1.
Blackpool Tower
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Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it is 518 feet tall and is the 120th tallest freestanding tower in the world, the tower is a Grade I listed building. John Bickerstaffe, a former Mayor of Blackpool, was asked to become Chairman of the new company and its shares went on sale in July 1891. The Standard Corporation kept 30,000 £1 shares for itself and offered £150,000 worth of shares to the public, bickerstaffe’s remedy for the potential collapse of the venture was to buy any shares available, until his original holding of £500 amounted to £20,000. He also released the Standard Corporation from their share commitments, when the Tower opened in 1894 its success justified the overall investment of nearly £300,000, and the Company made a £30,000 profit in 1896. Two Lancashire architects, James Maxwell and Charles Tuke, designed the Tower, by the time the Tower finally opened on 14 May 1894, both men had died. Heenan & Froude of Worcester were appointed structural engineers, supplying and constructing both the tower, the electric lighting and the steel front pieces for the aquariums. A new system of hydraulic riveting was used, based on the technology of Fielding & Platt of Gloucester, the total cost for the design and construction of the tower and buildings was about £290,000. Five million Accrington bricks,2,500 tonnes of iron and 93 tonnes of cast steel were used to construct the tower, unlike the Eiffel Tower, Blackpool Tower is not free-standing. Its base is hidden by the building which houses Blackpool Tower Circus, the building occupies a total of 5,050 square metres. At the summit of the tower there is a flagpole, A time capsule is buried beneath the foundation, the design of the tower was ahead of its time. As a writer for the BBC noted, In heavy winds the building will gently sway, when the tower opened,3,000 customers took the first rides to the top. Tourists paid sixpence for admission, sixpence more for a ride in the lifts to the top, the first members of the public to ascend the tower had been local journalists in September 1893 using constructors ladders. In 1897 the top of the tower caught fire, and the platform was seen on fire from up to fifty miles away, the tower was not painted properly during the first thirty years and became corroded, leading to discussions about demolishing it. However, it was decided to rebuild it instead, and between 1921 and 1924 all the steelwork in the structure was replaced and renewed. On 22 December 1894 Norwegian ship Abana was sailing from Liverpool to Savannah, Georgia but was caught up in a storm, Abana was first seen off North Pier, and later drifted to Little Bispham where she was wrecked, and can still be seen at low tide. The ships bell hangs in St Andrews Church in Cleveleys. In 1940, during the Second World War, the crows-nest was removed to allow the structure to be used as a Royal Air Force radar station known as RAF Tower, in 1949 a post box was opened at the top of the tower
2.
Blackpool
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Blackpool /ˈblækpuːl/ is a seaside resort and unitary authority area in Lancashire, England, on Englands northwest coast. The town is on the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries,15 miles northwest of Preston,27 miles north of Liverpool,28 miles northwest of Bolton and 40 miles northwest of Manchester. It had an population of 142,065 at the 2011 Census. In 1781, visitors attracted to Blackpools 7-mile sandy beach were able to use a new road, built by Thomas Clifton. Stagecoaches began running to Blackpool from Manchester in the same year, in the early 19th century, Henry Banks and his son-in-law John Cocker erected new buildings in Blackpool such that its population grew from less than 500 in 1801 to over 2,500 in 1851. St Johns Church in Blackpool was consecrated in 1821, Blackpool rose to prominence as a major centre of tourism in England when a railway was built in the 1840s connecting it to the industrialised regions of Northern England. In 1881, Blackpool was a resort with a population of 14,000. By 1901 the population of Blackpool was 47,000, by which time its place was cemented as the archetypal British seaside resort, by 1951 it had grown to 147,000. Shifts in tastes, combined with opportunities for Britons to travel overseas, Blackpool gets its name from a historic drainage channel that ran over a peat bog, discharging discoloured water into the Irish Sea, which formed a black pool. Another explanation is that the dialect for stream was pul or poole. People originating from Blackpool are called Blackpudlians although Sandgrownians or Sandgrownuns is sometimes used or Seasiders, a 13, 500-year-old elk skeleton was found with man-made barbed bone points on Blackpool Old Road in Carleton in 1970. Now displayed in the Harris Museum this provided the first evidence of living on the Fylde as far back as the Palaeolithic era. The Fylde was also home to a British tribe, the Setantii a sub-tribe of the Brigantes, during the Roman occupation the area was covered by oak forests and bog land. Some of the earliest villages on the Fylde, which were later to become part of Blackpool town, were named in the Domesday Book in 1086, many of them were Anglo-Saxon settlements. Some though had 9th and 10th century Viking place names, the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons seem to have co-existed peacefully, with some Anglo-Saxon and Viking placenames later being joined together – such as Layton-with-Warbreck and Bispham-with-Norbreck. Layton was controlled by the Butlers, Barons of Warrington from the 12th century, the stream ran through peatlands that discoloured the water, so the name for the area became Black Poole. In the 15th century the area was just called Pul, in 1602, entries in Bispham Parish Church baptismal register include both Poole and for the first time blackpoole. The first house of any substance, Foxhall, was built toward the end of the 17th century by Edward Tyldesley, an Act of Parliament in 1767 enclosed a common, mostly sand hills on the coast, that stretched from Spen Dyke southwards
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
5.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
6.
Ryan Day
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Ryan Day is a Welsh professional snooker player. As a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 250 century breaks during his career, Day was born in Pontycymer, Bridgend, and began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. He is named Young Player of Distinction of the season 2000/2001 by the World Professional Billiards and he won the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship. With this win, he qualified for the 2002 Masters, where he defeated Dave Harold and he also won the WPBSA Challenge Tour in the 2001/2002 season and was named WPBSA Newcomer of the Year in 2002. Due to problems with his liver in 2003, his results suffered badly, Higgins went on to win the frame and the next two for the match. As some consolation, Higgins commented that Day was going to be a top player for years to come. Day reached the quarter-finals of his tournament, the 2005 Welsh Open defeating Allister Carter. He finished this season ranked 33, but as Quinten Hann did not participate in any events, Day was always among the top 32 seeds, meaning one less qualifying match than he would otherwise have faced. Back at the Crucible in 2006, he beat Joe Perry 10–3 in the first round and he narrowly missed reaching the top 16 of the rankings as a result. The 2006/2007 season was the most successful of his career to date, Day reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy and was runner up in the 2007 Malta Cup, losing 4–9 to Shaun Murphy. That years performance saw him ranked 16 in the world for the 2007/2008 season, as a member of the Top 16, he automatically qualified for tournaments. His consistent performances took him up to 8th place in the rankings, Day reached the final of the 2008 Grand Prix where he lost to John Higgins, defeating Ricky Walden, Mark Selby, Jamie Cope and Ali Carter. The year ended on a note when he lost in the first round at the UK Championship to Matthew Stevens. He again reached the World Championship quarter-finals in 2009, before losing 11–13 to Mark Allen, however, he continued to move up the rankings, climbing 2 places to number 6, the highest ranked player not to have won a ranking event. A disappointing 2009/2010 season in which he reached only one quarter-final and this continued into the next season where he made a number of early exits which meant that at the first revision under the new ranking system he dropped out the top 16, down to number 20. Day qualified for five of the eight ranking tournaments during the 2011/2012 season and his best performance came at the end of the season in the biggest event on the tournament calendar, the World Championship. He came back from 3–7 down in his match against Gerard Greene to win 10–8, to set up a first round match with Chinas number 1. Day produced another comeback, this time from trailing 6–9 to win the last 4 frames, there he beat fellow qualifier Cao Yupeng 13–7 and held a 5–2 lead in the early stages of his quarter-final match against compatriot Matthew Stevens
7.
Dominic Dale
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Dominic Dale is a Welsh professional snooker player and occasional snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC. He is often referred to by commentators as the greatest player never to have been in the top 16, Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, which allowed him to compete at the World Amateur Championship in Bangkok, Dale reached the final, but lost 9–11 against Noppadon Noppachorn. Dale turned professional for the 1992/1993 season and he has won two ranking tournaments in his career, the first of which – the Grand Prix in 1997 – he won while ranked number 54 in the world, beating then world number 2 John Higgins 9–6 in the final. It took him a decade to repeat the achievement at the 2007 Shanghai Masters, on his way to the Shanghai final he beat Rory McLeod, Ken Doherty, Adrian Gunnell, Dave Harold and Mark Selby. Both of his victories were in the season-opening tournaments, he also reached the semi-finals of the season-opening events in 2002 and 2006. He also beat Peter Ebdon at the 2008 Malta Cup, despite a bout of stomach cramps, Dale is the only player to have won multiple ranking tournaments without ever reaching the top 16, but he was 14th on the one-year list for both 1997/1998 and 1999/2000. His best World Championship performance was in 2000, when he reached the quarter-finals with a 10–6 victory over Peter Ebdon, Dale won the third professional tournament of his career when he won Event 6 of the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011, beating Martin Gould 4–3 in the final. This win, along with consistent performances, were enough to see him back into the top 32 players. He also qualified for the World Championship for the first time since 2004, Dale had a good start to his 2011/2012 season as he reached the quarter-finals of the first event, the Australian Goldfields Open. Dale was originally due to meet Ronnie OSullivan in the first round and he then reached the final stages of the UK Championship for the first time since 2005 by beating Nigel Bond in the final qualifying round and was drawn against Judd Trump in the last 32. Dale led 4–2 before Trump had a slice of fortune in the seventh frame by fluking a pink. Dale would eventually lose the match 4–6 and he also reached the 2012 PTC Finals courtesy of finishing twentieth in the Order of Merit. His qualification was largely due to making the final of Event 10, in the Finals he lost 2–4 to Xiao Guodong in the first round. Dale qualified for the World Championship with a 10–3 victory over Ben Woollaston to set up another first round meeting with Judd Trump and he led the match 7–6 against an opponent who later revealed to be suffering from food poisoning, before conceding four successive frames to lose 7–10. Dale finished the season ranked world number 23, meaning he had climbed 8 places during the year, Dale qualified for nine of the eleven ranking events during the 2012/2013 season, but lost in the first round in eight of them. The exception was at the International Championship where he beat Graeme Dott 6–3, dales best run in the PTCs came at Event Three by reaching the semi-finals in a run that included a 4–2 over Mark Selby, but he lost to world number 65 Rod Lawler 0–4. Dale finished 28th on the Order of Merit, just outside the top 26 who qualified for the Finals, Dale reached the opening round of the World Championship by dispatching Alfie Burden 10–5 and played Judd Trump at this stage for the second successive year where he was defeated 10–5
8.
Stuart Bingham
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Stuart Bingham is an English professional snooker player and a former World Snooker Champion. As an amateur, he won the 1996 IBSF World Snooker Championship and he first entered the top 32 in the world rankings for the 2006/2007 season, and first reached the top 16 during the 2011/2012 season. Bingham won the first ranking title of his career at the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open and he followed this by winning the World Championship in 2015, which British media said completed an astonishing transition from journeyman to king of the Crucible. With that, he joined Ken Doherty as the players to have won world titles at both amateur and professional levels. He claimed a ranking title by winning the 2017 Welsh Open. Bingham has also been runner-up in three ranking events, the 2012 Wuxi Classic, the 2013 Welsh Open, and the 2016 World Grand Prix. He has also won the non-ranking 2012 Premier League Snooker and the 2015 Championship League, a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 300 century breaks during his career, including three maximum breaks. He also qualified for the tournament in 2002 by beating Nigel Bond, Bingham played Ken Doherty in the first round and almost made the fifth 147 break at the Crucible, but missed the final pink in an attempt that would have been worth £167,000. He went on to lose the match 8–10, in the 2004/2005 season his best runs were two last-sixteen runs in ranking events, including losing in a final frame decider to Ding Junhui in the China Open. In 2005/2006, he had one of his most consistent seasons and he reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix tournament, beating then world champion Shaun Murphy along the way. He got to the stage of the UK Championship, losing in a final frame decider to Joe Perry. He also won the tournament for the Masters, scoring a 147 break along the way. He then beat Steve Davis in the round, before losing to Peter Ebdon 4–6. He made a start to the 2007/08 season, reaching the quarter finals of the Shanghai Masters. After finishing 4th in his group in the Grand Prix he then lost his first match in the Northern Ireland Trophy, in the Maplin UK Championship he managed to reach the last 16, losing to Shaun Murphy 9–3, after victories over Fergal OBrien and Steve Davis again. He also reached the stage of the Welsh Open, beating Stephen Maguire 5–4, after being 3–0 down, in the last 32. 2008/2009 was a disappointment for Bingham, who lost his first match in four of the eight events. He was drawn against number 1 Ronnie OSullivan in the first round of the 2009 World Championship, Bingham reached the Quarter final stages of the 2010 UK Championship having defeated OSullivan 9–6 and then Marco Fu 9–2 in previous rounds before losing 9–7 to Northern Irelands Mark Allen
9.
2013 Snooker Shoot-Out
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The 2013 Betfair Snooker Shoot-Out was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 25–27 January 2013 at the Circus Arena in Blackpool, England. This was the first time that Betfair sponsored the event and it was played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker. Barry Hawkins was the champion, but he lost 38–58 against Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. Martin Gould won the final 1-0 against Mark Allen, the draw for each round including the semi-finals was random, conducted live at the venue. The shot clock was reduced from 20 to 15 seconds per shot for the first 5 minutes, there has been only one century break in the tournament. Mark Selby compiled a 125 break against Ken Doherty in round 1, Sunday,27 January –19,00 Stephen Maguire 53–60 Mark Allen Michael Holt 6–77 Martin Gould Sunday,27 January –19,00 Mark Allen 0–104 Martin Gould 125 Mark Selby
10.
888casino
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888casino, formerly Casino-on-Net, is an online casino founded in 1997 and based in Gibraltar. It is one of a group of entertainment brands owned by 888 Holdings plc. 888casino is a gambling site operated by 888 Holdings plc and licensed in Gibraltar, New Jersey, Denmark, Spain. The site provides online casino games in download and web-based instant play for personal computers, tablets, in 1994 the Free Trade & Processing Zone Act was passed in Antigua and Barbuda, opening the way for the development of legal online casinos. Originally established in 1997 by brothers Aaron and Avi Shaked along with partners Ron and Shay Ben-Yitzhaq, Aaron Shaked claims to have come up with the idea of the online casino while attending a dentistry conference in Monte Carlo. The 888casino platform is powered by Random Logic software, a subsidiary of 888 Holdings that provides research, development, operations, available in 23 languages, 888casino offers online casino games for real-money betting and free practice play. New games are both developed in-house and supplied by external gaming companies such as Net Entertainment and Amaya Gaming, the 888 Live Casino Tables offer players real-time casino games hosted by a live casino dealer. Games are streamed via a live cam streaming link and players place their bets, Live Casino tables offer blackjack, roulette and baccarat tables and a choice of professional male and female dealers. With the exception of LIVE casino games, which are broadcast in real-time with live dealers via webcam, a Random Number Generator is utilized to ensure that performance is truly random. 888casino uses the MD5 RNG which provides consistently random results, the system has been rigorously tested by running millions of rounds and examining results. The system is tested by 888casino. In October 2006, as a result of an act of the United States Congress, online gaming firms had to end their presence in the US market, the end result was an exile from the US market for UK gaming companies. Recently the state of New Jersey allowed online casino games to feature as part of its new regulatory regime, 888casino publishes an independently audited monthly Casino Payout Percentage and includes the Payout Percentage of each 888. com game, as well as the total average Payout Percentage of 888casino. 888casino has won a number of awards, In August 2013, 888casino was title sponsor of the World Seniors Championship in Snooker
11.
Snooker
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Snooker is a cue sport which originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century. It is played on a covered with a green cloth, or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners. Using a cue and 22 coloured balls, players must strike the ball to pot the remaining balls in the correct sequence. An individual game, or frame, is won by the player who scores the most points, a match is won when a player wins a predetermined number of frames. In the 1870s, billiards was a sport played by members of the British Army stationed in India. Snooker gained its own identity in 1884 when officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, while stationed in Ooty, devised a set of rules that combined pyramid, the word snooker was a long used military term used to describe inexperienced or first year personnel. The game grew in popularity in England, cemented by the formation of the Billiards Association and it is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The World Snooker Championship has taken place since 1927, with Joe Davis becoming a key figure in the growth of the sport with 15 championship wins from 1927 to 1946. Top professional players now compete regularly around the world and attain multi-million-pound career earnings, the sport has become increasingly popular in China. The origin of snooker dates back to the half of the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India, one such variation originated at the officers mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Jabalpur in 1875, which combined the rules of two pocket billiards games, pyramid and life pool. The former was played with fifteen red balls and one positioned in a triangle, while the latter involved the potting of designated coloured balls. The name instantly stuck with the players, in 1887, snooker was given its first definite reference in England in a copy of Sporting Life which caused a growth in popularity. Chamberlain came out as the inventor in a letter to The Field published on 19 March 1938,63 years after the fact. To accommodate the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed, in 1919, the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club and a new, standard set of rules for snooker first became official. Davis won every championship until 1946 when he retired. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played, in 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game, known as snooker plus to try to improve the games popularity by adding two extra colours. The TV series became a success and was for a time the second most popular show on BBC Two
12.
Martin Gould
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Martin Gould is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He practises at the Rileys Watford pool and snooker club and he has appeared in three ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Gould began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2000. In 2002, Gould won his first English Amateur Championship, beating Craig Taylor in the final, Gould reached the semi-finals of the 2002 European Championship. Gould enjoyed a run in the qualification for the 2003 World Snooker Championship, winning 8 matches, beating Alain Robidoux. Goulds campaign ended when he lost to Patrick Wallace, however, he dropped off the Main Tour after this sole season, and barely played for the next four years, having to look after his terminally ill mother. He then won the English Play-offs in Leeds to ensure his return to the Main Tour for 2007/08 season, Gould reached the last 32 of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, beating Matthew Stevens 5–4 from 3–0 down in the last 48. He also won multiple qualifying matches at both the UK Championship and World Championship qualifying events, although he did not ultimately qualify for either event and he finished the season inside the top 64. Gould came through qualifying for the 2008 UK Championship, beating Supoj Saenla 9–1, Tom Ford 9–6, Gould then also reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, at the 2009 Welsh Open, beating Stephen Hendry 5–3 in the last 32. Solid qualifying results in the remainder of the season helped him into the top 48 in the rankings for 2009/10 season meaning Gould had only to win two matches to qualify for events. Despite dismal results during the first tournaments of 2009/10 season, he returned to the Crucible the following year. In the second round he spectacularly led Neil Robertson 6–0, 11–5 and 12–10, playing arguably his best snooker ever, Robertson went on to win the championship that year. He performed successfully during the minor-ranking PTC events, his best result being the final of the Event 6, having qualified to the PTC Grand Finals, in March 2011 Gould reached his first career final, where he was beaten 4–0 by Shaun Murphy. Gould once again qualified for the World Championship, and defeated Marco Fu 10–8 in a repeat of the years first round match. Gould was then defeated by reigning China Open champion and eventual World Championship runner-up and his consistent performances were enough to see him break into the elite top 16 for the first time in October, meaning he would no longer have to qualify for the ranking tournaments. In November, Gould won the Masters Trophy of the variant form of the game, Power Snooker, Gould finished 2011 by reaching the final of PTC Event 11, where he lost to Tom Ford 3–4. He also reached the semi-finals of Event 9 and Event 12 to finish 10th in the Order of Merit and seal his place in the Finals, Goulds recent rise up the world rankings earned him a place in the prestigious Masters tournament for the first time in 2012. Only the top 16 are invited to the event with Gould drawing Shaun Murphy in the first round, after breaking into the top 16, Gould only won two matches in ranking events during the rest of the campaign
13.
Zhang Anda
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Zhang Anda is a Chinese professional snooker player, who made his debut on the Main Tour for the 2009/2010 season. He qualified by winning the ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship, tall, he is nicknamed Mighty Mouse. Zhang lives in Romford, England, during the season and is managed by Grove Leisure. The 2009/2010 season was Zhangs first professional season on the tour and his first match was a 2–5 defeat to Craig Steadman in the first qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters. His first wins came over Ben Woollaston and Jin Long during qualifying for the Grand Prix and he was then eliminated by Welshman Dominic Dale 0–5. He also reached the stage in Welsh Open qualifying having beaten Matthew Couch 5–2. Zhang comfortably beat Craig Steadman 10–4 in his first match of World Championship qualifying, scoring his first century of the season in the penultimate frame and he then beat veteran John Parrott 10–6 in the next round. He made a century, a 113, as he won the last five frames to progress. In the penultimate qualifying round, he beat Andrew Higginson 10–8 in a topsy turvy match, Zhang led 7–3 scoring a 114 in the process before Higginson went ahead 8–7. Zhang took the last three to go through to the qualifying round. Ricky Walden, provisionally in the top 16 before the tournament, was Zhangs last obstacle to overcome, the first 16 frames were shared before a 134 break in frame 17 and a 103 break in frame 18 for Zhang resulted in a 10–8 victory. This meant that he would be only the fourth Chinese player to play at The Crucible and he is also one of only a few players to make it to The Crucible in their debut season. This result denied Walden a top 16 place for the following season, Zhang was drawn against seven-time World Snooker champion Stephen Hendry in the first round of the event. Zhang was 0–4 down in the match but rallied to trail only 4–5 after the first session, Hendry increased his lead to 7–5 before Zhang won four frames in a row to be on the cusp of a famous win. He wasted a chance to take the match in the next frame, Zhang ended the season ranked world number 71. Zhang began the 2010/2011 season well by defeating Jak Jones 5–4, Paul Davies 5–1 and he faced Matthew Stevens and was beaten 2–5. However, he could win more match in qualifying for the remaining six ranking events. He finished the season ranked world number 84, well outside of the top 64 who retain their places on the snooker tour
14.
Talksport
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Talksport, owned by Wireless Group, is a sports radio station and the Global Audio Partner of the English Premier League. Its content includes coverage of sports, exclusive interviews with the leading names in sport and entertainment, phone-ins. In the United Kingdom, Talksport is available on 1053 kHz,1071 kHz,1089 kHz, and 1107 kHz, DAB, Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview, on mobile, Talksport will be available on Freesat from April 2016. Outside the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Talksport broadcasts live commentary of every Premier League match around the world in multiple languages including English, Spanish, on 25 June 2016 Rupert Murdochs News Corp announced that it was acquiring the parent Wireless Group company for $296 million. The station was originally and officially launched as Talk Radio UK on 14 February 1995, with Sean Bolger, however the first live broadcast had been Caeser the Geezers phone-in which aired the previous night. Other presenters on Talk Radio included Jeremy Beadle, Scott Chisholm, Moz Dee, Tommy Boyd, Anna Raeburn, Gary Newbon, Terry Christian, Ronnie Barbour, Jonny Gould, also joining the line-up were Caesar the Geezer and Wild Al Kelly, dubbed as shock jocks. A year later Talk Radio launched a new breakfast show presented by Paul Ross, former BBC Radio 1 DJ Simon Bates also joined the station along with James Whale, Ian Collins, and Mike Dickin. Talk Radio made their first foray into the world of sports radio rights bidding, by purchasing the rights to broadcast the Football League from BBC Radio Five Live for the 1997–98 season. In addition, the station broadcast their first FIFA World Cup from France in 1998, with bringing in the Sky Sports commentary team of Alan Parry. Tony Lockwood, Clive Allen, and Dave Roberts covered additional games in France, Talk Radio also acquired up the rights to broadcast Manchester Uniteds matches in the Champions League for the 1998–99 season. On 12 November 1998 TalkCo Holdings, whose chairman and chief Executive was former Sun Editor Kelvin MacKenzie, in late 1999, TalkCo, rebranded as The Wireless Group, announced a relaunch of Talk Radio to become the UKs first national commercial sports radio station called Talksport. The relaunch occurred at midnight on 17 January 2000 and was accompanied by the moving from Oxford Street to a new studio in Hatfields on the South Bank of the River Thames. Almost all the talk show presenters were axed at the time, including The Big Boys Breakfast with David Banks and Nick Ferrari, with only James Whale, Ian Collins. The new line-up involved a number of presenters and commentators. They included Alan Brazil, Mark Nicholas, Chris Cowdrey, Geoffrey Boycott, Mike Parry, Peter Shilton, Brian Moore, Brough Scott, Tom Watt, Gary Newbon, Ian Darke, Tony Banks, and Alvin Martin. Talksports programming consists of talk, live coverage, discussion. Jim White follows with a look at the days sport with interviews. Hawksbee & Jacobs present through the afternoon with sports gossip, interviews and chat, followed by Drive Time with Adrian Durham, Kick Off, hosted by Mark Saggers, then guides listeners through the evenings sporting action with live commentary and discussion
15.
Kurt Maflin
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Kurt Graham Maflin is an English-Norwegian professional snooker player. A strong break-builder, Maflin is among 21 players to have made multiple 147 breaks in professional competition, Maflin began playing snooker at the age of four, achieving a high break of 25 by the time he was five. He increased his time spent at the table practising, as a rated top junior player, Maflin represented England in the 1999 Home International series in Prestatyn, North Wales, where England were victorious. After meeting the top players, Maflin and Taylor managed to win £4,300 for the charity. Maflin also appeared twice on BBC1s popular snooker game show series Junior Big Break, Stars of the Future in 1997 and he began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2000, at the time the second-level professional tour. In 2001, Maflin reached the final of the English Open Championship and was runner-up in the European Championship Final staged in Riga, the same year he won his place on World Snookers Main Tour becoming the second youngest professional snooker player in the world at the time. Despite reaching the last 48 of the Welsh Open before losing to Tony Drago and he managed to win Event 4 and was back into Main Tour for the 2003/04 season, but again couldnt hold his place. He moved to Norway with his partner, female snooker player Anita Rizzuti, and nearly gave up snooker and he said he would sponsor me if I made a century break in the final of one of the Norwegian league matches, Maflin explained. I got a 137 in the first frame and never looked back since, Maflin returned to serious competition for the 2006 Challenge Tour. He won this to return to the Main Tour for 2007/08 season and he also won the gold medal at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman, Jordan, beating Daniel Ward 11–8 in the final. On his way to victory, Maflin won 15 consecutive matches, however, his results in the ranking tournaments were disappointing, aside from last 48 appearance at the China Open. Following the black-ball defeat to Gareth Coppack in the first round match of the World Championship he was relegated from the tour, Maflin spent 2008/09 season trying to re-qualify to the tour via PIOS, but he missed the opportunity by just 20 points, finishing 10th. He followed it by another near-miss the next season, finishing 15th, to make things worse, Maflin suffered a car crash which left him with a six-inch metal plate and seven screws in his shoulder. Nevertheless, he recovered to enter the 2010 EBSA European Play-Offs, in the last 32 he led Ding Junhui 4–1 but eventually lost 4–5. Maflin then lost a decider to Xiao Guodong in the World Championship qualifying, Maflin was relegated from the tour, however this time he made an immediate return through brand new Q School tournament, having won all his matches in the Event 3. In the 2011/2012 season Maflin reached the qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters. He was placed 60th on the PTC Order of Merit, Maflin finished the season ranked world number 72, out of the top 64 who retain their places for the 2012/2013 season. However, due to his performances in the PTC events he has earned a spot on the tour for snooker season 2012/13, Maflin won three matches to reach the final round in qualifying for two of the first five ranking events of the 2012/2013 season
16.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
17.
Cao Yupeng
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Cao Yupeng is a professional snooker player from the Peoples Republic of China. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional Main Tour for the 2011/2012 season, in his first season on the circuit he reached the last 16 of the World Championship. Cao was selected as a wild-card for the China Open twice, losing to Stuart Pettman in 2009 and Kurt Maflin in 2011. In April 2011, he beat Hossein Vafaei 7–3 in the final of the Asian Under-21 Championship, and in doing so earned a place on the main professional snooker tour for the 2011/2012 season. Cao qualified for the 2012 World Snooker Championship in his season after defeating Kurt Maflin 10–2, Dave Harold, 10–9, Nigel Bond 10–7. At the venue stage he put in an outstanding performance beating Mark Allen 10–6 to reach the last 16, after the match Allen accused Cao of dishonesty following what he perceived as a foul shot which Cao did not own up to when he was leading 5–4. Allen also said that blatant cheating might be a bit of a trait for the Chinese players, television replays of the incident proved inconclusive with Cao stating that he did not remember the shot as he was focusing on the game. Allen later apologised for his remarks, admitting that he had overstepped the line, Cao played Ryan Day in his next match and trailed 7–9 going into the final session, when his opponent won four straight frames in just over an hour to result in a 7–13 defeat. His run in the tournament meant that he more than doubled his previous career earnings, nevertheless, Cao finished the season ranked world number 70, outside of the top 64 who retain their places on the snooker tour. However, he was awarded the nomination from the Chinese national governing body for a spot in the 2012/2013 season. Cao qualified for the ranking event of the season, the Australian Goldfields Open by beating Paul Davison, Alfie Burden. He received a bye in the qualifying round due to Anthony Hamiltons withdrawal. He faced Ali Carter and raced into a 4–0 lead, before withstanding a fightback, Cao was beaten 4–5 by Martin Gould in the second round, without there ever being more than a frame between the players. He made a 143 break in the frame, the highest of his career to date. A month later, Cao won three qualifying matches to reach the International Championship, played in Chengdu, in his homeland and it was Allen who triumphed this time, with a 6–2 win. He also came through three matches to qualify for the UK Championship for the first time and he was beaten 1–5 by Mark Davis in the first round in York. He was ranked world number 66 in the end of season rankings, Cao reached the first quarter-final of his career at the 2013 Wuxi Classic, the opening ranking event of the 2013/2014 season. He qualified by defeating Paul Davison 5–1 and then saw off Michael White 5–3, world number eight Barry Hawkins 5–4 and Ben Woollaston 5–3
18.
Mark Selby
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Mark Anthony Selby is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He is the reigning World Snooker and UK champion, having won titles for a second time in 2016, and is the current world number one. Selby joined the professional snooker tour in 1999 at the age of 16. In 2007, he was runner-up to John Higgins at the World Snooker Championship and his other ranking titles include the Welsh Open in 2008, the Shanghai Masters in 2011, the German Masters in 2015, the China Open in 2015 and the International Championship in 2016. Known as a patient, tough competitor with strong safety play and his nickname, The Jester from Leicester, was given to him by snooker compere Richard Beare after Willie Thorne came up with it during commentary. Selby is also a pool player and he is the 2006 WEPF eight-ball pool world champion and the 2015 Chinese Pool World Championship finalist. Selby was born in Leicester, England, malcolm Thorne, the brother of Leicester-born snooker player Willie Thorne, spotted Selbys snooker ability and provided Selby practice so he could practise every day after school. Selbys father died of cancer when Mark was 16, two months before he joined the professional tour. Mark showed potential as a teenager, but did not consistently shine until his twenties and he began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached his first ranking final aged 19, the Regal Scottish in 2003, where he finished runner-up to David Gray, losing 9–7 in the final. Before that, he had already reached the semi-finals of the 2002 China Open. Selby reached the qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship in 2002 and 2003 losing both times. In the 2007 World Championships, Selby beat Stephen Lee 10–7 in the first round and he then defeated former World Champion Peter Ebdon 13–8, with five centuries to reach the quarter-finals. In the quarter-final, he beat Ali Carter 13–12, from 11–8 up and 11–12 down and he went on to reach the final by beating Shaun Murphy 17–16 from 14–16 down, in another deciding frame which he won thanks to a 64 break. Thus he entered the session only 10–12 down and closed to within one frame at 13–14. It was noted by eventual world champion John Higgins, amongst others, in his victory speech and these performances in the 2006/07 season earned Selby a place in the top 16 for the very first time for the 2007/08 season, where he was ranked 11th. After a moderate start to the season, Selby had a run in the second highest ranking tournament. He led eventual winner Ronnie OSullivan 7–5, fell 7–8 behind, in the deciding frame, however, OSullivan made a 147 break to win 9–8
19.
Anthony Hamilton (snooker player)
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Anthony Stephen Hamilton is an English professional snooker player noted for his strong break-building technique and distinctive appearance. He has spent five seasons ranked among the games top 16, known as a prolific break builder, Hamilton has compiled more than 250 competitive century breaks during his career. Having long been considered by many as the best player to never win a tournament, Hamilton won his first title in 2017. Hamilton turned professional in 1991, entering the worlds top 32 in 1995/1996, Hamilton has reached two ranking tournament finals. In the British Open in 1999, where he lost to Fergal OBrien, the other was the 2001 China Open. Mark Williams beat him 9–8, despite Hamilton having led 8–5 and he made the first of his four World Championship quarter-finals in 2000, losing 3–13 to John Higgins. He reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship on three occasions, but without reaching the semi-final stage. In 2002, he lost 6–13 to eventual winner Peter Ebdon, in 2004, he made two consecutive century breaks to come from 0–2 down to level at 2–2 in his quarter-final against eventual champion Ronnie OSullivan, but eventually lost the match by 3–13. Hamiltons 438 points scored in this match are a low for a World Championship Quarter-final. He also has the highest ever total in a first-round match at the Crucible,1271 against Chris Small in 1999. In 1997 he reached the round, facing John Parrott at this stage he scored 414 unanswered points in frames 1–5. Hamilton did not fare well in the 2006 World Championship, losing 1–10 in the round to Mark Williams. However, a two seasons ensured that he reclaimed a top 16 place. Hamilton began the 2006/2007 season at the Northern Ireland Trophy, losing 3–5 against Ding Junhui, at the Grand Prix Hamilton lost all five of his group stage matches, and didnt advance to the knockout stage. Hamilton then lost 7–9 against Rod Lawler in the first round of the UK Championship, 3–6 in the round of the Masters. Hamilton than lose in the first round of the China Open 4–5 against Mark Selby, Hamilton reached his fourth World Championship quarter-final, pulling off a surprise 10–3 victory over Marco Fu in round 1, and a 13–8 second round win over Ian McCulloch. However, he couldnt advance to the stage, losing 7–13 to Stephen Maguire. As a result, he did not retain his top sixteen place, Hamilton began the 2007/2008 season at the Shanghai Masters, where he lost 4–5 against Adrian Gunnell in the last qualifying round
20.
Ali Carter
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Allister Ali Carter is an English professional snooker player, who lives in Chelmsford. He is a two-time World Championship runner-up, twice losing to Ronnie OSullivan and he has also won four ranking titles and been as high as second in the world rankings. Carter turned professional in 1996 after he retired from pilot job and he first emerged in 1999, winning the WPBSA Association Young Player of the Year award after winning the Benson and Hedges Championship in 1999 – this earned him a wild card place in the Masters. He also reached the semi-finals of the 1999 Grand Prix and it was eight years before he reached another ranking semi-final, the 2007 Malta Cup. He reached the last 16 of the World Championship in 2005, Carter now has a 5–4 record against Hendry, conversely, he has never beaten Ronnie OSullivan in 12 attempts. However, Carter got his own back on Hawkins during the 2008 World Championship by beating him 10–9 in a controversial finale, Hawkins had levelled the match to 9–9, when the players were pulled out of the arena to allow the evening matches to begin. They returned after one of the two matches had been completed – on a table they had not previously played on. Hawkins felt this break interrupted his momentum, handing the match to Carter and he followed this by defeating two former champions in succession, provisional World Number 1 Shaun Murphy 13–4 in the second round and then 2002 winner Peter Ebdon 13–9 in the quarter-final. In the semi-final on 4 May 2008 he beat Joe Perry 17–15 to book a place against Ronnie OSullivan in the final, Carter scored his first 147 break on 29 April at the 2008 World Championship, one day after Ronnie OSullivan had made one in the same tournament. This made Carter the sixth man to achieve this feat at the Crucible, and it is the first time two 147s have been made in the same event. Carter soon showed signs of carrying this form forward in subsequent events and he won his second non-ranking tournament, the Huangshan Cup in China, with a 5–3 win over the reigning Grand Prix champion Marco Fu. In the 2008/09 season Carter reached the stage on three separate occasions. He progressed to the semi-finals of the 2008/09 seasons first ranking event, as the defending champion at the Welsh Open he progressed to the final but was beaten by John Higgins, the reigning world champion at the time. He finished the season strongly by reaching the semi-finals at the China Open, of the six ranking tournaments that were staged during the 2009/2010 season, Carters campaigns were ended by the eventual champion on four occasions, and on another by the runner-up. Carter finished the season by moving up to a high position of 4th in the world rankings. Carter won the 2010 Shanghai Masters, Carter had to recover from 1–4 down in the quarter-final to defeat Matthew Stevens 5–4, Stevens missing the final black off its spot in the deciding frame. He then won six frames in a row from 0–2 down to beat Mark Selby 6–2, Carters 2011/2012 season got off to a poor start as he exited the first two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, in the first round. At the UK Championships he defeated Robert Milkins, but then lost 6–2 to Mark Allen in the last 16, after the match Carter stated on Twitter, Im going to retire at the end of the season
21.
Barry Hawkins
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Barry Hawkins is an English professional snooker player from Ditton in Kent. He has now spent twelve successive seasons ranked inside the top 32 and he reached his first ranking final and won his first ranking title at the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open. Hawkins has played in the stages of every World Championship since he made his Crucible Theatre debut in 2006. He lost in the first round on his first five appearances, Hawkins has since reached the semi-finals the following two years running. Before taking up snooker professionally he was an office clerk and he reached the Top 32 in the rankings in 2004/2005, having reached the semi-finals of 2005s Welsh Open, as well as the last sixteen of three other tournaments. In 2005/2006, he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open again and this cemented Hawkins place in the Top 16 of the rankings for the 2006/2007 season. At the World Championship in Sheffield, however, Hawkins faced former Champion Ken Doherty in the first round and he told the BBC that I just couldnt perform and I dont know why. Im gutted after such a season to have performed like that. The 2006/2007 season saw Hawkins disappointed following two strong seasons and he had one foot in his first final against Jamie Cope in the semi final, but Cope was able to obtain the snookers he needed to stay in the match and went on to win 6–5. A first-round defeat by Fergal OBrien at the World Championship cost him his Top 16 place, early in the 2007/2008 season, Hawkins won the qualifying tournament for the 2008 SAGA Insurance Masters, beating Kurt Maflin. He won five matches, also beating top-32 players Nigel Bond. He also reached the last 16 at the Grand Prix, UK Championship and he then won at least his opening match in the next four ranking events, reaching the provisional top 16. From 2006–2010, Hawkinss record at the World Championship was unsuccessful, as well as the aforementioned one-sided defeat by Doherty, Hawkins narrowly lost in the first round the following two years as well, to Fergal OBrien and Ali Carter respectively. Coincidentally, on both occasions Hawkins lost by very close 10–9 defeats, having recovered from 9–6 behind each time, in 2009 Hawkins missed out on a chance to take his match with former champion Graeme Dott to a deciding frame, and lost 10–8. The following year, Hawkins led defending champion John Higgins 5–3 before Higgins won seven of the eight frames to progress. Hawkins played well at the World Open in defeating Mark Selby as well as former World Champion Ken Doherty before losing 3–2 to Mark Williams, Hawkins qualified for the World Championship for the sixth year running, where he was drawn against Stephen Maguire in the first round. Having never won a match at the Crucible before, Hawkins led Maguire 4–0, 5–1, 6–2 and 8–4 before seeing Maguire level the match at 8–8, however, Hawkins held his nerve in the deciding frame to finally end his losing run at the World Championship. In the second round, Hawkins was defeated 13–12 by world No.11 Mark Allen, Hawkins reached the PTC Finals in the 2011/2012 season largely thanks to semi-final runs in Event 3 and Event 5
22.
Rod Lawler
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Rod Lawler is an English professional snooker player. He is noted for his playing style, which gave rise to his nickname. Lawler has compiled 100 competitive century breaks during his career, including his highest and his first season proved to be quite successful as he reached the last 32 in the Dubai Classic, losing out 2–5 to former World Billiards Champion Rex Williams. He then followed this up with a run to the Quarter Finals of the Classic, beating John Virgo 5–3 to qualify, as well as Joe Johnson 5–3 in the second round, before losing 2–5 to Mike Hallett. He also reached the final of the 1994 Benson and Hedges Championship, in 1995, Lawler reached the semi-final of the Malta Masters, beating future UK Champion Matthew Stevens in the Quarter Final, however he lost in the semi-final to the home favourite Tony Drago. He followed up this result by reaching the last 16 of the Grand Prix, beating the aforementioned Tony Drago in the last 32 and he qualified again in 1996, beating former World Champion Dennis Taylor in the final qualifying round. At the Crucible he then beat 1991 World Champion John Parrott 10–6, before losing in the last 16 to Dave Harold by 13 frames to 6, in 1997, Lawler reached the semi-final of the Benson and Hedges Championship, losing a final frame decider against Andy Hicks. His best result in the UK Championship came in 1998, where he beat Jamie Burnett and John Read, in 2010 however, Lawler did reach the last 32 of the China Open, winning three qualifying matches against Matthew Selt, Dominic Dale, and Ricky Walden. Also defeating wildcard Supoj Saenla 5–3, before losing to then number 8 seed Mark Selby The 2011/12 was a season for Lawler. He reached the qualifying round in three ranking events. Apart from that he lost a lot of matches which then proved quite costly at the end of the season as he finished ranked 73, losing his place on the main tour. He then entered the Q School and reached the semi-finals of Event 3 by beating another former professional Joe Delaney to regain his place for the next two seasons. Lawler had a start to the 2012/13 season as he won all four matches to qualify for the Wuxi Classic. At the venue he defeated Li Hang and Stephen Maguire to reach the last 16 where he was narrowly beaten 4–5 by Graeme Dott. His victory over Fu at the UK PTC along with a run in the European Tour 2012/2013 – Event 6 meant that he qualified for the PTC Finals ranked 7th on the Order of Merit. At the venue in Galway he beat Cao Yupeng by a 4–2 scoreline, only to lose to Kurt Maflin in the last 16 by 4 frames to 3, having led throughout the match. At the 2013 World Championship, Lawler beat Scottish Amateur Fraser Patrick 10–5, he resisted an admirable fightback to beat Anthony McGill 10–9, after being 7–2. Lawler earned £49,050 during the 2012/2013 snooker season and he also made 15 century breaks, more than in any previous season
23.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
24.
Luca Brecel
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Luca Brecel is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and is the youngest player to play at the Crucible after qualifying for the 2012 World Championship aged 17 and his first ranking event final came at the 2016 German Masters which he lost to Martin Gould. In April 2009, he became the youngest European under-19 champion at 14 years of age, in August 2009, he beat Joe Perry, the then world number 12, at the Paul Hunter Classic. On 8 January 2010, Brecel defeated former world champion Stephen Hendry 4–1 at a game in Brugge. Luca Brecel became the Belgian senior snooker champion on 24 May 2010 and he also had the highest break of the tournament with a 136. Brecel was defeated by OSullivan in the first round, on 19 December 2010, Brecel was named the Young Belgian Sportsman of the year. Brecel received a card for the Main Tour of the professional 2011/2012 season on 5 May 2011. Brecel became a snooker player in June 2011, beating Anthony Hamilton in his first official professional match. By August 2011, he was ranked 87 on the Snooker world rankings, as second Belgian after Bjorn Haneveer, in January 2012, he made his first 147 break in an amateur tournament. He finished 69th on the Order of Merit, Brecel became the youngest ever player to qualify for the World Snooker Championship in 2012, after defeating Ian McCulloch, Barry Pinches, Michael Holt and Mark King. In doing so he broke the record of Stephen Hendry from 1986 and he also became one of five players to qualify for the tournament under 18 years of age and played in his first ranking event main draw, but lost 5–10 in the first round against Stephen Maguire. Although finishing the season outside the top 64 who automatically retain their places on the tour, Brecel received a two-year wildcard. World Snooker chairman, Barry Hearn said the decision was made as it would be a loss to the sport if Brecel did not feature, Brecel was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award at the World Snooker Annual Award Ceremony. In July 2012, Brecel made his second 147 break in an amateur tournament, in qualifying for the first ranking event of the season, the 2012 Wuxi Classic, Brecel reached the third qualifying round but ultimately lost 5–4 to Jamie Burnett. Next up for Brecel was the first PTC event of the year, the teenager had a good run, beating former world champions Graeme Dott and Ken Doherty on his way to the last 16 where he met Judd Trump who beat him 4–1. Brecel made two centuries in the tournament, Brecel was beaten in the first round of the second PTC event of the year, 4–2, by Matthew Selt. He fared a little better in the first European Tour event of the season reaching the last 64 but was beaten 4–3 by Rory McLeod, the Belgian was also knocked out in the last 64 of the third PTC of the season, 4–1, by Chinese player Xiao Guodong. He made one century in the tournament, Brecel lost in the last 64 of both the Gdynia Open and the Antwerp Open to Mark Joyce and Stuart Bingham respectively
25.
Ben Woollaston
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Ben Woollaston is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. His sole professional title came at the minor-ranking third Players Tour Championship event in 2011, Woollastons one full ranking event final came at the 2015 Welsh Open, where he lost to John Higgins. Woollaston began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003. He first entered Main Tour for the 2004/2005 season, but was unable to retain his place for the seasons tour. He regained his place for 2006/2007 by winning the European Under-19 Championship and he was awarded a concessionary place for the 2007/08 tour. Woollaston has twice reached the group stages of the Grand Prix in 2006 and 2007. He also reached the stages of the 2007 Welsh Open beating David Gray to reach the second round where he lost 2–5 to seven times World Champion Stephen Hendry. Woollastons first professional title was Event 3 of the Players Tour Championship in the 2011/2012 season and he defeated former World Champion Graeme Dott 4–2 in the final. His performances in the other 11 PTCs, including a run in Event 8, saw him claim ninth place in the Order of Merit. It was the first time he made it to the stages of a ranking event since 2007. He played Ding Junhui in the round and lost 2–4. Woollaston also qualified for the 2012 China Open by winning three qualifying matches, concluding with a 5–4 victory over Ryan Day. He played Ding again in the first round of the event, however, Ding found his form and won 5 successive frames to take the match 5–4. Woollaston failed to qualify for nine of the ranking events in the 2012/2013 season. He fared much better in the minor ranking PTC events, as he was a losing quarter-finalist in four of the ten tournaments to finish 10th on the Order of Merit. This saw him qualify for the Finals, where he defeated Mark Williams and he played Kurt Maflin and was this time on the wrong end of a 4–3 scoreline. He climbed 10 spots in the rankings during the season to world number 33, Woollaston qualified for five ranking events during the 2013/2014 season, by far the most he has reached in a single season during his career. At the Wuxi Classic he beat Chen Zhe and Joel Walker both 5–2, before he lost 5–2 to Cao Yupeng in the last 16, Woollaston was defeated in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open, the International Championship and the German Masters
26.
Mark King (snooker player)
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Mark King is an English professional snooker player. He has also appeared in two ranking tournament finals - the 1997 Welsh Open, where he lost 2–9 to Stephen Hendry, and the 2004 Irish Masters. King has reached the last 16 of the World Championship seven times, in 1998,1999,2001,2002,2008,2009 and 2013, King turned professional in 1991 and advanced steadily through the rankings, reaching the top 48 by 1996. His 1997 Welsh Open final run lead to a top 32 place in the end of season rankings and he remained in the top 16 the following season without reaching a ranking quarter-final, but dropped out a year later. He made a return in 2000/2001, climbing to a career-high of #11. A poor 2002/2003 season ended with him dropping out of the top 16 again after defeat to Drew Henry 10–5 in the first round of the World Championship. In the post-match interview, King suggested that he had lost patience with the game, King later retracted this statement and began the following season in the qualifiers. After the 2004 World Championship, King became involved in a battle with Quinten Hann after his friend Andy Hicks eliminated Hann in a controversial first-round clash. Hann had been making provocative gestures during the match and after Hicks took victory, upset by Hanns behaviour, King challenged the Australian to a boxing match, for which King was later criticised, as Hanns behaviour had already put the game into disrepute. Nevertheless, the bout went ahead and Hann controversially won the fight on a points decision, in December 2004, King beat Mark Williams, Alan McManus and John Parrott en route to the semi-finals of the UK Championship, losing 9–4 to eventual winner Stephen Maguire. At 8–3, a mobile phone went off in the crowd, prompting King to quip if thats my missus, tell her Ill be home soon. In 2005, King beat Ronnie OSullivan 9–8 at the same event, King would eventually lose 9–6 in the last 16 to Joe Perry, but made a career best 146 break at the 2006 Championships. In 2007, King went out to David Gilbert in the round for the event. In the 2008 World Championship, King beat six-times runner-up Jimmy White to qualify, then shocked the previous years runner-up Mark Selby 10–8, after potting the match ball, King showed his delight by shouting Get in. He lost to Peter Ebdon in the last 16, but his place was secure. A consistent 2008/2009 season saw King retain his top 16 spot, at the 2009 Grand Prix King needed three snookers in the deciding frame against Ricky Walden to claim a 5–4 victory. He managed to get them and won by potting the final black, in the next round he lost to Robert Milkins. At the 2010 China Open King defeated Thai player James Wattana 5–4 in the first round after trailing 2–4 and he then won his second match 5–3 against Chinese player Tian Pengfei to reach his first Quarter final since the 2007 Malta Cup
27.
Mark Joyce
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Mark Joyce is an English professional snooker player who lives in Walsall. He began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003. Joyce also finished fifth on the 2005/06 Pontins International Open Series, winning the second of eight events, Joyce had a very uneventful first season on Main Tour, failing to qualify for any of the major events. He ended the season losing in the qualifying round of the World Championship to Fergal OBrien 10–4. He also recorded his highest break of 130 in professional play during the qualifiers and this would remain his highest break until the qualifying stages of the 2010 World Championship. He ended the season ranked 73rd, Joyce started the season with 2 wins in qualifying for the Shanghai Masters before narrowly losing 5–4 to veteran John Parrott in the penultimate qualifying round. The Grand Prix would be the first tournament that Joyce would qualify for after finishing 2nd in his qualifying group, however, he would go on to lose all 5 matches in the group stage of the tournament. After failing to qualify for the Northern Ireland Trophy, Joyce won 3 matches to reach the qualifying round of the UK Championship before being ousted 9–2 by Ian McCulloch. The remainder of the season was uneventful as he failed to qualify for the Malta Cup, Welsh Open. He finished the season off by losing in the qualifying round of the World Championship. His exploits in the season resulted in his going up 14 places to number 59. This will mean he would have 1 less qualifying match to play in the following season, the season started with a 5–0 victory against Patrick Wallace and then a 5–0 defeat to Judd Trump in the first ranking event of the season, the Northern Ireland Trophy. He followed this up with a run to the qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters in the next event. Another win and a defeat in the Grand Prix after being reverted to a knockout competition, Joyce only recorded 1 win from the next three ranking tournaments, the UK Championship, the Welsh Open and the China Open. His best performance of the season was in the tournament for the Masters. The season ended poorly for Joyce with a 10–6 defeat to Patrick Wallace in his first match of the World Championship qualifiers, despite this, he ended the season up 2 places to number 57 in the rankings. Joyces fourth season on the tour got off to a bad start with a 5–2 defeat to Joe Jogia in the qualifying for the Shanghai Masters and he followed this up with victories over Andrew Norman, Michael Judge and Barry Hawkins to qualify for the Grand Prix. He was drawn against the defending champion John Higgins and was defeated 5–1, the remainder of the season up to the World Championship was uneventful with only 2 wins in 3 ranking tournaments
28.
Nigel Bond
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Nigel Bond is an English professional snooker player. Bond has competed on the tour since 1989, and was ranked within the worlds top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996/1997 season. He reached the final of the World Championship in 1995, where he lost 9–18 to Stephen Hendry and he retained his place in the top 64 until 2015. He was born in Darley Dale, Derbyshire, after a strong amateur career, Bond turned professional for the 1989–1990 season. He reached his first ranking semi-final in his first season, and his first final in his second season, a year later, Bond reached the final after beating Stephen Lee, Alan McManus, Gary Wilkinson and Andy Hicks, but lost to Stephen Hendry 18–9. This was his only run of the season. He reached at least the quarter finals at the Crucible Theatre every year from 1993 to 1996, losing to Stephen Hendry every time, after leading comfortably throughout the match Bond was pegged back to 7–7, and the match went to a final frame. Final score 10–9, Bonds first win at the Crucible since 1999, by the end of the 1990s, Bond was out of the top 16, and dropped out of the top 32 for the 2004–2005 season. However, he reclaimed his place a year later, and he has remained ever since as of 2009. In the 2007 World Championship he lost in the first round, victories over David Roe, Stephen Lee and Barry Pinches took him to a meeting with Stephen Maguire, which he lost 5–0. He opened the 2008/09 season with first-round defeats in the first five tournaments, on 30 January 2011, Bond won the Snooker Shoot-Out event. This involved the top 64 players in the world playing 10-minute matches decided on a single frame and he picked up the £32,000 prize money as well as the Snooker Shoot-Out trophy, beating Robert Milkins 58–24 in the final. Bond started the 2011/2012 season very well by qualifying for the first two ranking event tournaments, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters and he lost to Neil Robertson and Mark Selby respectively in the first round. He also qualified for the World Open, but was defeated by amateur player Lu Ning in the wildcard round, Bond finished the season ranked world number 45. Bond once again qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open in the 2012/2013 season, in December, he reached the World Open in Haikou, China, with wins over Jimmy White and Jamie Burnett. At the venue he saw off Zhu Yinghui 5–3 in the wildcard round, there he lost 1–5 to Judd Trump. Bond was also crowned World Seniors champion during the season without dropping a frame in a total of seven matches, Bonds season ended when he was beaten 8–10 by Alan McManus in the third round of World Championship Qualifying. He dropped a place during the year to end it ranked world number 46
29.
Jamie Jones (snooker player)
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Jamie Jones is a Welsh professional snooker player, from Neath. He was the youngest ever player, at age 14, to make a maximum 147 break in competition, at the 2012 World Snooker Championship he reached his first ranking quarter-final. In 2002, he became the player to make a 147 in an official event, making it aged 14. Jones began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2004. He qualified for the Main Tour for 2006/2007 by finishing top of the 2005/06 Welsh rankings and his best result in his first season as a professional was to the last 48 of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix. After another spell on the tour in 2008/2009, in which, despite strong performances, he again fell away. He started the new season by winning three qualifying matches in the Shanghai Masters, beating Kuldesh Johal, Jimmy Michie and Adrian Gunnell before losing to Stephen Lee. After reaching the final of Players Tour Championship – Event 5, Jones made it to the quarter-finals of three Players Tour Championship events, but failed to progress further in any of them. This set up a match with Andrew Higginson, which he lost 3–4, Jones won two qualifying matches to reach the China Open, but lost 3–5 to Lu Ning in the wildcard round. Jones finished the season by qualifying for the 2012 World Championship and he then beat Shaun Murphy 10–8 in the first round, scoring two centuries. In the second round he beat Andrew Higginson 13–10, included a 135 break in the penultimate frame, Jones made seven centuries during the tournament, with only eventual winner Ronnie OSullivan making more. Jones finished the season ranked a career high world number 29, following his superb run in last seasons World Championship, Jones endured a difficult 2012/2013 season. He could only win three matches in ranking event qualifiers all year, with his appearance in the main draw coming at the Shanghai Masters. He beat Jimmy White in qualifying and Lu Ning in the wildcard round and he finished 67th on the PTC Order of Merit. Jones could not repeat last seasons run to The Crucible as he was beaten 9–10 by Liam Highfield in the round of World Championship Qualifying. His disappointing year was reflected in the rankings as he dropped 11 places to world number 40. Jones reached the first round of the 2013 Wuxi Classic, and he qualified for five more ranking events but was beaten in the opening round of each. He had a good year in the eight minor-ranking European Tour events
30.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
31.
Fergal O'Brien
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Fergal OBrien is an Irish professional snooker player. A member of snookers main tour since turning professional in 1991, OBrien has been ranked within the worlds top 64 players since 1994, reaching his highest position, 9th, for the 2000/2001 season. He has won one ranking title - the 1999 British Open, OBrien is the only player to score a century in his first frame at the World Championships in the Crucible, which he achieved against Alan McManus in 1994. His greatest achievement was winning the British Open in 1999, beating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final, Hamilton opened with two centuries, but OBrien won five frames on the final black to defeat the Nottingham man. OBrien also came close to winning the Masters title in 2001, after beating Mark Williams, Ken Doherty and Dave Harold, he lost in the final to Paul Hunter after leading 7–3. He has reached one further ranking final, and three semi-finals OBrien peaked at No.9 in the following his sole title. He narrowly retained his top 16 place for the 2001/2002 season, three further falls down the rankings left him at No. OBriens best run at the World Championship is the quarter-final and 2005 he became the first player to beat John Parrott in a World Championship qualifier. OBrien started the 2007/2008 campaign in Shanghai where he had beaten Paul Davies and Barry Hawkins in qualifying rounds, however, OBrien also qualified for the Grand Prix but lost four of his group matches to finish 5th in his group ahead of only Graeme Dott. After qualifying for the draw of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy by beating Barry Pinches in a deciding frame. Victories over John Higgins, Barry Hawkins and Ronnie OSullivan, before he reached the second ranking-event final of his career by beating Mark Allen by 6 frames to 3 and he lost the final to Stephen Maguire, 5–9. As of the end of 2009 OBrien had compiled 101 competitive century breaks in his career and he qualified for the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Finals held in Galway but lost his Last 24 match 0–4 to Joe Perry
32.
Liam Highfield
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Liam Highfield is an English professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2010, after finishing second in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings, in the 2007/2008 season he won the last event of International Open Series, and finished 12th in the rankings. The following season he finished as number 33, in the 2009/2010 season he won the second event and was runner-up in the first and sixth event of the International Open Series and finished second in the rankings. Thus, Highfield received a place on the 2010/2011 professional Main Tour, Highfield began the season ranked number 68 in the world meaning he was required to win four qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the ranking events. He did not manage this throughout the season, coming closest in the first event of the year and he beat Simon Bedford and Xiao Guodong both by deciding frames and received a bye through to the final qualifying round because Steve Davis withdrew. There he lost to Dominic Dale 3–5 and he could only win three more matches in qualifying for the remainder of the season and finished it ranked number 66, out of the top 64 who retained their places for the 2012/2013 season. However, Highfields performances in the 10 PTC events he played in were enough to him a spot on the tour for next year. Highfield reached the qualifying round of ranking events on two occasions during the 2012/2013 season. The first of these was in World Open qualifying in December and he faced 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon in the final round and, in a match which lasted five hours and 40 minutes, Highfield was edged out 4–5. His other run to the last round was in World Championship qualifying and he was placed 69th on the PTC Order of Merit and dropped 10 places in the world rankings during the season to end it world number 76. In his opening match, Highfield defeated Barry Pinches 5–2 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where narrowly lost 5–4 to Mark Williams in the first round and he also qualified for the Indian Open but withdrew from the event before it began. Highfield received automatic entry into both the Welsh Open and UK Championship as all 128 players on the tour began these events in the first round. His disappointing season saw him finish 83rd in the rankings and, as Highfield had now been relegated from the main tour. Highfield beat Canadas Alex Pagulayan in his match of the second event to earn a new two-year tour card for the 2014/2015. Highfield won four matches to qualify for the 2014 Australian Goldfields Open and he also made his debut at the International Championship where he was beaten 6–4 by Marco Fu in the first round. Highfields first win at an event of his career came at the UK Championship when he defeated Jamie Jones 6–3. He saw off Fu 5–2 to qualify for the German Masters and was 4–3 ahead of Xiao in the opening round and this helped Highfield finish 38th on the Order of Merit. Highfields sixth and final appearance at an event this year was the China Open
33.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
34.
Stephen Maguire
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Stephen Maguire is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has been a professional player since 1998, ranked in the top 16 consecutively for 11 years from 2005 to August 2016. He has won five ranking tournaments, including the UK Championship in 2004. As a prolific break-builder, Maguire has compiled more than 300 century breaks, Maguire began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. Maguire was the winner of the 2004 European Open. Ranked 41 in the world at the time, he well established top-16 player Jimmy White 9–3 in the final. The start of the 2004/2005 season saw Maguire establish himself as one of the games brightest talents and he performed well at the season opening Grand Prix, reaching the quarter-finals, and things improved further at the British Open in Brighton. Although Maguire lost the final 6–9 to his compatriot John Higgins, he more than made up for it at the next event, the UK Championship, snookers second biggest tournament. Maguire played some superb snooker on the way to the final, beating the likes of Mark King, Mark Davis, Stephen Lee, Ronnie OSullivan and Steve Davis. Davis described Maguire as inspired, while OSullivan was again rich in his praise for the youngster, in the final, Maguire blazed past David Gray with an emphatic 10–1 win. The rest of the season was an anti-climax of sorts however and he lost against defending champion Ronnie OSullivan 9–10 in their World Championship first-round match, despite having led 9–7, but he still moved up to #3 in the world rankings. In the 2005/2006 season, he reached one quarter-final, showing evidence of a loss in form. In 2007, he recorded his best run at the World Championship reaching the semi-final, Maguire again beat Shaun Murphy in the 2007 UK Championship semi-final 9–5 only to lose 2–10 against Ronnie OSullivan in the final. In the 2008 China Open, he compiled a 147 in narrowly beating his friend Ryan Day 6–5 in the semi-finals, before edging out Shaun Murphy once again in the final by 10 frames to 9. The 2008/2009 season he failed to win an event. His best runs were semi-final appearances in the Shanghai Masters and UK Championship, in the Shanghai Masters he lost narrowly 5–6 against Ronnie OSullivan and in the UK Championship 4–9 against Shaun Murphy. Maguire began the 2009/2010 season by winning the first event of the Pro Challenge Series beating Alan McManus 5–2 in the final, Maguire had to withdraw from the first ranking event, the Shanghai Masters, due to shoulder injury. In the Grand Prix he won his first ranking match of the season, defeating Nigel Bond 5–3, Maguires first event of 2010 was the Masters
35.
Alfie Burden
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Alfred Burden is an English professional snooker player who lives in London. Burden originally had his eyes set on making a career as a professional footballer and he spent a couple of seasons at Arsenal F. C. as a schoolboy apprentice, but was with Swindon Town F. C. at the time of the injury. Burden soon showed he was well above average at snooker and qualified for the World Championship in 1998 and he gave Tony Drago a run for his money before losing 8–10. In the 2006/2007 season, Burden qualified for the China Open and he defeated Shokat Ali, Rod Lawler and former top-16 player David Gray to qualify for the tournament. Unfortunately for Burden, he lost his opening Wild Card game to local player Mei Xiwen and he dropped off the main tour after the 2007/08 season. On 25 November 2009 he won the IBSF World Snooker Championship in Hyderabad and he won in the final 10–8 against Brazilian Igor Figueiredo. With this he earned a place on the 2010/2011 professional main tour and he started the 2010/2011 season well, by winning 3 qualifying matches, beating Reanne Evans 5–1, Matthew Selt 5–4 and Marcus Campbell 5–3 before losing narrowly against Andrew Higginson 4–5. In the 2011/2012 season, Burden reached the qualifying round in the ranking event tournaments twice. He lost to Marcus Campbell 3–5 and Peter Ebdon 0–10 respectively, Burden finished the season ranked world number 60, inside the top 64 who retained their places for the 2012/2013 season. Burden had an exceptional 2012/2013 season in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events, in the Second Event he beat Andrew Higginson, James Wattana, Barry Hawkins, Robert Milkins and Ryan Day to reach the semi-finals. There, he was defeated 1–4 by Martin Gould, in the European Tour Event 3 played in Antwerp, Belgium, Burden beat Gareth Allen, Joe Swail and Mark King, before losing 3–4 to Neil Robertson in the last 16. These results, together with three other last 32 defeats, helped Burden to 23rd place on the PTC Order of Merit, just inside the top 26 who qualified for the Finals. In the Finals, Burden beat world number one Judd Trump 4–3, clinching the match with a 116 break to reach the last 16, the joint furthest he has ever been in a ranking event, Burden lost 2–4 to Xiao Guodong in the last 16. He reached the round of World Championship Qualifying with wins over Paul Davison and Dave Harold. Burden qualified for the first round of the 2013 Wuxi Classic to begin the 2013/2014 season and he saw off three players to reach the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open and then beat Michael Holt 5–2 to match his best ever performance in a ranking event. In the last 16 he lost 5–3 against Mark Davis, at the European Tour event, the Gdynia Open, Burden won four matches but was then defeated 4–3 by Sam Baird in the quarter-finals. He finished 34th on the Order of Merit, nine places outside of qualifying for the Finals, Burden got through to the second round of the China Open courtesy of Tony Dragos withdrawal and then lost 5–3 to Jimmy White. Burden won just two matches in his first eight events of the 2014/2015 season and he won four matches to advance to the quarter-finals of the Xuzhou Open, but lost 4–2 to Tom Ford
36.
Paul Davison
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Paul S. Davison is a professional snooker player from Pickering, North Yorkshire. In the 2009/2010 season he finished third in the PIOS rankings and he came through three qualification matches, concluding with a narrow 5–4 victory over Dominic Dale, to progress to the wildcard round of the 2012 German Masters. He beat Pole Krzysztof Wróbel 5–2 to reach the stage of a ranking event for the first time. The run earned him valuable ranking points as he continued to strive towards his goal of getting into the top 64 in the world to ensure his place on the tour for next season. However, he did not win another match in the remainder of the season and finished it ranked world number 81, meaning he had to enter Q School to have a chance of playing in the 2012/2013 season. In May, Davison won five matches at the second Q School event, Davison almost qualified for the 2012 International Championship, the fourth ranking event of the 2012/2013 season. He saw off Fraser Patrick, Peter Lines and Ben Woollaston and he reached the last 32 on two other occasions which helped Davison finish 48th on the PTC Order of Merit. Davisons season ended when he lost 7–10 to Alfie Burden in the round of World Championship Qualifying. In the qualifiers for the Australian Goldfields Open Davison won his first match of the season 5–4 against Andrew Norman, further wins over Peter Lines and Mark King followed to see Davison into the main draw of a ranking event for the second time in his career. In the first round he made breaks of 112 and 124 to lead Mark Davis 4–3 with his opponent requiring a snooker with one red left, Davis got the snooker on the final pink and potted the pink and black to level the match. Davison also led the deciding frame 49–10 but would lose the match 5–4. After the match Davison said that he loved the experience and had very little wrong in the match as Murphys fightback was as good matchplay snooker as you could see. Davisons second last 32 appearance of the season came at the German Masters after he recorded one of the best results of his career by knocking out world number nine Marco Fu 5–2. He led Rod Lawler 4–1 in the round but could not reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time as he was defeated 5–4. He lost in the last 64 in both events to fall short of doing so. Davison played in all six of the minor-ranking European Tour events during the 2014/2015 season. His best performance came at the Riga Open, where he reached the last 32 with 4–3 and 4–1 wins over Jack Lisowski and Gerard Greene respectively, but he then lost 4–2 to Matthew Selt. A 4–3 victory against Kyren Wilson at the Paul Hunter Classic was his only win in a European Tour event
37.
Dave Harold
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David Dave Harold is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of the Hard Man and the Stoke Potter and he was also the first player on the television circuit to sport a plaster on his chin as a guide for his cue, which is a practice now adopted by Graeme Dott. As an amateur he played as David Harold, but since turning professional in 1991 he was registered as Dave Harold and he has three children, and is separated from his wife. He won one ranking title, reached two finals and several semi-finals, and spent four seasons ranked among the top 16. Harold was renowned for both his strong defensive play and his unusual cue-action, with which he is able to unleash a great deal of power on a shot without using backswing on the cue. Despite safety play ultimately being considered his strong point, he compiled 143 century breaks, Steve Davis has commented that he is not the most naturally gifted player, but makes up for this with strong tactical play. For his technique and grinding play he has compared to Cliff Thorburn. Soon after turning professional, Harold won the 1993 Asian Open, ranked 93rd in the world at the time, he became the lowest-ranked player ever to win a ranking tournament. He never repeated this achievement, although he reached his second ranking final in the 1994 Grand Prix,11 in the world rankings in the 1996/97 season. In the 1996 Welsh Open, he lost in the semi-finals, 1–6 and he contended in his first and only World Championship quarter-final in the 1996 event, where he lost 7–13 to Nigel Bond. He also lost 5–6 to Bond in his 1996 British Open semi-final less than two weeks earlier, in the 1998 Grand Prix, he knocked out Stephen Hendry and John Higgins en route to the semi-finals, but lost narrowly to eventual champion Stephen Lee. 1998 also saw him reach his first semi-final in the UK Championship, in the 1999 Grand Prix Harold led Mark Williams 5–3 in the semi-finals but lost 5–6. Following a poor season in 2001–2002, Harold dropped out of the Top 16, a broken wrist sustained on New Years Eve 2003 saw him drop further down the rankings, out of the top 32, although he had a better 2005/2006 season. Another consistent season in 2006/2007 helped Harold back up to No.30 in the rankings for 2007/2008. 2007/2008 started with an appearance in the Shanghai Masters, losing to eventual winner Dominic Dale. However, he lost 2–9 in the round to Mark Selby. He qualified for the stages of the World Championship with a 10–4 win over Mike Dunn. During a preliminary match against local wildcard Jin Long in the 2008 China Open
38.
Jamie Cope
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Jamie Cope is an English professional snooker player. He has reached the finals of two ranking tournaments and the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters and this condition has caused Cope to slip markedly down the rankings in recent years which saw him drop out of the top 64 at the end of the 2014/2015 season. He has a fast, entertaining style of play, being nicknamed Shotgun due to his speed around the table, Cope had an impressive record as a junior, but dropped off the Main Tour after two largely unsuccessful seasons. However, he finished top in the Challenge Tour for emerging players in the 2004/05 season and this enabled him to return to the Main Tour. His stated intention in pre-season was to finish the year in the Top 48 and he reached the last 16 of the season-opening Grand Prix tournament. Later in the 2005/2006 season he reached the stage of the Welsh Open. Those three last-16 defeats were all 5–4, during the season he claimed wins over Joe Perry, Steve Davis, John Parrott and Alan McManus. Cope has the distinction of being the first player in history to post a verified 155 break achieved in a practice frame in 2005. On 23 October 2006, Cope made a 147 break in a match against Michael Holt during the Grand Prix in Aberdeen and he was only the third player to achieve a 147 in the tournaments history, after Ronnie OSullivan and John Higgins. After progressing from the stages, Cope defeated Robert Milkins in the last-16 to reach his first quarter-final in ranking events. He beat Joe Perry again in a closely fought match which required a deciding ninth frame, eventually, Cope won after a slip-up by Perry on the yellow. In the semi-finals, Cope defeated Mark King 6–3, but he lost 5–9 to Australian competitor Neil Robertson in the final, Cope had struggled early in the match and fell 2–8 behind. However, he lost the final, again by 5 frames to 9, in the 2007/2008 season, he reached the last 32 of the Shanghai Masters losing 2–5 to John Higgins. He failed to progress beyond the stages in the Grand Prix 2007. In the UK Championship Cope produced a good performance in beating the then world number one John Higgins 9–3 in the last 32. He then beat Barry Hawkins 9–8 in the last 16 before losing to eventual champion and he made his World Championship debut in 2008, losing 10–9 to Peter Ebdon in the first round. At the 2008 Shanghai Masters he scored the second competitive 147 of his career against Mark Williams, in the 2009 World Championship, Cope beat Joe Perry in the first round 10–6 and was close to upsetting twice world champion John Higgins in the second round. He was 12–10 up and was looking good to win the match and this meant that he finished the season ranked at No
39.
Robbie Williams (snooker player)
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Robbie Williams is an English professional snooker player. Williams turned professional in 2012 after qualifying in Event 3 of the Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012/13 and he has represented England in a number of amateur competitions, including the World Under 21 Championships in India. Williams has won the Merseyside Open five times, in 2010, he won the Paul Hunter English Open. In June 2011, he reached the last 16 of a PTC event, beating Peter Ebdon, Nick Jennings and Ali Carter, in March 2012, he was part of the England team who claimed victory in the European Team Championships. In May, he qualified for the snooker tour by coming through the third Qualifying School event with a 4–3 win over Mitchell Mann in his final match. Williams first match as a professional was in qualifying for the 2012 Wuxi Classic and he won two matches, but lost in the third qualifying round three times during the season in the ranking events. It was largely down to this result which saw Williams finish 47th on the PTC Order of Merit. His season ended when he was beaten 7–10 by Li Yan in the first round of World Championship Qualifying, Williams enjoyed a superb spell of play in October 2013. It began at the minor-ranking Ruhr Open where he won five games to reach the semi-finals, at the Indian Open he beat Shaun Murphy to qualify and received a bye through the first round due to Kyren Wilsons withdrawal. Williams then swept into his first ranking event semi-final with the loss of just one frame as he eliminated Andrew Higginson, Mike Dunn, a last four meeting with Ding Junhui followed and it proved a match too far for Williams as he was beaten 4–1. His aforementioned semi-final run in Germany helped him to finish 26th on the European Order of Merit, in World Championship qualifying, Williams earned wins over Lü Haotian, Liu Chuang and Pankaj Advani to face Fergal OBrien for a spot in snookers biggest event for the first time. Williams produced a comeback from 7–2 down to force a deciding frame at 9–9. However, OBrien then compiled a break of 57 to level the meaning a respotted black was required to settle the match which Williams duly potted to seal his first round berth. Williams played world number one Neil Robertson and was beaten 10–2 and he ended the season in top 64 of the world rankings for the first time as he was placed 62nd. Williams made his debut at a Chinese ranking event at the 2014 Wuxi Classic and he soon played in his second by qualifying for the International Championship, but lost 6–4 against Stuart Bingham. Williams qualified for his second successive World Championship courtesy of beating Lee Page 10–3, Dechawat Poomjaeng 10–8 and he edged the first session against Bingham 5–4, but went on to be defeated 10–7. Williams finished the season with a high world ranking of 50th. The first ranking event Williams could reach in the 2015/2016 season was the International Championship, Williams went on to lose 6–3 against Matthew Selt in the third round
40.
Jack Lisowski
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Jack Lisowski is an English professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2010, by finishing first in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings and he was runner-up to Mitchell Mann in the 2007 Junior Pot Black. In the 2008/2009 season he was runner-up in the event of International Open Series to Xiao Guodong. In 2009 Lisowski was awarded the inaugural Paul Hunter Scholarship, which would allow him to practise with professional players, at the time he was suffering from cancer, and was in remission from Hodgkins lymphoma. Overcoming his illness Lisowski competed in the PIOS for the 2009/2010 season and he won the first and eighth event of the International Open Series and finished first in the rankings and so received a place on the 2010/2011 professional Main Tour. In June 2010 Lisowski joined Romford-based snooker academy Grove Leisure, in the final he lost 0–4 to Tom Ford. Lisowski qualified for 2011 German Masters,2011 Welsh Open and 2011 Players Tour Championship Grand Finals, at the end of season he climbed to 52nd in the world ranking in his first professional season, the highest of any of the debutants. Lisowski was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award at the World Snooker Annual Award Ceremony, Lisowski had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship series of tournaments in the 2011/2012 season. He reached the quarter-finals of Event 6 and Event 9 and went one better in Event 5, where he was knocked out in the last 4 against compatriot, the results ensured he finished 24th in the Order of Merit and therefore claimed the final spot for the 2012 Finals. He beat Barry Hawkins 4–3 to reach the last 16 of an event for the first time in the Finals. Lisowski also qualified for the Shanghai Masters with wins over David Grace, Mike Dunn and Marco Fu and he played Jamie Cope in the round and was beaten 3–5. He could only win one match in his attempts to qualify for the remaining six ranking events. The 2012/2013 season was a year for Lisowski as he qualified for five ranking tournaments, including the World Championship. The first tournament he reached was the Australian Goldfields Open by beating Dave Harold and he couldnt qualify for the next two events, but then defeated Chen Zhe and Joe Perry to feature in the UK Championship for the first time. In his match against Chen, Lisowski made the first 147 in competitive play of his career, in the first round of the event in York, Lisowski lost 2–6 to Stuart Bingham. Lisowski beat Ian Burns and Jamie Burnett to qualify for the China Open and then saw off Zhou Yuelong to advance to the last 32. He played good friend Judd Trump and made a 131 break in 5–3 win, before coming back from 2–4 down to triumph 5–4 against Mark Davis and reach his first ranking event quarter-final. However, this time it was Lisowski who let a 4–2 lead slip as he lost 4–5 to Shaun Murphy, in the other PTC events his best results were three last 16 defeats which helped cement his place in the Finals by finishing 13th on the Order of Merit
41.
Mike Dunn (snooker player)
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Mike Dunn is an English professional snooker player who currently lives in Redcar. Having first turned professional in 1991, Dunn has been ranked within the top 64 players in the world since 2002, reaching his highest ranking, at 32nd, in October 2010. He has enjoyed the best form of his career since 2013, born in 1971, Dunn turned professional in 1991. Competing on the UK Tour for the 1997/1998 season, Dunn reached the last 16 at Event Three and his performances that season were sufficient for him to regain his professional status at its conclusion. Drawn against Stevens, he came to trail 1–7 and, although he recovered well to 6–9, nevertheless, the performance earned Dunn £14,500, and he broke into the top 64 as a result. There, he beat Leo Fernandez, Michael Judge, Marco Fu, local wilcard entry Simon Zammit and David Gray - whitewashing the latter 5–0 - before losing 3–5, again to Stevens. Having begun 2004/2005 ranked 53rd, Dunn finished it 54th - the first time he had finished a season in a lower position than at the start. At the 2006 UK Championship, Dunn defeated Jamie Jones, Mark Davis and James Wattana to reach the last 32, by 2014, Dunn had endured several years of poor form and was in danger of losing his place on tour at the end of the season. However, at the 2014 China Open, he mustered the best performance of his career, beating Tom Ford, Peter Lines, Tian Pengfei, Craig Steadman and world number one Mark Selby to reach the semi-finals. There, he faced the home favourite, Ding Junhui, for a place in the final and this run earned Dunn £21,000 and was enough to ensure he would begin the 2014/2015 season ranked 58th, keeping his professional status. Dunn usually practises in The Hartlepool Snooker Centre and he is also involved in promotions work for World Snooker, and was in the presentation party at the final of the 2007 UK Championship. Player profile on Pro Snooker Blog Official Mike Dunn Snooker Practice App Profile on Yahoo
42.
David Gilbert (snooker player)
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David Brown Gilbert is an English professional snooker player. Gilbert is a former World Snooker Young Player of Distinction and practises in Tamworth, Staffordshire, having never previously been beyond the last 16 of a ranking event, Gilbert reached the final of the 2015 International Championship where he lost 10–5 to John Higgins. Gilbert began his career by playing UK Tour in 1999. In the 2007/2008 season Gilbert reached the last 32 of three tournaments without progressing further, most notably he qualified for the 2007 World Championship where he led Stephen Hendry 1–5, before succumbing to a 10–7 defeat. Shortly before this match his mother Joan was diagnosed with breast cancer, to qualify he beat Alfie Burden, Gerard Greene and Mark King. Gilbert went one better at the 2009 Welsh Open, beating Mark Williams, the 2011/2012 season was somewhat of a breakthrough year for Gilbert as he reached the last 16 in two ranking event tournaments for the first time. Gilbert won 5–1 to meet Mark Williams in the last 16, Gilbert struggled to replicate the form he showed in Australia until the final and biggest tournament on the snooker calendar, the World Championship. He qualified with victories over Stuart Carrington, Jimmy Robertson, Mike Dunn and Fergal OBrien, there he won his first ever match at the Crucible 10–8, although he had to withstand two comebacks after leading 6–2 and 9–5. In the second round he was defeated by 2010 World Champion, Gilbert had led 3–1 after the first four frames, but then trailed 3–5 and 6–10 after the first and second session respectively. He finished the season ranked world number 57, inside the top 64 who automatically retained their places for the 2012/2013 season, following on from Gilberts successful 2011/2012 season, he struggled for form this season as he could only qualify for the World Open in Haikou, China. There, he beat Lu Ning 5–0 in the wildcard round, Gilbert played in eight of the ten minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events, but could only win three matches all year, to finish a lowly 86th on the Order of Merit. He couldnt repeat last seasons run to The Crucible as he was defeated 6–10 by Marco Fu in the round of World Championship Qualifying. He ended the campaign ranked world number 41, Gilberts 2013/2014 season was his most consistent year to date as he qualified for all but two of the ranking events. In his opening match, he defeated Jak Jones 5–3 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he beat Andrew Pagett 5–2 in the first round. He went on to beat Alan McManus 5–2 to reach the last 16 of ranking event for the fourth time, a month later at the minor-ranking Rotterdam Open, he defeated Ryan Day 4–3 in the last 16 and Stephen Maguire 4–1 in the quarter-finals. Gilbert led Mark Selby 2–0 in his match, but was beaten 4–3. There, Gilbert gained revenge over Selby by whitewashing him 4–0, Gilbert played in his third World Championship this year after seeing off Jimmy Robertson in the final round of qualifying. He faced last years runner-up Barry Hawkins in the first round, Gilbert lost 5–3 to Stephen Maguire in the first round of the 2014 Wuxi Classic and then failed to qualify for the next two ranking events
43.
Anthony McGill (snooker player)
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Anthony McGill is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a partner of Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings, McGill won the 2016 Indian Open after having never been beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event previously. He was runner-up to Stuart Carrington in the 2006 Junior Pot Black and he was runner-up in the 2008 European Under-19′s Championship behind Stephen Craigie. In the 2009/2010 season he won the event of the International Open Series. Thus, McGill received a place on the professional Main Tour for 2010/2011 and he reached his first professional final losing 1–6 to John Higgins in the 2011 Scottish Professional Championship. McGill did not manage to qualify for the stage of any ranking event tournaments during the season. McGills season concluded with an 8–10 defeat to Anthony Hamilton in the qualifying round for the World Championship. McGill could only qualify for the China Open during the 2012/2013 season and he beat David Grace, Yu Delu and Martin Gould to reach the venue in Beijing, where he defeated Heydari Nezhad Ehsan 5–3 in the wildcard round. He faced Mark Allen in the last 32 and lost 1–5, McGill had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship events by reaching his first ever ranking final in the European Tour Event 5, played in his homeland of Scotland. He saw off the likes of Mark Davis and Robert Milkins to make it through to the quarter-finals where he was 0–3 and 51 points down against Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon to triumph 4–3. He was also 1–3 down in the semis to Andrew Higginson, McGill played Ding Junhui in the final and came up short of winning the title as he lost 2–4. The run helped him to 16th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals, where he beat Milkins 4–2 before once again losing to Ding, this time by a 3–4 scoreline. In the third round of World Championship Qualifying McGill fought back from 3–8 down against Rod Lawler to force a decider which Lawler won, McGill ended the season at number 48 in the world rankings, at that point his highest position. McGill lost in qualifying for the first three events of the season, but at the Indian Open he reached the quarter-finals of a tournament for the first time. He faced Robbie Williams and was whitewashed 4–0, at the minor-ranking Zhengzhou Open he let a 2–0 lead slip in the semi-finals against Liang Wenbo to lose 4–3. McGill was beaten in the last 32 of ranking events on three occasions during the season. McGill began the season with a 5–3 loss to John Higgins in the first round of the Wuxi Classic and he reached the semi-finals of the Riga Open after beating Judd Trump 4–3, but lost in another final frame decider against Mark Allen
44.
Michael White (snooker player)
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Michael White is a Welsh professional snooker player from Neath. At the age of nine he became the youngest player to have made a break in competitive play. White won his first, and to date, only ranking event title at the 2015 Indian Open, White first showed potential by becoming the youngest player to make a century break, a 105 in March 2001, when aged nine. In 2001, he was invited to the Crucible, where John Parrott commented and he won a number of junior and later amateur events, and in 2006 became the youngest ever winner of the IBSF World Grand Prix, winning it aged 14. He also won the European under-19 Championship, beating Vincent Muldoon in the final, previously Shaun Murphy had been allowed to play aged 15. In his first professional match, the Masters qualifying, he shocked Leicester player Tom Ford 4–0 and his first season on the Main Tour was relatively unsuccessful, winning only four matches in the seven ranking events. In his first ranking tournament, the Grand Prix, he finished last in his group, beating Tony Drago and his most successful run was beating Shailesh Jogia 10–4 in the first round of the World Championship qualifiers, but he lost 10–4 to Barry Pinches in the next. These results meant that he dropped off the Main Tour and he regained a place on the Main Tour for the 2009/2010 Season by finishing top of the Welsh rankings. In the qualifiers for the 2009 Shanghai Masters he beat world champion John Parrott 5–0 before losing 5–3 to Mark Davis. His best run during the season was to the last 48 of the UK Championship, with victories over Daniel Wells, Jin Long and this meant that by the end of the season he had done enough to retain his tour status. He started the new season by winning three qualifying matches in the 2010 Shanghai Masters, including a 5–1 win over Dominic Dale and he won two matches, before losing in the third qualifying round on two further occasions during the season. At the minor-ranking Euro PTC Event 3 White beat the likes of Tom Ford and Marco Fu to reach the quarter-finals and he went on to finish 51st on the PTC Order of Merit and 71st in the world rankings. White narrowly missed out on a place in the 2012 Players Tour Championship Finals as he finished 25th on the Order of Merit, with only 24 players qualifying for the event. His placing was largely thanks to a run in Event 7, where his hopes of a first professional title were ended by Ronnie OSullivan. Even though he could not qualify for a ranking event throughout the season he ended it at a career high world ranking of 54. White beat Craig Steadman and Ken Doherty to qualify for the UK Championship and he kept true to his word by beating Zhang Anda 10–5 and Andrew Higginson 10–4 to qualify for the first round of the biggest tournament in snooker, the World Championship. He beat compatriot and two-time winner of the event Mark Williams in the opening round 10–6 and he beat fellow qualifier Dechawat Poomjaeng 13–3 in the last 16 and faced Ricky Walden in his first ranking event quarter-final, losing 6–13. White increased his ranking to world number 34, a climb of 20 spots during the season which was the most of any player on tour, White had an extremely consistent 2013/2014 season as he played in the first round of 10 of the 12 ranking events
45.
Barry Pinches
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Barry Pinches is an English former professional snooker player, recognisable for his bright and flamboyant waistcoats, which usually feature the yellow and green colours of Norwich City F. C. He is a former top 32 player and ranking-event quarter-finalist and he has compiled over 100 century breaks in his career, becoming the 33rd player to have done so. He won the English Amateur Championship in 1988, enabling him to professional in 1989. He is coached by Stephen Feeney, after a largely unsuccessful start to his career, he hit good form for a while in the 2000s. In his first appearance at the Crucible, in 1991 he lost 3–10 to Terry Griffiths, at one point he was established in the worlds top 32, and provisionally 14 at one point – advancing 82–56–36–21 in the rankings over a strong sequence of seasons up to 2003/2004. However, he dropped out of the top 32 two years later, and then won only one match in 2006/2007, dropping to number #56. He attributed this loss of form to attempting to change his cue action, however, he won an invitational event that featured many top players, the 2007 Paul Hunter Classic that August, beating Neil Robertson and Ken Doherty en route. The 2008/2009 season was successful for him however. In the 2011/2012 season Pinches narrowly missed out on a maximum 147 break at Event 2 of the Players Tour Championship in Gloucester and he would later finish the season ranked world number 64, grabbing the final spot on offer through the world rankings to play in the 2012/2013 season. He fell 23 places in the rankings during the season – the most of anyone on the snooker tour, Pinches won two matches but then lost in the final round in qualifying for the first three ranking events of the season. He made it to the draw at the next event. He had to play in a wildcard round once at the venue in Chengdu, China, and lost 5–6 to Lu Ning. This was the furthest Pinches got in an event this season. He finished the year ranked world number 62, Pinches qualified for the 2013 Indian Open, the fourth ranking event of the 2013/2014 season with a 4–1 victory over Chris Wakelin. He almost pulled off a shock in the first round as he led Ding Junhui 3–2. Pinches also reached the draw of the World Open and China Open. Pinches stated before the match that he would stick to his game with a defensive approach as he has always played the same no matter who the opponent is. He edged out Peter Ebdon 5–4 to qualify for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, Pinches won three games to play in the final qualifying round for the Australian Goldfields Open where he lost 5–3 to Ebdon
Ryan Day (101)
Stuart Bingham
Ryan Day 6–64 
Graeme Dott 0–62 
Stuart Bingham