiko edged out Ben Mertens 4-3 with a top break of 84 and will face John Higgins in Scotland. Aaron Hill was in magnificent form in a 4-2 win over Antoni Kowalski, firing runs of 139, 121, 56 and 100.
Perth’s Scott Donaldson qualified for his home tournament as he saw off Mitchell Mann 4-2, while Matthew Stevens won the deciding frame on the final black to beat Florian Nuessle 4-3. Luca Brecel made it three wins out of three in the current set of qualifiers as he beat Gong Chenzhi 4-0 with a top run of 71. Stan Moody top scored with 83 in a 4-1 win over Jack Borwick.
Regarding Florian Nuessle defeat to Matthew Stevens … it surely is a difficult one to take because Florian had battled very hard to come back from 2-0 down and 3-1 down to force the decider, only to lose it on the final black 💔 … and he also had made the highest break of the match, an 88.
Anthony McGill secured a place in his home tournament by beating Wang Xinbo 4-2 in the final qualifying round of the BetVictor Scottish Open.
Glasgow’s McGill will meet Si Jiahui in the televised stages in Edinburgh in December. Tour rookie Wang was on a run of four consecutive qualifying wins and took the opening frame today with a break of 77, before two-time ranking event winner McGill went 2-1 up with runs of 64 and 60. Wang’s superb 132 made it 2-2 but McGill won the last two frames with a top break of 72 to progress to the last 64.
In-form Liam Davies edged out Long Zehuang 4-3 and has now won 19 matches on the tour this season. Robbie Williams top scored with 100 in a 4-3 defeat of Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon while Mateusz Baranowski enjoyed a 4-1 success against Ricky Walden.
Matthew Selt top scored with 92 in a 4-1 win over Scotland’s Liam Graham, while Liam Pullen enjoyed a 4-0 success against Artemijs Zizins.
As a fan, born and living in mainland Europe, I (almost)1 always “support” the mainland Europe players and there were quite a few “satisfying” results in those qualifiers. 😄 The big shame was that Boiko and Mertens had to play each other is the final round… 😕
This might seem bizarre but the exception is Luca Brecel. Yes, he is Belgian, like me, but far too often his attitude has not been great and he has not done his fantastic talent justice at all. ↩︎
Kyren Wilson narrowly avoided a massive shock defeat in the International Championship qualifying round as he came from 5-2 down to beat world number 89 Leone Crowley 6-5.
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Former World Champion Wilson survived a tense deciding frame and booked his place in the final stages of the £825,000 world ranking event in Nanjing.
Ireland’s Crowley looked favourite to score the biggest win of his career when he took five of the first seven frames with a top run of 94, though Wilson did make the highest break of the event so far with a superb 142 in the third. Crowley then had chances in each of the last four frames but was unable to get over the line.
Trailing 53-35 in the decider, Crowley attempted a difficult thin cut on the final yellow to a baulk corner, but it stayed in the jaws and a relieved Wilson was able to add the points he needed.
Jimmy White scored one of his best wins in recent seasons as he beat Matthew Stevens 6-5. White, age 64, built a 5-2 lead with a top break of 104 before Stevens fought back to 5-5. The Whirlwind then dominated the last frame to secure a trip to China.
African champion Mina Awad, playing only his second professional match, enjoyed a 6-1 victory over Zak Surety. David Grace fired breaks of 135, 103 and 117 in a 6-5 win over Tom Ford, while Neil Robertson cruised to a 6-0 success over Alexander Ursenbacher with top runs of 105 and 100.
China’s Huang Jiahao top scored with 103 as he came from 5-3 down to edge out Jimmy Robertson 6-5, while Barry Hawkins eased to a 6-0 whitewash of Oliver Sykes with a top run of 85. Gao Yang won a thrilling tussle against Jordan Brown 6-5, making breaks of 73, 125, 98, 105, 83 and 51, and taking the decider by potting the last pink and black.
Yao Pengcheng maintained his impressive form in qualifiers this season as he beat Elliot Slessor 6-2 with a top break of 83, while Stephen Maguire made a crucial break of 73 in the deciding frame to beat Mateusz Baranowski 6-5. Zhang Anda, who won this title in 2023, saw off Artemijs Zizins 6-0 with a top break of 72. Jak Jones, player of the season so far with two ranking titles under his belt, beat Liam Pullen 6-3 with a top run of 108.
Mark Williams maintained his fine recent form as he made a century and five more breaks over 50 in a 6-4 victory over Andrew Higginson to qualify for the final stages of the International Championship.
Williams enjoyed a tremendous run to the final of last week’s English Open, becoming the oldest ranking finalist for 40 years, and after defeat to Ali Carter on that occasion the 51-year-old got back to winning ways today as he booked his passage to Nanjing. Runs of 100, 58, 80, 54, 98 and 83 helped Williams get the better of a high quality tussle.
Fellow ‘Class of 92’ member John Higgins also progressed with a 6-2 win over Craig Steadman, making breaks of 50, 62, 75, 128, 53 and 79. China Open champion Mark Selby was in excellent shape in a 6-1 thrashing of Luo Zetao, compiling runs of 54, 70, 72, 51, 71 and 121.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh won a Thai derby against Chatchapong Nasa 6-0 with a top run of 111, while talented tour rookie Wang Xinbo beat David Gilbert 6-4 with a top break of 94. Ashley Carty edged out Jack Lisowski 6-5, taking the decider by potting the blue and pink.
Dylan Emery enjoyed a 6-4 win over Xiao Guodong, winning the last five frames with a top break of 105. Luca Brecel’s upturn in form continued as he beat Jamie Clarke 6-3, while India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha made a 114 in a 6-1 success against Deng Haohui.
Shaun Murphy recovered a 3-0 deficit to beat Zhao Hanyang 6-4 in the qualifying round of the International Championship.
World number seven Murphy looked in danger of a surprise defeat when he lost the first three frames against 83-ranked Zhao, who made a break of 107 in the third. But Murphy fought back to take six of the next seven, scoring runs of 78, 74, 77 and 59, as he booked his place in the final stages of this world ranking event in Nanjing.
Anton Kazakov scored the best win of his career so far as he knocked out new English Open champion Ali Carter 6-2. Ukraine’s 21-year-old Kazakov fired breaks of 72, 69, 64, 54 and 69.
Joe O’Connor came through a tough test against Bai Yulu, winning 6-5 with a top break of 100. Gary Wilson came from 2-0 down to see off Onyee Ng 6-2 with a top run of 97. Wuhan Open champion Chang Bingyu whitewashed Fergal Quinn 6-0 with breaks of 54, 73, 79, 81, 93 and 50.
Stan Moody top scored with 76 in a 6-0 win over Panchaya Channoi, while in-form Liam Davies made a 108 in a 6-1 thrashing of Anthony McGill.
I will not even try to analyse all these results, it would be boring and unproductive.
Just some observations …
In this event, other than three matches against wildcards at the venue, all qualifying matches were seen as “round 2” matches, meaning that the losers get something for their efforts which is only right. They played, they brought value to the tournament and the sponsors, they should get something for it. I’m not sure whether this is a “trick” by WPBSA/WST to go around Hearn’s idea that losers should get nothing, but if it is … bravo!
Among those “losers” is Bai Yulu who pushed Joe O’Connor to a decider. She is ranked 126th, he is ranked 30th. It was certainly a “worthy” effort, deserving of some remuneration.
Young Liam Davies, 20 years old, beat Anthony McGill by 6-1 ! I know that McGill struggles to motivate himself fully for those soulless qualifiers but it is a very good result for the youngster all the same.
The “gentle giant” David Grace beat Tom Ford in a deciding frame. I didn’t see the match but it was probably a very entertaining one: they played eleven frames and, in the process, Tom scored breaks of 98, 77, 55 and 53 and David scored breaks of 135, 103, 117, 61 and 60. In the absence of fans, the flies who were lucky to be present around the table were thrilled, I’m sure…
… and today … we move to another set of qualifiers!
Snooker’s tournament structure debate is about more than flat draws
There are genuine problems with the current tournament structure on the World Snooker Tour, but calls for flat draws and a smaller tour risk addressing the wrong issue.
“I didn’t ask for this or expect it when I posted this post while I was on the toilet,” the 30 year-old, who is also a talented rapper, joked on Facebook afterward.
Devlin argued this week that the current tiered system is unfair to those lower down the rankings, pointing to the example of Liam Davies winning 17 matches this season and earning £38,900 compared with Ronnie O’Sullivan winning five ranking-event matches and collecting £48,000.
“Having to win three or four matches to get to the big names, then lose to them, and they earn more points than you is crazy in my book,” Devlin wrote.
He also questioned the logic of qualifying being used as evidence that players are match-sharp and ready for the main event when, in some cases, the two stages are separated by several weeks or even months.
His comments were backed by ranking event winners Gary Wilson and Alfie Burden, while former world champion Shaun Murphy agreed that a flat draw was the fairest option.
Burden, who first turned professional in 1994 but has spent most of his career in the lower section of the rankings, was particularly critical of the lack of exposure for up-and-coming talents.
“The current state of the tournament structure is simply an absolute shambles and disgracefully unfair to the majority of the tour,” last year’s Shoot Out champion said.
“For new pros and young players in the game now, playing in soulless qualifying venues for every tournament is no way to develop young players and give them the experience they require to develop.”
For a young professional trying to establish a career, reaching a major venue can be as valuable as the result itself.
Playing in front of a crowd, dealing with television conditions, and experiencing the atmosphere of the sport’s biggest events are all part of becoming an accomplished professional.
But does that necessarily make a flat draw fairer?
A flat draw is equal in the sense that everyone begins at the same point. A tiered draw, on the other hand, rewards players who have performed well enough to establish themselves higher up the rankings.
Why should the world number one and the player ranked 100th automatically receive exactly the same starting position?
Rankings are supposed to mean something, and there is nothing particularly unusual about higher-ranked players receiving benefits from having established themselves near the top of the sport.
The biggest tournaments also need venues that can accommodate their schedules, broadcasters need predictable programming, and promoters need to sell tickets.
There is an obvious attraction in guaranteeing that the sport’s biggest names will appear at the main venue rather than potentially requiring several rounds before they enter the competition.
That doesn’t mean the current system is beyond criticism. It simply means that removing the tiered structure would create a different set of problems.
It’s worth remembering that the World Snooker Tour not long ago almost wholly adopted a flat-draw system for a decade-long span, and there were plenty of problems and criticisms associated with it.
The draw structure isn’t really the biggest problem here. The ranking system is.
The prize-money-based rankings have created huge differences in how significantly an individual tournament can affect a player’s position.
The 2027 world champion is set to receive a record £625,000 payday compared with £312,500 for this season’s UK Championship winner and £100,000 for Ali Carter’s recent E nglish Open triumph.
Jak Jones, meanwhile, earned £33,000 for triumphing at the season-opening Championship League.
The difference in prize money is of course understandable as the World Championship represents the biggest tournament in snooker, while the Championship League – played behind closed doors – is an entirely different proposition.
But why should the amount of money attached to an event automatically decide how valuable winning it is for the rankings?
That’s the problem with using prize money as the ranking system. A player’s ranking should tell us how well and how consistently he has actually performed.
Neil Robertson came within one match victory of returning to the world number one position last month, but can anyone really say that he has genuinely come anywhere near to being the best player across the last two-year period?
Prize money is affected by commercial considerations, event budgets, and how much a promoter is willing to put into a tournament.
It’s for these reasons that a lot of the Chinese tournaments have grown in importance (never mind the ill-fated Saudi Arabia Masters), with events on the likes of the Home Nations Series deemed less vital as a result of the limited prize funds on offer.
A points-based system, more like the one used in tennis, would offer a much cleaner way of doing it.
The biggest events could carry the most points, with other tournaments given their own set value depending on where they sit in the calendar.
The World Championship could still be vastly more important than a lower-tier event without needing its prize fund to determine exactly how much it counts towards the rankings.
It could also help the very players who are currently complaining about the qualifying system.
If a player lower down the list starts putting together good results, those wins should move him or her up the rankings in a more meaningful way under a well-implemented points system.
Climb high enough and the rewards are obvious – start entering tournaments later, face fewer qualifiers, and get more opportunities to play at the big venues.
In that sense, the answer to a player being stuck in qualifying doesn’t necessarily have to be eliminating qualifying.
It could be providing a better escape out of it.
There is another peculiarity in the current system that makes things even more complicated – the Players Series.
The World Grand Prix, Players Championship, and Tour Championship are among the richest events on the calendar, with qualification based on the one-year ranking list.
Once a player qualifies, however, he receives ranking money even if he loses his opening match.
That’s different from the vast majority of ranking events, where a player’s first-round defeat means no ranking money is earned.
That doesn’t mean the Players Series shouldn’t exist, or that those events aren’t deserving of their lucrative status.
It does, however, add another layer to a ranking system that is already heavily influenced by the financial value attached to individual tournaments.
There is a difference between saying the ranking system is unfair and saying every player should have the same route through every tournament.
The former is increasingly difficult to dismiss. The latter is much more debatable.
Once a player qualifies, however, he receives ranking money even if he loses his opening match.
That’s different from the vast majority of ranking events, where a player’s first-round defeat means no ranking money is earned.
That doesn’t mean the Players Series shouldn’t exist, or that those events aren’t deserving of their lucrative status.
It does, however, add another layer to a ranking system that is already heavily influenced by the financial value attached to individual tournaments.
There is a difference between saying the ranking system is unfair and saying every player should have the same route through every tournament.
The former is increasingly difficult to dismiss. The latter is much more debatable.
That seems an extraordinary trade-off for a sport that is supposed to be expanding globally.
In recent years, snooker has been developing in markets beyond its traditional strongholds, with more players from emerging countries like Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, and Austria attempting to break onto the professional circuit.
Reducing the size of the tour would inevitably make that pathway narrower.
There are genuine questions around the amount of time lower-ranked players spend in qualifying venues, the development opportunities available to younger professionals, and whether the current balance between the top end and the rest of the tour is right.
Those issues could be addressed without abandoning the benefits of having a tiered system.
Ali Carter’s response to the debate was typically straightforward: “As a pro for 30 years, whatever the format – if you are good enough, you will get there.”
Professional sport is built around a hierarchy, and players who establish themselves at the top should receive some benefit from doing so.
The bigger question is why snooker is using prize money as its main way of measuring achievement when the amount of money attached to an event and the difficulty of winning it are not always the same thing.
A points-based ranking system, with properly defined values for different tournaments, could give the biggest events the weight they deserve while also giving players lower down the rankings a clearer opportunity to climb.
That would leave room to look at the qualifying system and find better ways of giving young professionals experience at major venues, without requiring every player to start every tournament at the same point.
Snooker doesn’t need to flatten everything or shrink the tour.
It needs a ranking system that better reflects what actually happens on the table.
I totally agree with David’s analysis and I believe that the answer to those issues exist: an ELO type point system. Basically in this system, the result of a match is a transfer of points from the loser to the winner, and how many points are transferred depends on the ELO rating of both players ahead of the match and the actual outcome of the match, not just who won and who lost, but what the score actually is. At the core of such system is a mathematical probabilistic model. The more “unlikely” a result is ahead of the match1, the bigger the transfer of points. I have already touched the subject on this blog and the biggest objection presented to me was always that it would be difficult to understand by the average fan, and those who bet on matches. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about the latter objection. You don’t want risk to lose money? Don’t bet. It’s that simple. As for the first objection, programs could be developed2 that could present the fans with the various possible “monetary outcome” associated with every possible result.
Based on their previous rating, and results of their previous matches if any. ↩︎
Probably already exist as ELO is used in some other sports ↩︎
Mark Allen has pulled out of this month’s Shenzhen Open for personal reasons.
Allen was due to face Ben Mertens on Monday September 28th. Mertens will receive a bye to the last 32.
The event runs from September 28 to October 4.
Now this is becoming a bit puzzling, worrying even. Mark has not played competitively at all this season. “Personal reasons” could be anything really so we don’t know what is happening and, of course, we do not have a “right” to know. We can only hope that it’s not too bad. 😔
Essex favourite Ali Carter defeated Mark Williams 9-6 in the BetVictor English Open final in Brentwood to land the seventh ranking event win of his career.
The Captain, who is a qualified pilot, defeated Ding Junhui in yesterday afternoon’s first semi-final and had some unorthodox preparations for today’s title match. Carter took to the skies and flew his plane in the evening, whilst Williams was slugging it out in a classic last four clash with Shaun Murphy, which he won 6-5.
Carter’s previous triumph came at the BetVictor Championship League in Leicester back in 2024, but this is his first full knockout ranking title on English soil. It was greeted with joyous scenes in front of a delighted near capacity crowd in his home county.
Victory for Carter sees him pocket the £100,000 top prize and get his hands on the Steve Davis Trophy for the first time. He skyrockets from 25th in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings to 16th, putting him in line for automatic qualification for snooker’s Triple Crown events. Williams moves from ninth up to eighth position.
Defeat means 51-year-old Williams is denied the chance to beat his own record as snooker’s oldest ever ranking event winner, which he set aged 50 at last year’s Xi’an Grand Prix. However, he does become the oldest ranking event finalist in 40 years, since Rex Williams competed in the 1986 Grand Prix title match.
They came into this evening with Williams holding a 5-3 advantage, but Carter hit back quickly when play resumed. Breaks of 64 and 57 restored parity, before Carter claimed the 11th to lead for the first time in the match at 6-5.
Williams strung together a run of 60 in the next to make it 6-6, but Carter immediately regained the initiative by winning the 13th. He then claimed a tense 41-minute frame, after depositing a clutch green to the right-hand centre to go 8-6 up and one from the title.
With the finishing post in sight, Carter surged over the line with contributions of 38 and 54 to claim victory. He clenched his fist in celebration after securing a momentous win.
“It doesn’t feel real at the moment. It hasn’t really sunk in,” said 47-year-old Carter. “I’ve not won as many titles as someone like Mark Williams, but it is great. The boys know I can play, that is for sure.
“In all my ranking events I’ve never beat one of the all-time greats in the final, to do that today makes it extra special. Not being detrimental to the other players I’ve beat it has been lower ranked players than me. To play Mark Williams and win in front of my home crowd is a dream come true.
“I was flying my aeroplane last night. I was getting in it, running the check list, starting it up and going out flying for half an hour. I was getting away from it all. That was nectar for me.”
Williams said: “I tried my best. I played alright in patches. I didn’t play too well tonight, but Ali put pressure on me and I didn’t handle it very well. He deserved to win. It was a great game and I enjoyed it. I tried my best. The crowd has been unbelievable all week. The conditions have been good, tough at times, but good. Well done and good luck to Ali.”
I have nothing to add really. I’m not Ali’s biggest fan because of a few things he did and said in the past, but then, of course, I did and do not know what kind of personal challenges he may have been facing at the time. He fully deserves this win and huge praise for it.
Flying his plane at night may seem a bizarre way to prepare for a snooker final, but, it is an exhilarating experience, I suppose, and one that reminds you of both your frailties and your strengths. One of the books that most fascinated me as a teenager is “Vol de nuit” by Antoine the St-Exupéry, written in 1931, and it’s, among other things, about a pilot, Fabian, working for Argentine’s airmail, who is caught in a cyclone, and, unable to control his plane, knowing he won’t reach his destination and land, decides to use his last fuel to fly higher , above the cyclone turmoil, and experiences a final moment of absolute and complete peace whilst facing his own death in a stunning star studded night sky.
