"Ronnie is a lot better in himself since he converted," his mother said

LONDON, September 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Former world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has embraced Islam, his mother told a British newspaper Sunday, September 28.

"Ronnie is a lot better in himself since he converted. I hope it will steady him," his mother Maria told The Sunday Times.

She said that Yemen-born British boxer Prince Naseem Hamed, a Muslim, helped her son accept Islam.

"Prince Naseem has been a good friend to Ronnie," she told the paper, asserting he "has been the main factor."

O'Sullivan, who was raised as a Roman Catholic in east London, converted at the Islamic Cultural Center in London during a short ceremony last month, according to The Sunday Times.

Nicknamed the "Rocket" for the speed in which he can clear a snooker table, he joined Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott and John Higgins as the only men to have won the World and UK Championships in the same year, according to the BBC online sports service.

O'Sullivan joins boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson as leading sportsmen who have embraced Islam.

Britain's most famous celebrity-turned-Muslim is pop star Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam.

O'Sullivan overcame a troubled childhood, in which his father was jailed for murder and his mother for tax offences, to win snooker's world championship in 2001.

Despite his precocious talent, the 27-year-old has battled drink and drug addiction as well as depression, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Hailed as Mozart of Snooker by Peter Ebdon, O'Sullivan was the youngest, at 17, to win a ranking tournament - beating Stephen Hendry at the 1993 UK Championship, said the BBC.

Ever since, the public had eagerly waited for O'Sullivan to go one step further and lift the world crown.

He won the UK title for the second time in 1997 and then reached the semi-finals of the Embassy World Championships in 1998 and 1999.

But he struggled to find that extra gear and temperament to defeat John Higgins and Stephen Hendry.

O'Sullivan has lit up the world of snooker with his natural ability and his showman performances.