Robert Milkins, his mental health battle and a gutsy 'life-changing' lesson in power of positive thinking beyond snooker

Not all superheroes wear capes. Some brandish snooker cues. The wonderfully uplifting story of Robert Milkins in north Wales over the past few days is one of those glorious feel-good tales that remind you that professional sport is not merely about emerging victorious from combat.

Ad It is about something entirely different, a sense of purpose hewn from a higher plane. Welsh Open'He's come good!' — Milkins celebrates with Welsh Open trophy after beating Murphy in final17 HOURS AGO The significance of sporting success continues to carry greater weight set against the ongoing personal hardship of everyday life. It would be simple to say Milkins deserved his career-defining moment in lifting the Welsh Open – checking out of his lodgings in Llandudno with a veritable suitcase stuffed full of the folding stuff after a career-defining 9-7 win over Shaun Murphy – but that would be doing him a disservice.

Most people in life do not get what they deserve as Milkins has discovered in searingly painful fashion away from potting balls, but if you stay upright, you give yourself a chance of the momentum changing. Like it did dramatically against Murphy. In the cut-throat environs of potting balls for prize money, you only get what you earn.

In some respects, the Welsh Open was a microcosm of Milkins, the final resembling his life and times as he recovered strongly from 3-1 behind to claim eight of the closing 12 frames. After a journeyman career mired in various but rather trivial moments over the past four decades – arguably highlighted by losing 1-0 to Nigel Bond in the 2011 Shoot Out final and reaching No. 14 in the world in 2014 – it all crystallized for Milkins on the cusp of turning 47 as he clutched the Waterford Crystal Ray