1.
Leicester
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Leicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest, in the 2011 census the population of the City of Leicester unitary authority was 329,839 making it the most populous municipality in the East Midlands region. The associated urban area is also the 11th most populous in England, the name of Leicester is recorded in the 9th-century History of the Britons as Cair Lerion, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Ligora-ceastre. In the Domesday Book of 1086, it is recorded as Ledecestre, the second element of the name comes from the Latin castrum which is reflected in both Welsh cair and Anglo-Saxon ceastre. Based on the Welsh name, Geoffrey of Monmouth proposes a king Leir of Britain as a founder in his Historia Regum Britanniae. Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a going back at least two millennia. The native Iron Age settlement encountered by the Romans at the seems to have developed in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC. This area of the Soar was split into two channels, a stream to the east and a narrower channel on the west. The settlement seems to have controlled a ford across the larger channel, the later Roman name was a latinate form of the Brittonic word for ramparts, suggesting the site was an oppidum. The plural form of the name suggests it was composed of several villages. The Celtic tribe holding the area was recorded as the Coritanians. The Corieltauvians are believed to have ruled over roughly the area of the East Midlands and it is believed that the Romans arrived in the Leicester area around AD47, during their conquest of southern Britain. The Corieltauvian settlement lay near a bridge on the Fosse Way, in the 2nd century, it received a forum and bathhouse. In 2013, the discovery of a Roman cemetery found just outside the old city walls, the remains of the baths of Roman Leicester can be seen at the Jewry Wall, recovered artifacts are displayed at the adjacent museum. Knowledge of the following the Roman withdrawal from Britain is limited. Certainly there is continuation of occupation of the town, though on a much reduced scale in the 5th and 6th centuries. Its memory was preserved as the Cair Lerion of the History of the Britons, following the Saxon invasion of Britain, Leicester was occupied by the Middle Angles and subsequently administered by the kingdom of Mercia. It was elevated to a bishopric in either 679 or 680, this see survived until the 9th century and their settlement became one of the Five Burghs of the Danelaw, although this position was short-lived
2.
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
3.
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
4.
Glossary of cue sports terms
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There are also hybrid pocket/carom games such as English billiards. The terms American or US as applied here refer generally to North American usage, similarly, British terms predominate in the world of snooker, English billiards and blackball, regardless of the players nationalities. The term blackball is used in this glossary to refer to both blackball and eight-ball pool as played in the Commonwealth, as a shorthand, 1-cushion See the Straight rail billiards main article for the game sometimes called one-cushion. 1-pocket See the One-pocket main article for the game, 3-ball See the Three-ball main article for the game. 3-cushion See the Three-cushion billiards main article for the game, 4-ball See the Yotsudama main article for the modern Asian game often called four-ball. See the American four-ball billiards main article for the nineteenth-century game, 5-pins See the Five-pin billiards main article for the formerly Italian, now internationally standardized game, or Danish pin billiards for the five-pin traditional game of Denmark. 6-ball See the Nine-ball#Six-ball sub-article for the game, 8-ball See the Eight-ball main article for the game. See the 8 ball entry, under the E section below, See 8 ball for derivative uses. 9-ball See the Nine-ball main article for the game, See the 9 ball entry, under the N section below, for the ball. 9-pins See the Goriziana main article for the game sometimes called nine-pins, 10-ball See the Ten-ball main article for the game. Above Used in snooker in reference to the position of the cue ball and it is above the object ball if it is off-straight on the baulk cushion side of the imaginary line for a straight pot. It is also common to use the term high instead, gambling or the potential for gambling. Lively results on a ball, usually the cue ball, from the application of spin, added Used with an amount to signify money added to a tournament prize fund in addition to the amount accumulated from entry fees. A match format in which a player has to establish a lead of a number of frames in order to win. Aiming line An imaginary line drawn from the path an object ball is to be sent. Anchor To freeze a ball to a cushion, such a ball may be said to be anchored and this term is largely obsolete balkline billiards jargon. Anchor nurse A type of shot used in carom billiards games. It developed to curtail the effectiveness of the nurse, which in turn had been invented to thwart the effectiveness of Parkers box in stopping long
5.
Century break
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In snooker, a century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table without missing a shot, and requires potting of at least 25 consecutive balls. Over 20,000 century breaks have been recorded by snooker players throughout professional tournaments, Ronnie OSullivan holds the record for the most career centuries, with over 800 century breaks. A century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table, the player does this by potting red balls and coloured balls alternately, and when no reds are left, potting the coloured balls in order of their increasing value. Points for a shot by the opponent do not count in a players break. If for example only the colour would be used instead of the black ball. This means that only a century break is possible in a frame of snooker under a limited number of combinations. To score one, there must be at least ten reds on the table when the comes to play since if there are only nine reds left. An exception exists if the opponent fouls and leaves the incoming player snookered on all the remaining reds, Breaks above 147 are possible when an opponent fouls and leaves a free ball with all fifteen reds still remaining on the table. This has happened once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a 148 at the qualifying stage of the 2004 UK Championship. A century of centuries refers to a total of 100 breaks of at least 100 points each, only 15 players had reached this milestone in professional snooker tournaments by December 2001. Only Neil Robertson has achieved the Holy Grail of one hundred 100s in a single season, the following players are reported to have passed 100 breaks and at least the given threshold above this. Career Joe Davis compiled the first televised century break in 1962, the record for most century breaks scored in official tournament play is held by Ronnie OSullivan with over 850. The record was held by Stephen Hendry who compiled 775 centuries over the course of his career. The first player to record 1000 centuries in public performance was Horace Lindrum, stacey Hillyard became the first female to record a competitive century in January 1985. The quickest recorded century break in tournament play was by Tony Drago at 1996 UK Championship, the youngest player to record a century break is Michael White at the age of nine in March 2001. Season The first player to reach 50 centuries in a season was Hendry, judd Trump took the record with 61 centuries in the 2012/2013 season and the record was broken for the fourth successive season in 2013/2014 when Neil Robertson overtook Trumps tally. In total, Robertson compiled 103 century breaks throughout the season, event The most centuries made by a player in a single match during a professional tournament is seven and the record is shared by Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui. Hendry set the record during the final of the 1994 UK Championship, during this match, Hendry compiled six centuries in a span of eight frames
6.
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
7.
John Higgins (snooker player)
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John Higgins, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In terms of titles in the modern era, Higgins is fifth behind Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Ray Reardon. His 28 career ranking titles, put him in joint second place with Davis and OSullivan, known as a prolific break-builder, he has compiled 664 century breaks in professional tournament play, placing him third behind OSullivan and Hendry. He has also compiled 8 competitive maximum breaks, placing him third behind OSullivan, for 16 consecutive full seasons from 1996/1997 to 2011/2012, Higgins never fell below 6th in the world rankings, and was world number 1 on four occasions. The WPBSA banned Higgins from professional competition for six months and fined him £75,000 and he returned to the tour midway through the 2010/2011 season. After his return to snooker, Higgins added a third UK Championship title and he subsequently experienced a noted slump in form, and between 2012 and 2014 only won the 2012 Shanghai Masters. He has spoken frequently in this period about his struggles with confidence, however, in 2015, Higgins returned to winning ways, capturing three ranking titles. Higgins turned professional in 1992 and reached the quarter-finals of the British Open during his first season on the professional tour. He rose to prominence in the 1994/1995 season when, at the age of 19, he won his first ranking tournament at the Grand Prix, by the end of the season, he had moved from 51st to 11th in the world rankings. By the end of the season, assisted by two more ranking titles and another ranking final, he had moved up to 2nd in the world. In the UK Championship final in 1996, he recovered from 4–8 down against Stephen Hendry to lead 9–8, only to lose 9–10. In 1998, Higgins won his first World Championship, beating Jason Ferguson, Anthony Hamilton, John Parrott and Ronnie OSullivan and he made a then-record 14 centuries in the tournament. After winning the title, Higgins became world number 1 for the first time in his career. Higgins remained as World no.1 for two years, when Mark Williams replaced him at the top of the rankings at the close of the 1999/00 season and he reached the World Championship final in 2001, but lost 14–18 to Ronnie OSullivan. At the beginning of the 2001/02 season, Higgins became the first player to win the three tournaments of a season, the Champions Cup, Scottish Masters, and the British Open. Higgins then failed to win a title until his fourth British Open triumph in 2004. In the Grand Prix final in 2005, Higgins beat Ronnie OSullivan 9–2, in doing so, he became the first player to record four consecutive centuries in a ranking tournament, with breaks of 103,104,138 and 128 in frames 7 to 10. Higgins scored 494 points without reply, which was then a record, Higgins and OSullivan also contested the Masters finals in 2005 and 2006
8.
World Open (snooker)
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The World Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament. It had previously known as the Professional Players Tournament, the LG Cup. During 2006 and 2007, it was played in a unique format, more similar to association football. The knock-out format returned in 2008 with an FA Cup-style draw, the random draw was abandoned after the 2010 edition. The last champion was Ali Carter, the tournament was created in 1982 as the Professional Players Tournament by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, in order to provide another ranking event. Ray Reardon beat Jimmy White by 10 frames to 5 in the final to win the first prize of £5,000, in 1984 Rothmans started sponsoring the tournament, changing its name to the Grand Prix, and moved its venue to the Hexagon Theatre in Reading. The tournament has had various sponsors and venues since, previous sponsors include LG Electronics, who took over in 2001 and changed the tournaments name to the LG Cup. After LG withdrew their sponsorship, the Grand Prix name was revived for 2004 and was sponsored by totesport, between 2006 and 2008 the event was sponsored by Royal London Watches. The tournament was played at the Guild hall in 1998, at the start of the snooker season, prize money for 2005 totalled £400,000, with the winner receiving £60,000. In its original form, the tournament had a flatter structure than most tournaments, with the top 32 players all coming in at the last 64 stage. These facts made it common to see surprise results than in most other tournaments, with players such as Dominic Dale, Marco Fu, Euan Henderson. A player from outside the top 16 has reached the final roughly half the times the contest has been played, few of those have become consistent stars, although Stephen Hendry and John Higgins took their first ranking titles in the event. In addition, over the years, many top 16 players were eliminated in the stages of the contest. The event moved to Scotland at the A. E. C. C. in Aberdeen for 2006, Players were split into groups and played every other player in their group once. The top 2 players progressed, the last 16 and onwards were played as a straight knock-out and this resulted in several surprise results. The format was tweaked for 2007, after complaints that the system was too random. Matches increased in length from best-of-5 to best-of-7, to give the player more chance to win. The main tie-breaker for players level on wins was changed, with frame difference now taking precedence over results between the players who are level on points
9.
2006 Grand Prix (snooker)
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The 2006 Royal London Watches Grand Prix was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 21 and 29 October 2006 at the A. E. C. C. in Aberdeen, Scotland. Neil Robertson won his first ranking title by defeating Jamie Cope 9–5 in the final, the first round used a round-robin format. The top 32 and the 16 qualifiers were placed in eight groups of six with the top two from each qualifying for the knockout stage. Qualifying was held between 30 September and 4 October 2006 at Pontins Prestatyn using a round-robin format, the entries were placed into eight groups with the top 2 from each group qualifying for the finals in Aberdeen
10.
2007 Grand Prix (snooker)
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The 2007 Royal London Watches Grand Prix was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 13 and 21 October 2007 at the A. E. C. C. in Aberdeen, Scotland. Dave Harold made 14 consecutive foul and misses during his round-robin stage match against Liu Song and this is the most consecutive foul and misses made in any professional event. Marco Fu won the title by defeating Ronnie OSullivan 9–6 in the final, the breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below, The breakdown of ranking points for this year is shown below, The first round used a round-robin format like last season. The top 32 and the 16 qualifiers were placed in eight groups of six with the top two from each qualifying for the knockout stage. Matches in the round-robins were the best of seven frames, tom Ford made a maximum break in his match against Steve Davis. For this feat he won £24,000, qualifying for the 2007 Grand Prix was held between 17 September and 23 September 2007 at Pontins Prestatyn using a round-robin format. The entries were placed into eight groups with the top 2 from each qualifying for the finals in Aberdeen. All matches at this stage were played over the best of seven frames
11.
Welsh Open (snooker)
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The Welsh Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It replaced the Welsh Professional Championship, which started in 1980 and was open to Welsh players. Since the tournaments creation in 1992, Mark Williams has been the only Welsh player to win the championship, john Higgins and Ronnie OSullivan hold the record for the most wins, with four Welsh Open titles each. Stephen Hendry has won the tournament three times, stuart Bingham is the reigning champion. The tournament began as a tournament in 1992 initially in February after the Masters. The event was sponsored by Regal until 2003, but UK restrictions on tobacco advertising meant that it was without a sponsor until 2009. The tournament was sponsored by Totesport. com in 2010, by Wyldecrest Park Homes in 2011, by 888真人 in 2012, in 2017 the tournament will be sponsored by Coral. In 1996 at the age of 17 years and 111 days Paul Hunter reached the semi-finals, john Higgins and Ronnie OSullivan jointly hold the record for the most Welsh Open titles, both having won the event on 4 occasions. Like the Welsh Professional Championship, it was played at the Newport Centre in Newport and it was moved back to Newport in 2005, where it remained until 2014. In June 2014, it was announced that the 2015 event will be held at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. The tournament currently takes place after the German Masters, and is broadcast by BBC Wales, Eurosport, CCTV, SMG, Now TV, there have been six maximum breaks in the history of the tournament. The first was made by Ronnie OSullivan in 1999 against James Wattana, the second was made at the qualifying stage of the 2000 event by Barry Pinches against Joe Johnson. The third was made by Andrew Higginson in 2007 against Ali Carter, the fourth 147 was made in 2011 by Hendry against Stephen Maguire. This was Hendrys 10th 147 break and with this he equalled the record for most maximums with Ronnie OSullivan and he also became the oldest player to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days. The fifth was made by OSullivan in 2014 against Ding Junhui and this was OSullivans 12th 147 break and with it he set the record for most maximums. The most recent maximum break was made by Ding Junhui at the quarter-finals of the 2016 tournament,2017 competitors are shown in bold
12.
Stephen Hendry
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Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish former professional snooker player. Hendry became the youngest professional player in 1985 aged 16 and, in 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion. He won the World Championship seven times, a record in the modern era, Hendry has the distinction of winning the most world ranking titles and is second on the century break list behind Ronnie OSullivan with 775 competitive century breaks. He has made 11 competitive maximum breaks, second only to OSullivan with 13, Hendry started playing snooker in 1981, aged 12, when his father, Gordon, bought him a child-sized snooker table as a Christmas present. Two years later he won the Scottish U-16 Championship and he also appeared on BBCs Junior version of Pot Black. The following year he won the Scottish Amateur Championship and also became the youngest ever entrant in the World Amateur Championship, in 1985, after retaining the Scottish Amateur Championship, he turned professional. At 16 years and three months old he was the youngest ever professional, Hendry was managed by entrepreneur Ian Doyle. In his first season, he reached the last 32 in the Mercantile Credit Classic and was the youngest ever Scottish Professional champion. He also became the youngest player ever to qualify for the World Championship and he lost 8–10 to Willie Thorne who then applauded him out of the arena. Hendry and Mike Hallett combined to win that years World Doubles Championship, in 1987/88 Hendry won his first world ranking titles, the Grand Prix, beating Dennis Taylor 10–7 in the final, and the British Open. He also claimed three other tournament victories, retaining both the Scottish Professional Championship and the World Doubles Championship, and the Australian Masters, by the end of that season he was ranked world no.4 and was voted the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year. No ranking titles came his way the following season, although he did win the New Zealand Masters, the 1989/90 season saw the beginning of Hendrys period of dominance. The following season, he set a record of five ranking titles in one season and recorded a hat-trick of Masters, beating Mike Hallett 9–8 after coming back from 0–7. However, Hendry failed to retain his title, losing to Steve James in the quarter-finals. In 1991/92, Hendry regained the World title, winning 10 frames in a row to come from 8–14 down to defeat White 18–14 and he won the Masters, too, and achieved his first competitive 147 break, in the Matchroom League. A year later, he retained both his World Championship title and a fifth consecutive Masters crown, the following season, he retained the World Championship, narrowly beating Jimmy White 18–17 in the final. Also in 1997, Stephen Hendry played Ronnie OSullivan in the Liverpool Victoria charity challenge final, the match was best of 17 frames. Stephen raced into a 6-1 and 8-2 lead with breaks of 110,129 and 136, Ronnie won the next 6 frames to level the match at 8-8
13.
Players Tour Championship
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The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Grand Final, where qualification was based on performance in the other PTC events, each regular event lasted for at least three days, with qualifying days for amateurs should the event be oversubscribed. Each event costs £100 to enter, and Main Tour players can gain ranking points in the events, the inaugural series ran from late June, with six events at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, one in Gloucester and another five in mainland Europe. The finals took place in March featuring the best 24 players who had won the most money, the prize money at each event was £50,000 or €50,000 at the regular events, with a total of £200,000 available in the Finals. The first event was held in the World Snooker Academy from 25 to 27 June 2010, in the first season the six events at the Academy were sponsored by Star Xing Pai. The prize money for the Finals was increased to £250,000 in 2011/2012, originally the events played outside Sheffield were called Euro Players Tour Championship, but this distinction was abandoned for the second season. In the 2012/2013 season the Players Tour Championship was expanded, the PTCs would no longer take place at the World Snooker Academy and instead were played at the South West Snooker Academy. In addition there was a decrease of PTCs being played in England, reduced to four events, from this season the European events formed the European Tour, their prize money was increased to €70,000, and they were sponsored by Betfair. The seedings of the final were based on the combined list of both Order of Merits, the prize money of the Finals was also increased to £300,000, excluding the £1,000 prize money for Ding Junhuis maximum break. In the 2013/2014 season the number of minor-ranking PTC events was reduced to twelve, the number of events played in England was further decreased to two, and the number of Asian events was raised to four. From this season the events held in Asia formed the Asian Tour, the prize money of the continental European Tour events was increased to €125,000. The calculation method of the European Tour Order of Merit was also changed this season, the previously used €1=£1 system was changed to accommodate the increasing prize money of the continental European events. World Snooker decided to use the €1. 2=£1 conversion rate, in the 2014/2015 season the number of minor-ranking PTC events was further reduced to only nine events. There are no events played in England, and the number of Asian events was reduced to three after the event, originally planned to be held in August, had to be cancelled. The prize money of the Grand Final was increased to £350,000, the PTC has been both criticised and supported by players. The PTC was criticised by players for its comparatively low prize fund. The events offered a top prize of just £10,000 while the first professional round offered no money at all. OSullivan likened the experience of competing on the PTC to being raped, stephen Maguire echoed OSullivans sentiments, commenting that players were left out of pocket unless they did really well, and that he felt like a prostitute being forced to play in the events
14.
Graeme Dott
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Graeme Dott is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001 and he has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship and the 2007 China Open, and was runner-up in the World Championships of 2004 and 2010. He reached number 2 in the rankings in 2007, but a subsequent episode of clinical depression seriously affected his form. He then recovered his form, regained his ranking. In 2011, he published his autobiography, Frame of Mind, after winning the UK Under-19 Championship in 1992 and Scottish Amateur Championship in 1993, Dott turned professional in 1994. He slowly climbed the rankings, reaching the top sixteen in 2001, early successes included reaching the quarter-final of the 1996 Welsh Open and qualifying for the World Championship for the first time in 1997. Dott was a runner-up in the 1999 Scottish Open, the 2001 British Open, the 2004 World Championship and he scored his only competitive 147 break in the 1999 British Open. Dott started his campaign with an easy 10–3 victory over former champion John Parrott and his quarter-final match was against Australias Neil Robertson, and after leading 12–8, he was pegged back to 12–12, before edging through the deciding frame, winning the tie 13–12. In the semi-finals he faced former two-time champion Ronnie OSullivan in a rematch of the 2004 final, at 8–8 after the second session of four sessions, OSullivan failed to win a single frame in the third session and Dott dominated play to win easily 17–11. Dott faced Peter Ebdon in the final for the £200,000 prize and he began the last session of the match leading 15–7, but Ebdon won six successive frames to reduce his deficit to two frames. Dott eventually won by 18 frames to 14, after winning some vital frames with marvellous clearances and it was the longest final ever and was, at the time, the latest to finish. The previous record holder was the final frame last black ball finish 1985 final between Englishman Steve Davis and Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor, which finished at 12,19 a. m. The Dott-Ebdon match finished half an hour later, this despite featuring three fewer frames, reflecting the overall pace of the match. The average frame length was such that both afternoon sessions only had six frames, instead of the usual eight, the victory over Ebdon took his ranking up to number 6 for 2006/07 season, a career high at the time. Dott shone in the 2006 UK Championship as well, reaching the semi-finals, Dott briefly became the provisional world number one in the rankings system after overcoming Jamie Cope 9–5 to win the 2007 China Open, his second ranking tournament win. Prior to this, he disliked going to China, not helped by a match in 2002. Newly crowned world champion John Higgins overtook him, the loss against McCulloch also maintained the Crucible Curse, as Dott became the seventeenth consecutive first-time champion to lose his title the very next year. The 2007/2008 season was more of a struggle for Dott, who described his form as hopeless
15.
Ding Junhui
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Ding Junhui is a Chinese professional snooker player and the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Ding turned professional in 2003, at the age of 16 and he achieved his first major professional successes in 2005 when he won the China Open and the UK Championship. After his win at the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy, Ding became the player after Ronnie OSullivan. He has so far won a total of 12 major ranking titles, in the 2013/2014 season, Ding equalled Stephen Hendrys record of winning five ranking titles in a single season. He became the first Asian player to reach the final of the World Championship, known as a prolific break-builder, Ding has compiled more than 400 century breaks in his career including six maximum breaks in professional play. He remains the only Asian player to be ranked number one. Away from snooker, Ding enrolled at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2006 to study Business Administration and he is a resident of England during the snooker season and practises at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. Born in Yixing, Jiangsu in China, Ding began playing snooker at 8 years old after his father, when his father went for a toilet break, Ding took the cue and played with the professional. Upon his fathers return, Ding had won the game, following that moment, Dings parents supported his playing skills. The family then moved to Dongguan, Guangdong, and Ding stopped his education at age 11 to practice snooker for 8 hours each day, in the same year, Ding became the number one ranked player in China. His performance favourably impressed many commentators, who rated him a likely future World Champion. In April 2005, he celebrated his 18th birthday by reaching the final of the China Open in Beijing, along the way defeating world top-16 ranked players Peter Ebdon, Marco Fu and Ken Doherty. In the final, Ding beat then world number 3 Stephen Hendry by 9–5 to score his first ranking tournament win, the match was watched by 110 million people on Chinas national sports channel CCTV-5, the largest television audience recorded for a snooker match. In December 2005, Ding beat Jimmy White, Paul Hunter, in the final, he beat Steve Davis by 10–6 to become the first player from outside the UK to win the tournament. Following this victory, Dings provisional world ranking rose from 62 at the start of the season to 60, at the end of the season, he was ranked number 27. At the 2006 China Open, Ding lost 6–2 in the semi-finals to eventual winner Mark Williams, Dings win in Ireland pushed his provisional ranking up to number 5. In December 2006, Ding won three Gold medals at the 2006 Asian Games, winning the Single, Double and Team Snooker competitions. In the following week, he reached, as the champion, the quarter-finals of the 2006 UK Championship
16.
2012 China Open (snooker)
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The 2012 Bank of Beijing China Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 26 March and 1 April 2012 at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium in Beijing, China. Judd Trump was the champion, but he lost in the quarter-finals 3–5 against Stephen Lee. Mark Selby withdrew from his second match against Ding Junhui due to a neck injury. Peter Ebdon won his ninth ranking title by defeating Stephen Maguire 10–9 in the final, the breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below, These matches were played in Beijing on 26 and 27 March. These matches took place between 21 and 24 February 2012 at the World Snooker Academy, Sheffield, England,2012 Bank of Beijing China Open pictures on Facebook
17.
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
18.
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
19.
2012 World Snooker Championship
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The 2012 World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 21 April to 7 May 2012 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 36th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, Ronnie OSullivan won his fourth world title by defeating Ali Carter 18–11 in the final. John Higgins, the champion, lost 4–13 to Stephen Hendry in the second round. Aged 36, and just 55 days older than Dennis Taylor when winning the title in 1985, on the opening day of the televised stage Hendry made the 88th official maximum break, his third at the Crucible and the 11th of his career. He announced his retirement from professional snooker following his loss to Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals, the tournament was sponsored by online casino Betfred. com. Debutants at the Crucible were Jamie Jones, Cao Yupeng, and it was also the first time that Cao and Brecel qualified for the televised stage of a ranking event. Cao and Jones advanced to the round by defeating Mark Allen 10–6 and Shaun Murphy 10–8 respectively. Brecel became the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible and he was also the first Belgian to play at the Crucible. Five Asian players competed in the first round, which is a Crucible record, four were from China and one from Hong Kong. Mark Williams stated on Twitter before the championship, that he hated the Crucible, Williams was subsequently booed as he was announced to the crowd before his opening match. For this comment he was fined a total of £4,000. Stephen Hendry made the 11th maximum break at the Crucible during his first round match with Stuart Bingham and this was the 88th official maximum break. With this he equalled two records of OSullivan, the most official maximum breaks in professional snooker with eleven, zhu Ying became the first Chinese person to referee a match at the Crucible by officiating the match between Hendry and Bingham. Neil Robertson became the player to make three consecutive century breaks at the World Championship, after OSullivan, John Higgins and Mark Selby. Mark Allen, following his defeat by Cao Yupeng, accused his opponent of cheating. Allen claimed that Cao had not admitted to a shot at 5–4. However, he conceded that the Chinese player had outplayed him during the match. World Snooker decided to start action against Allen, who later admitted having gone too far
20.
Mark Williams (snooker player)
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Mark James Williams, MBE is a Welsh professional snooker player who has been World Champion twice, in 2000 and 2003. Often noted for his single-ball potting, he has earned the nickname The Welsh Potting Machine and he has been ranked the world number 1 for a total of three seasons in his career. The first left-handed player to win the World Championship, Williams has won 18 ranking tournaments, including the UK Championship twice and he has also won the Masters on two occasions, in 1998 and 2003. Williams most successful season in his career to date was the 2002/2003 season, when he won the treble of tournaments, the UK Championship, the Masters. He is the player after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry to win all three Triple Crown events in one season. Following his second World Championship his form declined, and he dropped out of the top 16 following the 2007/2008 season, as a prolific break-builder, Williams has compiled more than 350 century breaks during his career. Williams was born in Cwm, Ebbw Vale, and started playing snooker at an early age and he scored his first century when he was 13. He won his first junior event when he was 11 and it was then that he realised that he wanted to pursue a career as a snooker player and he was encouraged to play by his father Dilwyn, who was a miner. When he was 15 he did a 12-hour shift down the mines, Williams was also a promising Amateur boxer, being undefeated in 12 fights as a schoolboy, but he decided to pursue his snooker career instead. He turned professional in 1992 and finished his first season ranked 119th, Williams first ranking tournament win came in January 1996, when he claimed the Welsh Open title, beating John Parrott 9–3 in the final. In April 1997, he won the British Open, beating Stephen Hendry 9–2 in the final. He also beat Hendry in the final to win his first Masters title in February 1998, winning on the final black 10–9 after recovering from 6–9 down, in the 1998 World Championship, he reached the semi-finals, losing 14–17 to Ken Doherty. He was runner-up next year to Hendry, the 1999/2000 season was a very successful one for Williams, winning both the UK Championship and the World Championship. These results, along with another ranking title and three positions, allowed him to capture the world number 1 position for the first time. In the World Championship final he came from 7–13 behind his fellow countryman and he also produced a notable comeback in his semi-final match against John Higgins, coming from 10–14 down to win 17–15. This was enough to retain his number 1 ranking, although his title defence at the World Championship fell in the round with a 12–13 defeat to Joe Swail. However, he lost to the same player 9–13 in the round of the World Championship. Another strong performance came in 2002/2003 season when he won the UK Championship, Masters and World Championship titles
21.
Joe Perry (snooker player)
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Joe Perry is an English professional snooker player. Often referred to as the Fen Potter and also nicknamed the Gentleman, he was born in Wisbech and he climbed the rankings steadily after turning professional in 1991, and reached the top sixteen for the first time in 2002. His first ranking final came at the 2001 European Open and he had to wait another 13 years for a second came at the 2014 Wuxi Classic. Perry then won his first major ranking title at the 2015 Players Championship Grand Final, at the age of 40, Perrys breakthrough came when he reached the final of the European Open in 2001. Previously, he had reached the last 16 on his Crucible debut in 1999. He reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship in both 2004 and 2005 and this run left Perry provisionally fifth in the world, but he failed to win a match in the remaining five tournaments and dropped to 14th at the end of the season as a result. In 2005, he lost to eventual champion Ding Junhui and he followed that up by reaching the semi-finals of the world championship, where he was knocked out by Ali Carter 17–15. These results ensured him a return to the prestigious top 16 of the rankings and he also finished the 2007/2008 season on another high, by winning the Championship League, to qualify for the Betfred Premier League for 2008. He has said he feels that he is learning to cope with the pressure of major tournaments. Perry opened 2008-09 with three last-sixteen runs, leaving him inside the top eight of the provisional rankings, however he went one better in the UK Championship beating Ronnie OSullivan 9–5 having trailed by 5–3, in one of the best victories of his career. However, he lost 9–7 to Marco Fu in the quarter-finals, in the new year he lost very narrowly to OSullivan in the Masters, the rest of the season was unspectacular as he failed to win a match in a ranking event. He was unable to repeat his 2008 run in the World Championship losing 10–6 to an in-form Jamie Cope in the first round and this meant that he finished the season ranked at number 12. In 2009/2010 he only reached one quarter-final and consequently slid to 19th in the rankings, in the World Championship he beat Michael Holt 10–4 and trailed Ali Carter 10–6 before winning five frames on a row to lead 11–10 but lost 13–11. Perry was a losing finalist in Event 1 and Event 12 during the minor-ranking 2011/2012 Players Tour Championship series and these results helped him qualify for the Finals as he finished 11th on the Order of Merit. In the other ranking events during the year he reached the round three times, culminating in a 7–13 defeat to Maguire in the World Championship. Perry finished the season ranked world number 24 and he began the 2012/2013 season by reaching the second round of the Wuxi Classic thanks to the withdrawal of Matthew Stevens and lost 4–5 to Ricky Walden. He was beaten 1–5 by Marco Fu in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open and he beat Barry Pinches in qualifying, Stevens 5–2 in the first round and then whitewashed Neil Robertson 5–0 to make the quarter-finals. There was never a frame between Perry and Mark Williams in their quarter-final, with Perry making a 131 break to force a deciding frame which he lost
22.
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
23.
2013 World Snooker Championship
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The 2013 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2013 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 37th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible and was the last ranking event of the 2012/2013 season, the event was sponsored by Betfair for the first time. Despite having played one competitive match all season, defending champion Ronnie OSullivan did not lose a session in the tournament. He defeated Barry Hawkins 18–12 in the final to become a five-time World Champion, joining Steve Davis and he broke Hendrys record of 127 career Crucible centuries, finishing the tournament with 131. He also became the first player to make six century breaks in a World Championship final, the tournament was sponsored by online betting exchange Betfair. On 26 April 2013, the first Ladies Day was held at the Crucible, with events designed to promote the sport to girls, debutants at the Crucible were Jack Lisowski, Michael White, Ben Woollaston, Dechawat Poomjaeng, Matthew Selt and Sam Baird. White advanced to the round by beating Mark Williams 10–6. Poomjaeng advanced by beating Stephen Maguire 10–9 in the only match that went to a deciding frame. After a record four Chinese players reached the Crucible in 2012, Poomjaeng became only the third Thai player, after James Wattana and Tai Pichit, to reach the Crucible. By qualifying for the event, Peter Ebdon played in his 22nd consecutive World Championship and they are second behind the record of 27 set by Stephen Hendry. With the match also unavailable on the BBC Red Button service, the CEO of World Snooker, Barry Hearn, apologised to fans on Twitter. The second session of the first round match between Ebdon and Graeme Dott had to be pulled off, with Dott leading 8–6. Following Dotts 10–6 victory, he criticised Ebdon for his slow play. The match between Poomjaeng and Maguire also had to be finished off in a session, with Poomjaeng leading 9–8 when the end was postponed. Dotts second round defeat to Shaun Murphy meant there were no Scottish players in the last eight for the first time since 1988, White reached his first ranking event quarter-final by defeating Poomjaeng 13–3 with a session to spare. Poomjaeng lost the fourth frame of the match after three failed attempts to hit visible red balls whilst using the spider to bridge over the blue, ricky Walden reached his first Crucible quarter-final by defeating Robert Milkins 13–11. Milkins trailed 3–9, but fought back to 10–11 and 11–12, Barry Hawkins also reached his first Crucible quarter-final after defeating world number one Mark Selby 13–10. In the quarter-finals, OSullivan took 12 of the first 13 frames against Stuart Bingham, judd Trump battled back from 3–8 behind against Murphy to win 13–12 after a dramatic 53-minute deciding frame
24.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
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Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is a professional snooker player from Thailand. Un-Nooh first entered the tour for the 2009/10 season by winning the 2008 IBSF World Snooker Championship. He dropped off the tour after just one season. He received the Thai nomination to compete on the tour for the 2012/2013 season. As a new player on the tour he needed to win four matches to reach the stage of the ranking events. Un-Nooh lost in the qualifying round in three of the first four ranking of the season. In September, it was announced that his match at the Players Tour Championship – Event 3 against Steve Davis was under investigation due to unusual betting patterns. Un-Nooh moved from an 8/11 odds-on favourite to 11/8 against just before the match started, in November, World Snooker released a statement to confirm that there was insufficient evidence and no further action would be taken against Un-Nooh. He reached the qualifying round for the UK Championship and the World Open. Un-Nooh played in nine of the ten Players Tour Championship Events during the season and his season ended when he was beaten 3–10 by Ben Woollaston in the third round of World Championship Qualifying, which saw him finish the year ranked world number 69. Un-Nooh lost in the rounds for the first four ranking events of the 2013/2014 season. In his first appearance in the draw of a ranking event he thrashed Zhang Anda 6–1. However, the experience seemed to kick start Un-Noohs season as in 2014 he played at the stage of four of the remaining six ranking events. At the World Open, Un-Nooh led Stephen Maguire 3–0, before the number eight rallied to win four frames in a row. The match went into a frame in which Un-Nooh made a break of sixty only for Maguire to get a chance to win. He then reached the last 16 of an event for the first time by beating Andrew Higginson 5–1 and lost 5–2 to Graeme Dott. Un-Nooh advanced to the last 32 of the China Open by whitewashing 1997 world champion Ken Doherty 5–0 and his performances during the campaign saw him end it in the top 64 in the world rankings for the first time as he was placed 59th. Un-Nooh qualified for the International Championship for the year in a row
25.
Ronnie O'Sullivan
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Ronald Antonio OSullivan, OBE is an English professional snooker and pool player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sports history and he is noted for his rapid playing style, mercurial temperament, and his ambivalent relationship with the sport, from which he has taken prolonged sabbaticals and repeatedly threatened to retire. Ronnie is based at the Legends Snooker Academy in Leytonstone, England, a childhood snooker prodigy, OSullivan made his first century break at age 10, and his first maximum break at age 15. He turned professional in 1992, at the age of 16 and he is also the youngest player to have won the Masters, having captured his first title in 1995 at the age of 19 years and 69 days. His record in Triple Crown events now stands at five World Championship, a record seven Masters, OSullivan has held the world number one ranking on multiple occasions, most recently during the 2009/2010 season. His other achievements include ten Premier League titles and winning the Nations Cup with England in 2000, known as a prolific break-builder, OSullivan holds the record for the most competitive century breaks with 868. OSullivans achievements in snooker began at an early age and he made his first century break at the age of 10, completed his first total clearance at age 12, and became British Under-16 Champion at age 13. He made his debut in The Thames Snooker Classic when he was 14. He compiled his first maximum break in the final of the 1991 British Amateur Championships at age 15 and he turned professional in 1992, aged 16. OSullivan began the 1992/1993 season by winning 74 of his first 76 professional matches, including a streak of 38 successive victories. At the qualifying stage of the Grand Prix he defeated Jason Curtis 5–0 in a time of 43 minutes 36 seconds, after this Alan Hughes gave him the nickname The Rocket. In September 1992, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player ever to qualify for the World Championship. He made his Crucible debut on 18 April 1993 at the age of 17 years and 134 days and he lost 7–10 to Alan McManus in the first round. OSullivan was named the WPBSAs Young Player of the Year for 1993, in the 1993/1994 season OSullivan defeated Hendry 10–6 in the final of the UK Championship to win his first ranking title. At the age of 17 years and 358 days he became the youngest ever winner of a ranking tournament. He faced Hendry again in the final of the European Open and he won his second ranking title at the British Open by defeating James Wattana 9–4 in the final. He reached the round of the World Championship but lost 3–13 against John Parrott. Having started the season ranked number 57 in the world, he ended it ranked number 9 and he captured his first Masters title by defeating John Higgins 9–3 in the final, becoming the youngest player ever to win the tournament at the age of 19 years and 69 days
26.
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
27.
Chen Zhe
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Chen Zhe is a professional snooker player from Shanxi, China who won five matches at Q School in 2012 to earn a two-year card to play on the World Snooker Tour starting in the 2012/13 season. He is based in Romford, England during the season and practises with Ronnie OSullivan, Chen won his first professional match on the Main Tour beating Pankaj Advani 5–4 in the 2012 Wuxi Classic first qualifying round. He was whitewashed 0–5 by Simon Bedford in the next round and he won three matches to reach the final qualifying round of both the World Open and China Open, losing to Michael Holt and Jamie Cope respectively. Chen won through to the semi-finals of the minor ranking Asian Players Tour Championship Event 1 by defeating the likes of Tom Ford and Ben Woollaston, but lost 2–4 to Stephen Lee. His season ended when he was beaten 7–10 by Sam Baird in the first round of World Championship Qualifying, which saw him finish his first season on tour ranked world number 78. In his opening match of the 2013/2014 season, Chen defeated Matthew Selt 5–3 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he lost 5–2 to Ben Woollaston in the first round. Chen also qualified for the Indian Open with a 4–2 win over Robert Milkins, at the end of his second season Chen was ranked world number 89 and was relegated from the main tour as he was not in the top 64. He entered Q School to try and earn his place back with Chen being two wins from succeeding in the first event, but he lost 4–1 to Chris Melling, chens 2014/2015 season was restricted to appearances at the three Asian Tour events. He was beaten 4–1 by Ju Reti in the first round of the Yixing Open and saw off Liang Wenbo 4–3 at the Haining City Open, before losing 4–3 to Ross Muir in the second round. At the Xuzhou Open he beat Feng Zeyuan, but surrendered a 3–0 lead in the round against Mark Williams to be defeated 4–3. Chen entered Q School for the year in a row and came close to progressing through the first event as he won four matches to reach the final round. In the second event he was knocked out in the first round 4–0 by Andy Hicks, Chen successfully progressed through Q School by winning five matches, concluding with a 4–1 victory over David Lilley to secure a new two-year tour place
28.
Joel Walker (snooker player)
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Joel Walker is an English former professional snooker player. In 2010 he won the Rileys Future Stars competition and turned professional in 2012 through Q School, in 2010 Walker won Rileys Future Stars competition, and won £5,000 and coaching sessions with Ronnie OSullivan. The same year he was invited to compete in the World Open and he defeated Julian Logue 3–1 in the first qualifying round, but lost 1–3 against Tony Drago in the next round. Walker also competed at the Players Tour Championship, with his best result coming at the event in Sheffield. He finished 137th on the Order of Merit and he tried unsuccessfully to turn professional through the Q School, with his best result coming in the second tournament, where he reached the last 16, but lost 1–4 against Simon Bedford. Walker competed at the Players Tour Championship also in the 2011/2012 season and his best result came at the second and third UK event, where he reached the last 128, but lost 1–4 against Stephen Lee and 0–4 against Ding Junhui respectively. He finished 531st on the Order of Merit, Walker turned professional in 2012 after coming through Event 3 of the Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 snooker seasons. He won five matches in the event, culminating in a 4–0 victory against Justin Astley. Walkers first match as a professional was a 5–4 win over Cao Yupeng, Walker lost to Peter Lines by the same scoreline in the next round. He did not win a match for a ranking event during the rest of the season. He was placed 76th on the PTC Order of Merit, in his opening match, Walker defeated Ian Burns 5–2 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China. In Walkers first appearance in the draw of a ranking event, he defeated Alex Davies 5–2 in the first round to progress to the last 32 stage. Walker failed to qualify for the four ranking tournaments. He led world number three Ding Junhui 4–2 and missed chances to wrap up a win which would have doubled his previous career prize money earnings to be defeated 5–4. However, he performed well throughout the season in the European Tour events, reaching the last 16 of the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup. As a result, he finished 35th on the Order of Merit to claim the second of eight spots which were available to non-qualified players to play on the tour for the 2014/2015. The first ranking event Walker could qualify for during the 2014/2015 season was the International Championship thanks to a 6–4 win over Ken Doherty. Walker drew Martin Gould in the first round and made a century and he eliminated Alan McManus 6–1 and Tom Ford 6–3 at the UK Championship and then led world number 11 Stuart Bingham 3–0, but went on to lose in a deciding frame
29.
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
30.
2013 Australian Goldfields Open
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The 2013 Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 8–14 July 2013 at the Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia. It was the ranking event of the 2013/2014 season. Michael White attempted a break in his qualifying match against Nigel Bond. With this he became the player along with Mark Selby, Ken Doherty, Barry Pinches. Shaun Murphy criticised his fellow professionals after eight of the top 16 players, another top 16 player, Ding Junhui, withdrew from the tournament at the last minute due to a passport issue. Barry Hawkins was the champion, but he lost 4–5 against Tom Ford in the last 16. Marco Fu won his second ranking title by defeating Neil Robertson 9–6 in the final, the total prize money of the event was raised to $445,000 from the previous years $435,000. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below and these matches were held between 30 May and 3 June 2013 at The Capital Venue in Gloucester, England. In the match between Barry Pinches and Simon Bedford a 19-year-old record from the stage of the 1994 British Open was broken. The match lasted 449 minutes and 46 seconds, the longest ever match in the history of professional snooker. The previous record was 434 minutes and 12 seconds in the match between Ian Williamson and Robby Foldvari,2013 Australian Goldfields Open – Pictures by Tai Chengzhe at Facebook
31.
2014 German Masters
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The 2014 German Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 29 January–2 February 2014 at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany. It was the ranking event of the 2013/2014 season. Two maximum breaks were compiled during the stage of the tournament at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley. Dechawat Poomjaeng made the 101st official maximum break during his match against Zak Surety and this was Poomjaengs first 147 break. Just one day later Gary Wilson made the 102nd official maximum break during the match against Ricky Walden and this was Wilsons first 147 break. It also took the number of maximum breaks for the season to five. Ali Carter was the champion, but he lost 4–5 against Dechawat Poomjaeng in the last 64. Ding Junhui won his 10th ranking title by defeating Judd Trump 9–5 in the final, ding became the first player to win four ranking events in a single season since Stephen Hendry in 1990/1991. The total prize money of the event was raised to €337,100 from the previous years €300,000, the breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below, These matches were played on 11 and 12 December 2013 at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley, England. All matches were best of 9 frames,2014 German Masters – Pictures by World Snooker at Facebook
England
John Higgins
Xiao Guodong
Vincent Muldoon