1.
Stoke-on-Trent
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Stoke-on-Trent is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of 36 square miles. Together with the boroughs of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands, it is part of North Staffordshire. Stoke is polycentric, having formed by a federation of six towns in the early 20th century. It took its name from Stoke-upon-Trent, where the town hall, Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The four other towns are Burslem, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent is the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as the Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries, the name Stoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, the original ancient parish, with other settlements being chapelries. Stoke derives from the Old English stoc, a word that at first meant little more than place and these variant meanings included dairy farm, secondary or dependent place or farm, summer pasture, crossing place, meeting place and place of worship. It is not known which of these was intended here, because Stoke was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing affix was usually added later, in this case the name of the river. The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as, United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful and it was not until 1 April 1910 that the Six Towns were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the boroughs of Burslem, Longton. The combined borough took the town of Stoke. In 1919, the borough proposed to further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. This never took place, due to objections from Newcastle Corporation. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill, ultimately, Wolstanton was instead added to Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1932. The borough was granted city status in 1925, with a Lord Mayor from 1928. The decision was overturned, however, when an approach was made to King George V. The public announcement of the elevation to city status was made by the King during a visit to Stoke on 4 June 1925, the county borough was abolished in 1974, and Stoke became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire. Its status as a unitary authority was restored on 1 April 1997, for Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS3 region
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.
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
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.
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.
Pottery
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Pottery is the craft of making ceramic material into pots or potterywares using mud. Major types of potterywares include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain, the place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. Early Neolithic pottery have found in places such as Jomon Japan. A clay body can be decorated before or after firing, however, prior to shaping processes. Kneading helps to ensure an even moisture content throughout the body, air trapped within the clay body needs to be removed. This is called de-airing and can be accomplished either by a called a vacuum pug or manually by wedging. Wedging can also produce an even moisture content. Once a clay body has been kneaded and de-aired or wedged, after shaping, it is dried and then fired. Clay ware takes on varying physical characteristics during the making of pottery, at sufficient moisture content, bodies at this stage are in their most plastic form. Leather-hard refers to a body that has been dried partially. At this stage the clay object has approximately 15% moisture content, clay bodies at this stage are very firm and only slightly pliable. Trimming and handle attachment often occurs at the leather-hard state, bone-dry refers to clay bodies when they reach a moisture content at or near 0%. It is now ready to be bisque fired, bisque refers to the clay after the object is shaped to the desired form and fired in the kiln for the first time, known as bisque fired or biscuit fired. This firing changes the body in several ways. Mineral components of the body will undergo chemical changes that will change the colour of the clay. Glaze fired is the stage of some pottery making. A glaze may be applied to the form and the object can be decorated in several ways. After this the object is glazed fired, which causes the material to melt
8.
Steve Davis
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Steve Davis, OBE is an English former professional snooker player from Plumstead, London.5 million British viewers. He is a known public figure and is generally viewed by his peers as one of the greatest players of all time. In addition to his six titles, Daviss career achievements include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. He won a total of 28 ranking events and made over £5.6 million in prize money, Davis compiled more than 300 competitive century breaks, including the first officially recognised maximum break in professional competition, in 1982. During the 1987/1988 season, he became the first player to complete snookers Triple Crown by winning the UK Championship, Masters and his other accomplishments include winning the World Doubles Championship four times with Tony Meo and winning the World Team Classic/World Cup four times with England. Davis won his last world title in 1989, and captured his last major title when he won the 1997 Masters at the age of 39, but he continued to play snooker at a high level into his 50s. He reached the final of the 2005 UK Championship at the age of 48 and was ranked inside the top 16 when he turned 50 during the 2007/2008 season. He reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Championship at the age of 52 and he won the World Seniors Championship in 2013. On 17 April 2016, after failing to qualify for the 2016 World Snooker Championship, outside snooker, Davis has competed in pool tournaments, notably playing on Team Europe at the Mosconi Cup between 1994 and 2004, helping the team win the event in 1995 and 2002. He is also noted for his participation in events, having reached the final stages of several televised tournaments. Since 1996 he has been a broadcaster with Phoenix FM and an expert in the progressive rock genres of Zeuhl, RIO. A keen amateur chess player, he co-authored a chess book with grandmaster David Norwood and is a president of the British Chess Federation. He has also published books on snooker, including three autobiographies, one technical book and one comedy book called How To Be Really Interesting. He has appeared on a number of popular British TV shows and he was made an MBE in the 1988 Birthday Honours and an OBE in the 2000 New Year Honours. Davis was introduced to snooker by his father Bill, a player, who took him to play at his local working mens club at the age of 12. They studied the book and built Steve Daviss own technique on it in the 1970s, Hearn became Davis friend and manager. Paid £25 a match by Hearn, Davis toured the country, taking part in matches against established professionals such as Ray Reardon, John Spencer. Around this time he was given the nickname Nugget because, according to Hearn, you could put your case of money on him, Davis won the English Under-19 Billiards Championship in 1976
9.
Cliff Thorburn
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Clifford Charles Devlin Cliff Thorburn CM is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. He won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, the first player outside the United Kingdom to win the title in the modern era. He was also ranked number one that year, in 1983, Thorburn became the first player to compile a maximum break at the World Championship. He is one of two players inducted into Canadas Sports Hall of Fame, the other being George Chenier. His slow, determined style of play earned him the nickname The Grinder, Thorburn first went to England to play snooker professionally in the early 70s. He had met John Spencer in Canada, who had advised him to go to the UK to improve his game and he was runner up in the world championship in 1977, and was soon considered a contender for tournaments. Thorburns finest moment came in the 1980 World Championship and he met Alex Higgins in the final, a personality that could hardly have been more different from his own. Thorburn won the match 18-16 to take the championship, and rose to two in the world rankings. The BBCs coverage of the final had been interrupted by the broadcast of footage of the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy. The following season Thorburn reached number one in the world rankings, in 1983, Thorburn was made a Member of the Order of Canada. That same year, he became the first player to make a break at the World Championships. He compiled the break in the frame of his second round match against Terry Griffiths. Whilst completing the break, play stopped on the second table because Thorburns friend. He subsequently went on to reach the final, but lost to world number 1 Steve Davis. His wife had a miscarriage during his semi-final and partly explains his eventual defeat by Davis in the final. Thorburn was three times the Benson and Hedges Masters Champion, the most prestigious non-ranking event on the calendar for many years. Thorburn was the first player to retain the Masters title, during the 1984/85 season Thorburn enjoyed a resurgence in form. He made the final of the Rothmans Grand Prix losing to Dennis Taylor 10-2 in the Final, the highlight of the tournament was Thorburns 9-7 victory over Steve Davis in the Semi-Final
10.
Darren Morgan
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Darren Morgan is a Welsh former professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur. Morgan won the World Amateur Championship in 1987 and played on the main tour from 1988 until 2007. He earned just over £1 million in money, reached a high ranking of eight. He compiled 111 century breaks in his career, one of only 49 players to have completed a century of centuries in professional play, Morgan was born in Newport, South Wales. His best achievements as a professional were to win the Irish Masters in 1996, beating Steve Davis 9–8 in the final, and he captained Wales to victory in the 1999 Nations Cup. He was also a semi-finalist in the 1994 World Championship, beating Mark King 10–5, Willie Thorne 13–12 and he was also a quarter-finalist on three occasions, beating Ken Doherty and Ronnie OSullivan in 1996 and 1997 respectively at the Crucible. When he beat OSullivan in 1997 it was in the round after OSullivan had scored his memorable 5,20147 break against Mick Price, Morgan still plays in amateur and pro-am events, and won the European Masters and World Masters Championship titles in 2007. On 22 October 2009 he won the TCC Pro-Am by beating fellow Welshman Mark Williams 7–4 in the final, on 23 November 2009 Morgan won his second IBSF World Snooker Championship in the Masters section, defeating three-time defending champion Dene OKane of New Zealand 6–0 in the final. In November 2011, he entered the World Seniors Championships in Peterborough, Morgan beat former world champion Cliff Thorburn and Whirlwind Jimmy White in the previous rounds before facing the six-times world champion in the final. In fact, Morgan had to win qualifying matches just to reach the stages of the tournament. He beat Davis 2–1 in the final and came home to his Club in Cross Keys with the trophy. He lives with his wife, Tracey, and their three daughters in Newbridge, and owns a nearby snooker club in Crosskeys, Newport, named The Red Triangle, Morgan Sports – Darrens Sports Trophy Business Player profile on Global Snooker
11.
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
12.
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
13.
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
14.
World Snooker Championship
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The World Snooker Championship is the leading snooker tournament both in terms of prestige and prize money. The first championship was held in 1927 and was won by Joe Davis, Davis won the first 15 championships before retiring from the event, undefeated, after his 1946 success. In the 1950s snooker went into a period of decline and the championship was not held after 1952, in 1964 the championship was revived on a challenge basis and in 1969 the championship became a knock-out event again. Since 1977 it has played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The tournament is played over 17 days and ends on the first Monday in May. In the modern era, the best record is that of Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and Ray Reardon both won six times while Ronnie OSullivan has won five titles. The current champion is Mark Selby, who has won the tournament twice, the first championship was held in 1927 and was called the Professional Snooker Championship. It was the first important professional snooker tournament although the English Amateur Championship has been contested since 1916, ten professionals entered including most of the leading billiards players. Matches were over 15 frames with the semi-finals over 23 frames, the first match played was between Melbourne Inman and Tom Newman at Thurstons Hall, Leicester Square in London. The snooker was played as an extra to the main event. The match started on Monday 29 November 1926 and one frame of snooker was played at the end of each session, Inman won 8–5, the match finishing on the Monday afternoon, a week after it started. One other match was played in connection with a billiards contest, with minimal prize money, players mainly made money from their share of the gate receipts. Because of this it was common for dead frames to be played after the result of the match had been decided, the final between Joe Davis and Tom Dennis was played over four days in early May at Camkins Hall in Birmingham. Davis won the first seven frames and led throughout, taking a winning 16–7 lead on the third day, the highest break of the tournament was 60, made by Albert Cope in his semi-final match against Davis, in a dead frame after Davis had won the match. Davis made a 57 break of the final, the 1928 Championship was played on a challenge basis, with the other 6 entries playing off for the right to challenge Joe Davis in the final. Davis met Fred Lawrence in the final, winning 16–13, the challenge system was dropped in 1929. Davis met Tom Dennis in the final, played in Denniss home town of Nottingham, Davis made a new record break of 61 on the way to a 17–12 victory. The same pair met in the 1930 final, played for the first time at Thurstons Hall in London, the final was extended to 49 frames played over 6 days
15.
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
16.
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
17.
Stephen Lee (snooker player)
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Stephen Lee is an English former professional snooker player. He turned professional in 1992 and was ranked in the top 16 between the 1997/1998 and 2007/2008 snooker seasons, reaching a career-high of fifth in the rankings. He won four ranking titles between 1998 and 2006, reached the semi-finals of the 2003 world championship and the final of the 2008 Masters. Thereafter, his form declined dramatically and as a result he dropped out of the top 16 after a run of consecutive seasons. A return to form in the 2011/2012 season saw Lee reach two finals in ranking tournaments and collect his fifth title, as well as regaining his top 16 seeding. Lee was a heavy break-builder compiling 176 competitive century breaks during his career, Lees playing career came to a premature end when he was suspended from WSA competition on 12 October 2012 on match-fixing charges. He was found guilty by an independent tribunal in September 2013 of influencing the outcome of seven matches in 2008 and 2009 and he received a twelve-year ban backdated to the start of his suspension and which will run until 12 October 2024. Stephen Lee turned professional after winning the English Amateur Championship in 1992, during his first season as a professional he had a run of 33 successive frames won during qualifying matches, an all-time professional record. He reached the Top 16 of the five years later. He entered the Top 8 after winning his first ranking title during the 1998/1999 season and his first ranking title and first two ranking semi-finals were all achieved without beating a top-16 player. Lee was favourite to win the 2001 Masters, but lost 5–6 in the first round to John Parrott and he was part of the England team which won the 2001 Nations Cup. His best run in the World Championship came in the 2003 event when he reached the semi-finals, due to a dip in form, at the 2006 Welsh Open he came to the competition outside the provisional Top 16 after failing to win a ranking tournament for four years. He went on to win the tournament, beating the then World Champion, Shaun Murphy, for 2007/2008 he slipped to No.13 in the rankings after reaching just one semi-final, partly due to missing the China Open for personal reasons. He nevertheless reached the final of the 2008 Masters, losing 3–10 to Mark Selby, following a heavy defeat by Joe Swail in the first round of the 2008 World Championship, confirming his drop out of the top 16 of the rankings, Lee considered retiring from the game. He then failed to qualify for the Shanghai Masters, losing 4–5 to Tom Ford and he reached the televised stages of the 2009 World Championship by defeating Judd Trump in qualifying, but was beaten 10–4 in the first round by Ryan Day. On 11 February 2010 Lee was arrested by West Midlands Police on suspicion of cheating, during the 2010/2011 season Lee managed to regain some form including a win in Event 4 of the EPTC events. However, he drew John Higgins in the first round at both the UK Championship and World Championship, losing on both occasions with Higgins going on to win both events. At the China Open he drew Mark Williams in the first round and despite Williams making four centuries he won 5–4 and he went on to reach the quarter-finals, where he lost to Ding Junhui 5–2
18.
Matthew Stevens
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Matthew Stevens is a Welsh professional snooker player. Stevens has won two of the games most prestigious events, the Benson and Hedges Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003 and he has also been the runner-up in the World Snooker Championship on two occasions, in 2000 and 2005. Stevens reached a high ranking of No.4 for the 2005/2006 season. As a prolific break-builder, Stevens has compiled more than 250 century breaks during his career, Stevens turned professional in 1994 and in his second season won the Benson & Hedges Championship to qualify for the 1996 Masters. At the Masters he beat Terry Griffiths 5–3 but lost 6–5 to Alan McManus, the following season he also showed potential by beating Stephen Hendry 5–1 in the Grand Prix. In the 1997/1998 season he reached the semi-finals of both the Grand Prix and UK Championship and he also reached the quarter-finals on his debut at the Crucible of the World Championship, beating Alain Robidoux and Mark King before losing to Ken Doherty. In 1998 he reached his first ranking final at the UK Championship, in 2000, he won the Masters, with a 10–8 win over Ken Doherty in the final. Later that season at the World Championship he reached the first of his two World Championship finals to date. After victories over Tony Drago, Alan McManus, Jimmy White and Joe Swail he faced Mark Williams losing 16–18 after having led 10–6, 13–7 and then 14–10 with only the final session to play. Stevens became only the player in the history of the world championship to lose in the final from holding a 4 frame overnight lead. He has also been a beaten semi-finalist on four occasions in 2001,2002,2004 and 2012, Stevens missed the pot and Ebdon made a famous clearance to win the frame, and went on to take the next two to win the match 17–16. Stevens won the 2003 UK Championship beating Stephen Hendry 10–8 in the final and he trailed Hendry 0–4, but remarkably he reeled off the next five frames. Hendry found his form again to lead 7–5, but Stevens was not to be denied and clinched a 10–8 victory, which remains the only ranking tournament victory of his career. However, he followed this with a run of nine successive first round defeats in best-of-nine matches, in 2005 he was again runner-up, losing 16–18 to Shaun Murphy in the final, having been up 10–6 and then 12–11 with only the final session to play. Again Stevens relinquished a 4 frame overnight lead to lose in the final, the turning point was arguably the 22nd frame, in which Stevens had a shot at the final blue to leave Murphy needing snookers, but elected to play the shot left-handed rather than use the rest. He missed, and Murphy cleared the table to level the match at 11–11, despite the disappointment, Stevens insisted that Murphy had simply been the better player and that he would eventually win the championship. The following year, Stevens was beaten by Ken Doherty 13–8 in the second round, having gone into the final session level at 8–8. In 2007 he lost 12–13 to Murphy in the quarter-finals of the World Championship having led 11–5 and 12–7, the defeat left him ranked outside of the top 16 for the first time in 8 years
19.
Masters (snooker)
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The Masters is a professional invitational snooker tournament. Held every year since 1975, it is the second longest running tournament behind the World Championship and it is one of the Triple Crown events, and although not a ranking event, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit. The reigning champion is Ronnie OSullivan, the Masters began as an invitational event for 10 top players. The field was expanded to 12 competitors in 1981, and 16 in 1983, since 1984, the standard invitees have been the top 16 players in the world rankings, with the addition of two or three wild-card places in tournaments held between 1990 and 2010. Ronnie OSullivan holds the record for the most Masters titles, having won the tournament seven times, Stephen Hendry has won six titles. Alex Higgins, Mark Williams, and John Higgins have each won the title twice, three maximum breaks have been made in the history of the tournament, all by overseas players. Canadas Kirk Stevens made the first in 1984, Chinas Ding Junhui made the second in 2007, the tournament was held for the first time in 1975 at the West Centre Hotel in London, when ten leading players were invited. The event was sponsored by the cigarette company Benson & Hedges, John Spencer won the inaugural tournament by defeating Ray Reardon 9–8 in the final. The following year the event moved to the New London Theatre, in 1981 the number of players invited to compete was increased to 12, and then increased again to 16 in 1983. From 1984 onwards the top 16 players in the rankings were automatically invited to the tournament. In 1984 Kirk Stevens became the first player to make a break at the event against Jimmy White in the semi-final. In 1988 Mike Hallett became the first and to date only player to be whitewashed in a Masters final, Hallett reached his second final in four years in 1991, but lost 8–9 against Hendry, despite leading 7–0 and 8–2. This defeat effectively ended Halletts days as a force in the game. For the 1991 tournament, the Benson & Hedges Championship was introduced, the other continued to be granted by the governing body. In the 1997 final, Steve Davis defeated Ronnie OSullivan in a match disrupted by a streaker, Davis came back from 4–8 down to win the remaining six frames in a row, clinching the final at 10–8. The 1998 final went down to a black in the deciding frame. In the 2000 final Ken Doherty missed the black in a 147 attempt, the first time this had happened in competition. After the 2003 Masters, Benson & Hedges had to end their sponsorship of the event due to UK restrictions on advertising
20.
John Parrott
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John Parrott, MBE is an English former professional snooker player and television personality, remembered as one of the best players in the early 1990s. Parrott won the World Snooker Championship in 1991, defeating Jimmy White in the final, two years earlier he had lost 3–18 to Steve Davis, the heaviest final defeat in modern times. He repeated his win over White to add the UK Championship title later that year, until the age of 12 Parrott was a keen bowls player but then discovered snooker and has been a keen player ever since. At the age of 15 his talent was spotted by Phil Miller who would become his manager in 1980. Parrott was successful at an early age and he lost in the final of the English Under-16s Championship in 1980 and won the Pontins Junior Championship in 1981. He then caused a stir when he won the match 5–2 and he then beat Tony Knowles in the next round before losing to Steve Davis in the semi-finals. By then, bookmakers had him tipped to be the World Snooker Champion within five years and he took his first ranking title in the 1989 European Open, and defended his title in 1990. Parrott also boasts 14 consecutive seasons in the top 16 of the world rankings. From 1984 to 2004 Parrott was ever-present at the World Championship, reaching at least the last 16 every year from 1984 to 1995, since his 1991 victory he has never again reached the semi-finals, but lost in the quarter-finals seven times between 1992 and 1999. Overall, Parrott has won a total of nine world ranking events, also, his 1991 triumphs in the World Championship and UK Championship make him one of only five players to win both of snookers two most prominent ranking titles in the same year. Parrott has come through the event for the World Championship a record 10 times. In 2007 he reached the last 16 of the World Championship for the first time in seven years, after victories over James Leadbetter, David Gray, a record ten of Parrotts World Championship matches have gone to a final-frame decider – he has won 7 of these. Also, John Parrott is the player to have recorded a whitewash in the World Championship final stages – he beat Eddie Charlton 10–0 in the first round in 1992. Because of Hendrys dominance, Parrott was the runner-up at the Masters on three occasions within a span, and never won the title. On 4 August 2009 at the qualifiers for the 2009 Shanghai Masters he lost 0–5 against Michael White, later Parrott announced he was to retire from the professional game. He told the Daily Mail, If Im off the tour, I certainly wont be playing any lower down. If I lose my card, thats me gone, I still have the utmost respect for the game. Ive just lost in the World Championship and Im not going to spit the dummy out, but I dont enjoy the hours of practice any more
21.
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
22.
Snooker world rankings 2006/2007
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Snooker world rankings 2006/2007, The professional world rankings for the top 64 snooker players in the 2006/2007 season are listed below. Stephen Hendry, despite having not had the best of seasons, regains the number one spot after nine years from second place. Paul Hunter dropped out of the top 32, down from five to number 34 at the end of the 2005/2006 season. Jimmy White drops out of the top 32 after his worst season ever, alan McManus drops out of the top 16 after his worst season ever as well, down from number 12 to number 19. Ian McCulloch drops out of the top 16 after just one season, anthony Hamilton re-enters the top 16 after gaining two places, from number 17 to joint number 15. Barry Pinches drops out of the top 32, down from number 18 to number 33, allister Carter finally makes it to that much coveted top 16 spot after 4 seasons coming very close indeed inside the top 20 after gaining four places, from number 19 to 15. Neil Robertson enters the top 16, from number 27 to number 13, john Parrott drops out of the top 32, down from number 28 to number 42. Ryan Day officially enters the top 32, from number 33 to number 17, stuart Bingham and Ding Junhui enter the top 32, from number 37 to number 24 and number 62 to number 27 respectively. Mark Selby and Joe Swail re-enter the top 32, from number 38 to number 28 and number 40 to number 30 respectively
23.
Snooker world rankings 2007/2008
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Snooker world rankings 2007/2008, The professional world rankings for the top 75 snooker players in the 2007/2008 season are listed below. The points listed here take into account ranking tournament performances from the two seasons. Ding Junhui, Mark Selby and Ryan Day enter the top 16 for the first time, additionally, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson and Allister Carter reach career-high rankings. Stephen Hendry, who was still the number 1 the season before, drops down to number 8, marking his worst ranking since the 1987/88 season. Jimmy White drops down from number 35 to number 60, after his least successful ever, earning only 5725 points in the 06/07 season alone. Former world number 4 Matthew Stevens drops down from number 14 to number 20, barry Hawkins and Anthony Hamilton both drop out of the top 16 after a single season – Hawkins is down from number 12 to number 19, and Hamilton from number 16 to number 26. Mark Allen moves up the rankings, from number 62 to number 29, andrew Higginson rises 66 places from number 110 to number 44. Judd Trump is up 21 spots from number 72 to number 51, tony Drago drops out of the top 64, from 52 to 68
24.
Shanghai Masters (snooker)
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The Shanghai Masters, also known as the Bank of Communications OTO Shanghai Masters for sponsorship purposes, is a professional ranking snooker tournament. Ding Junhui is the reigning champion, the event was introduced in the 2007/2008 season and is the second ranking event to be held in China as a result of the growth of the sport in the country. Like the China Open, a wildcard round is included before the first round proper. The tournament currently takes place at the Shanghai Grand Stage, Shanghai in September and is the full ranking event of the season as of 2015. Highest ranked champion, Ronnie OSullivan - #1 Lowest ranked champion, Kyren Wilson - #54 Highest break,147 Jamie Cope John Higgins Stephen Maguire
25.
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
26.
UK Championship
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The UK Championship, known as the Betway UK Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional mens ranking snooker tournament. It is the second biggest-ranking tournament, after the World Championship and is one of the Triple Crown events, Mark Selby is the reigning champion. The UK Championship was first held in 1977 in Tower Circus, Blackpool as the United Kingdom Professional Snooker Championship, Patsy Fagan won the inaugural tournament by defeating Doug Mountjoy by 12 frames to 9 in the final and won the first prize of £2000. The following year the event moved to the Guild Hall, Preston, the rules were changed in 1984 when the tournament was granted ranking status and all professionals were allowed to enter. Since then, it has carried more ranking points than any tournament other than the World Championship, the tournament has seen many memorable finals. In 1977 and 1979, it provided Patsy Fagan and John Virgo with their first, in 1980, it was Steve Daviss first of his 73 professional tournament wins. In 1983, Alex Higgins beat Davis 16–15 after having trailed 7–0 at the end of the first session, in 1985, Willie Thorne led Davis 13–10 at the start of the evening session, only to miss a simple blue off its spot and lose 16–14. The victory regenerated Daviss confidence after his devastating World Championship loss, Thorne, on the other hand, hendrys 16–15 win the following year, over Davis again, spoke to his unique qualities of nerve. Doherty has appeared in two memorable finals. In 1993, Ronnie OSullivan became the winner of the tournament aged just 17. Eight years later, in 2001, he delivered the finals best winning margin since it had become the best of 19 frames in the 1993 tournament, three years later, in 2004, Stephen Maguire repeated the feat against David Gray. Doherty almost won the tournament in the 2002 final against Mark Williams, the 2005 tournament saw Davis, aged 48, reached his first ranking tournament final for almost two years and make his highest break in tournament play for 23 years. In a match featured the widest age gap between finalists in professional tournament history, he lost 6–10 to the 18-year-old Ding Junhui. The following year, Peter Ebdon won the title and, in doing so, became the first, the event offered £500,000 prize money, with the winner receiving £70,000. In 2007, the tournament was won by Ronnie OSullivan for the time, again with some ease. The tournament was notable for the longest televised frame between Marco Fu and Mark Selby and Ronnie OSullivans maximum 147 break in the deciding frame of the semi-final. The 2009 final saw the world champion John Higgins lose to Ding Junhui, after he missed the brown. The 2010 final turned out to be another dramatic match, instantly described by commentators as an all-time classic
27.
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
28.
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
29.
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
30.
Shaun Murphy (snooker player)
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Shaun Murphy is an English professional snooker player, who won the 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed The Magician, Murphy is noted for his cue action. Born in Harlow and raised in Irthlingborough, Murphy turned professional in 1998 and his victory at the World Championship was considered a major surprise as he was only the third qualifier to lift the title. He has also won seven non-ranking tournaments, including the 2015 Masters, Murphy has won over £3 million in prize money and has compiled more than 400 century breaks in his professional career. His highest world ranking was number three, which he maintained for three seasons following 2007/2008, and he is ranked number four. Born in Harlow, England, Murphy began playing snooker at the age of eight after his parents bought him a table for Christmas. He made his first century break at the age of 10 and practised at the Rushden Snooker Centre, where such as Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams. At the age of 13, he secured a five-year £5, 000-a-year sponsorship deal with the Doc Martens shoe company and stated his ambitions of winning the World Championship and he turned professional in 1998 at the age of 15. Murphy was coached by Steve Prest until the 2006/2007 season, willie Thorne and Ray Reardon also gave him guidance, and when he was 15, he was given the latters old cue by his father. Murphy began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the professional tour. He was runner-up in the event on the UK tour for the 1997/1998 season and, for the 2000/2001 season, won the third and fourth events on the Challenge Tour. In 2000, he received the World Snooker Newcomer of the Year award and one of six Young Player of Distinction of the Year awards from the World Professional Billiards, in 2000, he won the English Open Championship. Murphy won his first professional tournament at the 2000 Benson & Hedges Championship, defeating Mark Davis 6–1 in the semi-final, and Stuart Bingham 9–7 in the final, recovering from 2–5 down. In the 2001 tournament, he showed promise in his first televised match, defeating world number 15, Marco Fu and he made his first maximum break in the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship. Murphy first reached the stages of a ranking event at the 2002 World Championship, hosted at the Crucible Theatre. For the 2003/2004 season, Murphy was ranked number 64 and qualified for the stages of three ranking tournaments. In the LG Cup, Murphy defeated Steve Davis 5–4 in the second round, after the victory over Davis, Murphy said This is one of the greatest days in my snooker career. In the British Open, he defeated Dave Harold 5–1 in the first round, in the Players Championship—the new name of the Scottish Open—he lost 3–5 to eventual champion Jimmy White in the second round
31.
Bananaman
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Bananaman is a fictional character appearing in British comic books. Bananaman is a parody of superheroes, being portrayed as a schoolboy who is transformed into a muscled, caped figure when he eats a banana. The character originally appeared in Nutty as the strip in Issue 1. He has since appeared in The Dandy and The Beano, after John Geering died in 1999, Barrie Appleby took over and later Tom Paterson. In 2003, the scriptwriter, Steve Bright drew it. Sporadically from 2007 to 2010 the character appeared in reprinted strips from the John Geering era, for a short time, in late 2008, artist Chris McGhie reinvented Bananaman in a series of new strips. Chris other work included The Three Bears for The Beano and the characters on Yoplaits Wildlife product range, two new strips appeared that year drawn by Barrie Appleby as well. In Issue 3515, Waynes style notably changes and looks more cartoony, as of spring 2011, Thompsons version of Bananaman appears in full colour over two pages. From 1983–1986, Bananaman also had his own annual and this was unusual because, unlike many other comics at the time, Nutty never had an annual. Unlike Dennis the Menace and Bash Street Kids, which consisted of reprints these annuals were entirely new material. In issue 3618, dated 14 January 2012, Bananaman made his appearance, as John Geering reprints, in The Beano. Another Beano character, Bananagirl of Super School, was revealed to be his cousin, the Dandy print comic ended in December 2012, but Bananaman was still seen in the digital version drawn by Andy Janes. New Bananaman strips drawn by Wayne Thompson and written by Nigel Auchterlounie, Kev F Sutherland and his superpowers include the ability to fly, superhuman strength, and seeming invulnerability. This is offset by the fact that he is just as naive and foolish as his ego, as mentioned in the comic once or twice, he has the muscles of twenty men. If he eats lots of bananas in one sitting, he quickly becomes obese in his transformation, if he eats bananas that are not full, he transforms with extra weight in the lower part of his body. There have also been comics where he has eaten a variant on normal bananas, the effects of eating the bananas are not consistent from story to story. Eric was rocketed to Earth from the moon as a baby, Bananaman resembles Superman in two respects. Firstly, he has a weakness to mouldy bananas
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Betfair
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Betfair Group plc is the worlds largest Internet betting exchange. The companys headquarters are located in Hammersmith in West London, England, since 9 March 2011 Betfair has operated its betting exchange under a Gibraltar licence. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it merged with Paddy Power to form Paddy Power Betfair on 2 February 2016, the company was founded in 2000 by Andrew Black and Edward Wray. Softbank purchased 23% of Betfair in early April 2006, valuing the company at £1.5 billion, in December 2006, Betfair completed the purchase of the horseracing publishing company Timeform. In March 2007, Betfair launched its own Betfair Radio service, available via its website, on the telephone and this has now become Timeform Radio, broadcasting horse racing commentary and results. On 27 January 2009, Betfair announced the purchase of the TVG Network in the United States from Macrovision $50 million USD as part of Macrovisions dissolving of TV Guides assets. In November 2009, Betfair announced a deal with the New York Racing Association that allows Betfairs customers to start wagering immediately on Aqueducts thoroughbreeding races. Betfair floated on the London Stock Exchange with a symbol of BET on 22 October 2010 at £13. In March 2011 the company moved some of its operations to Gibraltar to reduce the amount they paid in tax, in 2012, Betfair launched a fixed-odds betting sports betting service to compete with traditional bookmakers. In August 2014, Net Entertainment NE AB entered into a partnership with Betfair to expand its reach into the UK market and it was announced in September 2015 that Paddy Power and Betfair had agreed terms for a merger. The transaction was structured as an acquisition of Betfair by Paddy Power, the merger was completed on 2 February 2016. Since Betfair was launched in June 2000 it has become the largest online betting company in the UK, Betfair claims to have over 4 million customers and a turnover in excess of £50 million a week. As of April 2013, the company employed 1,800 people worldwide, Betfair claims on average 20 percent better odds than those offered by a traditional bookmaker. However, if a bettor on the web site is long-term profitable Betfair will require them to pay at least 20% of gross profits in total charges, on 30 October 2006, Betfair Poker left the Cryptologic network to move to its new platform. In a press release the companys then poker head, Ben Fried, stated and it means we can react quickly to customer feedback and continue to develop an innovative, community-focused product. We are confident that we are laying the foundations of a market leading poker room, cash 4 Clubs is a sports funding scheme set up and funded by Betfair. The scheme provides grants to local community sports clubs. Betfair owns subsidiaries in the United States, the main company is TVG Network, which is dedicated to horse racing, broadcasting live races as well as race analysis, interviews, handicapping tips and features
33.
Snooker world rankings 2008/2009
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Snooker world rankings 2008/2009, The professional world rankings for all the professional snooker players in the 2007/2008 season who qualified for the 2008/2009 season are listed below. The points listed here take into account the world ranking points 2006/2007. Three former top 16 players re-enter that group and they are Joe Perry, Marco Fu and Mark King. Mark Allen is the new member of the top 16. The players to drop out the top 16 are long standing top 16 players, Stephen Lee, Mark Williams, Ken Doherty and Steve Davis. Players to reach career high rankings within the top 16 are, Stephen Maguire No.2, Mark Selby No.4, Allister Carter No.7, Ryan Day No.8, Joe Perry No.12, Marco Fu No.14 and Mark Allen No.16. No new players reach the top 32, however two players return, former world No.9 Fergal OBrien at No.24 and Michael Judge at No.30, two players drop out, Gerard Greene and Michael Holt to 33rd and 34th place respectively. New players to enter the top 64 are Mark Joyce at No.59, Martin Gould No.63, former top player Jimmy White fall out the top 64 to 65th place, but remained on the tour via the one year list. Former top 32 player Robin Hull retired from the tour due to illness
34.
Ricky Walden
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Ricky Walden is an English professional snooker player from Bagillt. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters and he has since won the 2012 Wuxi Classic and the 2014 International Championship and has been inside the top 16 in the season-ending rankings on four occasions. Walden has reached the stages of the World Snooker Championship on five occasions with his best result being a semi-finalist in 2013. Walden was born in Chester but raised in Bagillt, north Wales and he was one of the Young Players of Distinction in a scheme run in 2000, designed to help young players develop their playing and media skills, alongside Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire and Ali Carter. In 2001 he won the World Under-21 Championship, Walden began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1999, at the time the second-level professional tour. Then he played Challenge Tour in 2001 and entered Main Tour and he started the 2004/2005 season ranked at number 78 in the world, but climbed 30 places that year. He beat John Higgins twice that season, at the Grand Prix and UK Championship, in 2005/2006 his best run was to the last 16 in the China Open, which he achieved by beating Stephen Maguire. In 2006/2007 he had 2 last-32 appearance including the UK Championship and he lost to eventual finalist Mark Selby in qualifying for the World Championship. He reached #36 for the 2007/2008 season and the year he reached the last 16 of the Grand Prix, beating John Parrott in qualifying. He crashed out in the China Open to Mark Selby and in the qualifying for the World Championship, in the 2008 Shanghai Masters he defeated Lee Spick and Ian McCulloch to qualify. At the venue he defeated wildcard Zhang Anda, Stephen Hendry, Neil Robertson, Steve Davis in the quarter-finals and he won his first ranking title by beating Ronnie OSullivan 10–8 in the final. The rest of the season was rather than spectacular, but a qualifying victory over Anthony Hamilton earned him a first appearance at the Crucible Theatre. In 2008 he also won the Six-red Snooker International, beating Stuart Bingham 8–3 in the final, Walden made it to the World Championship for the second time in 2011 as a seeded player, but was beaten by qualifier Rory McLeod 10–6. After the match, Walden criticised McLeod for what he considered to be a slow and boring style of play, McLeod responded to the criticism by arguing that Walden was more responsible for the pace of the match. Walden started the 2011/2012 season slowly, by losing in qualifying for the first two ranking events of the year, however, he qualified for the UK Championship by defeating Jamie Jones 6–2. In the main draw he beat Stephen Lee, Mark Williams, after the first session of the best-of 17-frames match Walden held a 5–3 advantage. However, upon resumption in the evening he lost the four frames. This was Waldens first semi-final in an event based in Britain
35.
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
36.
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
37.
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
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Darren Morgan
John Higgins
