1.
Carmarthen
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Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is on the River Towy 8 miles north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay, in 2001, the population was 15,854. Carmarthen has a claim to being the oldest town in Wales. Carmarthen was the most populous borough in Wales between the 16th and 18th centuries and was described by William Camden as the chief citie of the country, however, population growth stagnated by the mid-19th century as more dynamic economic centres developed in the South Wales coalfield. Carmarthen is the location of Dyfed-Powys Police headquarters, the Carmarthen campus of the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, when Britannia was a Roman province, Carmarthen was the civitas capital of the Demetae tribe, known as Moridunum. Carmarthen is possibly the oldest town in Wales and was recorded by Ptolemy, the Roman fort is believed to date from around AD75. A Roman coin hoard was found nearby in 2006, near the fort is one of seven surviving Roman amphitheatres in the United Kingdom and one of only two in Roman Wales. The arena itself is 50 x 30 yards, the cavea is 100 x 73 yards, veprauskas has argued for its identification as the Cair Guorthigirn listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain in his History of the Britains. In the Middle Ages, the settlement was known as Llanteulyddog, the strategic importance of Carmarthen was such that the Norman William fitz Baldwin built a castle there, probably around 1094. The current castle site is known to have used since 1105. The castle was destroyed by Llywelyn the Great in 1215, in 1223, the castle was rebuilt and permission was received to wall and crenellate the town. Carmarthen was among the first medieval walled towns in Wales, in 1405, the town was taken and the castle was sacked by Owain Glyndŵr. The Black Book of Carmarthen, written around 1250, is associated with the towns Priory of SS John the Evangelist, during the Black Death of 1347–49, the plague was brought to Carmarthen by the thriving river trade. The Black Death destroyd and devastated villages such as Llanllwch, local historians place the plague pit, the site for mass burial of the dead, in the graveyard that adjoins the Maes-yr-Ysgol and Llys Model housing at the rear of St Catherine Street. This was sited near the river, at what is now Priory Street, the site is now a scheduled monument. During the 13th century, Franciscan Friars became established in the town, in 1456 Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond died of plague in Carmarthen, three months before the birth of his son, the future King Henry VII. Edmund was buried in a prominent tomb in the centre of the choir of the Grey Friars Church, other notable burials were Rhys ap Thomas and Tudur Aled. The Friary was dissolved in 1538, and many plans were made for the building
2.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
3.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
4.
Glossary of cue sports terms
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There are also hybrid pocket/carom games such as English billiards. The terms American or US as applied here refer generally to North American usage, similarly, British terms predominate in the world of snooker, English billiards and blackball, regardless of the players nationalities. The term blackball is used in this glossary to refer to both blackball and eight-ball pool as played in the Commonwealth, as a shorthand, 1-cushion See the Straight rail billiards main article for the game sometimes called one-cushion. 1-pocket See the One-pocket main article for the game, 3-ball See the Three-ball main article for the game. 3-cushion See the Three-cushion billiards main article for the game, 4-ball See the Yotsudama main article for the modern Asian game often called four-ball. See the American four-ball billiards main article for the nineteenth-century game, 5-pins See the Five-pin billiards main article for the formerly Italian, now internationally standardized game, or Danish pin billiards for the five-pin traditional game of Denmark. 6-ball See the Nine-ball#Six-ball sub-article for the game, 8-ball See the Eight-ball main article for the game. See the 8 ball entry, under the E section below, See 8 ball for derivative uses. 9-ball See the Nine-ball main article for the game, See the 9 ball entry, under the N section below, for the ball. 9-pins See the Goriziana main article for the game sometimes called nine-pins, 10-ball See the Ten-ball main article for the game. Above Used in snooker in reference to the position of the cue ball and it is above the object ball if it is off-straight on the baulk cushion side of the imaginary line for a straight pot. It is also common to use the term high instead, gambling or the potential for gambling. Lively results on a ball, usually the cue ball, from the application of spin, added Used with an amount to signify money added to a tournament prize fund in addition to the amount accumulated from entry fees. A match format in which a player has to establish a lead of a number of frames in order to win. Aiming line An imaginary line drawn from the path an object ball is to be sent. Anchor To freeze a ball to a cushion, such a ball may be said to be anchored and this term is largely obsolete balkline billiards jargon. Anchor nurse A type of shot used in carom billiards games. It developed to curtail the effectiveness of the nurse, which in turn had been invented to thwart the effectiveness of Parkers box in stopping long
5.
Century break
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In snooker, a century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table without missing a shot, and requires potting of at least 25 consecutive balls. Over 20,000 century breaks have been recorded by snooker players throughout professional tournaments, Ronnie OSullivan holds the record for the most career centuries, with over 800 century breaks. A century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table, the player does this by potting red balls and coloured balls alternately, and when no reds are left, potting the coloured balls in order of their increasing value. Points for a shot by the opponent do not count in a players break. If for example only the colour would be used instead of the black ball. This means that only a century break is possible in a frame of snooker under a limited number of combinations. To score one, there must be at least ten reds on the table when the comes to play since if there are only nine reds left. An exception exists if the opponent fouls and leaves the incoming player snookered on all the remaining reds, Breaks above 147 are possible when an opponent fouls and leaves a free ball with all fifteen reds still remaining on the table. This has happened once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a 148 at the qualifying stage of the 2004 UK Championship. A century of centuries refers to a total of 100 breaks of at least 100 points each, only 15 players had reached this milestone in professional snooker tournaments by December 2001. Only Neil Robertson has achieved the Holy Grail of one hundred 100s in a single season, the following players are reported to have passed 100 breaks and at least the given threshold above this. Career Joe Davis compiled the first televised century break in 1962, the record for most century breaks scored in official tournament play is held by Ronnie OSullivan with over 850. The record was held by Stephen Hendry who compiled 775 centuries over the course of his career. The first player to record 1000 centuries in public performance was Horace Lindrum, stacey Hillyard became the first female to record a competitive century in January 1985. The quickest recorded century break in tournament play was by Tony Drago at 1996 UK Championship, the youngest player to record a century break is Michael White at the age of nine in March 2001. Season The first player to reach 50 centuries in a season was Hendry, judd Trump took the record with 61 centuries in the 2012/2013 season and the record was broken for the fourth successive season in 2013/2014 when Neil Robertson overtook Trumps tally. In total, Robertson compiled 103 century breaks throughout the season, event The most centuries made by a player in a single match during a professional tournament is seven and the record is shared by Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui. Hendry set the record during the final of the 1994 UK Championship, during this match, Hendry compiled six centuries in a span of eight frames
6.
Welsh people
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The Welsh people or the Welsh are a nation and ethnic group native to, or otherwise associated with, Wales and the Welsh language. Prior to the 20th century, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh, the term Welsh people applies to people from Wales and people of Welsh ancestry perceiving themselves or being perceived as sharing a cultural heritage and shared ancestral origins. Over 300,000 Welsh people live in London, the same etymological origin is shared by the names of various other Celtic or Latin peoples such as the Walloons and the Vlachs, as well as of the Swiss canton of Valais. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. They thus carry a sense of land of fellow-countrymen, our country, the word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century. It is attested in a poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. During their time in Britain, the ancient Romans encountered tribes in present-day Wales that they called the Ordovices, the Demetae, the Silures and the Deceangli. The people of what is now Wales were not distinguished from the rest of the peoples of southern Britain, all were called Britons and spoke the common British language, a Brythonic Celtic tongue. Celtic language and culture seems to have arrived in Britain during the Iron Age, the claim has also been made that Indo-European languages may have been introduced to the British Isles as early as the early Neolithic, with Goidelic and Brythonic languages developing indigenously. The genetic evidence in this case would show that the change to Celtic languages in Britain may have occurred as a cultural rather than through migration as was previously supposed. The assumed genetic imprint of Neolithic incomers is seen as a cline, with stronger Neolithic representation in the east of Europe, when the Roman legions departed Britain around 400, a Romano-British culture remained in the areas the Romans had settled, and the pre-Roman cultures in others. According to Stephen Oppenheimer 96% of lineages in Llangefni in north Wales derive from Iberia, Genetic marker R1b averages from 83–89% amongst the Welsh. The people in what is now Wales continued to speak Brythonic languages with additions from Latin, the surviving poem Y Gododdin is in early Welsh and refers to the Brythonic kingdom of Gododdin with a capital at Din Eidyn and extending from the area of Stirling to the Tyne. John Davies places the change from Brythonic to Welsh between 400 and 700, offas Dyke was erected in the mid-8th century, forming a barrier between Wales and Mercia. The genetic tests suggested that between 50% and 100% of the population of what was to become England was wiped out. In 2001, research for a BBC programme on the Vikings suggested a strong link between the Celts and Basques, dating back tens of thousands of years. The UCL research suggested a migration on a huge scale during the Anglo-Saxon period and it appears England is made up of an ethnic cleansing event from people coming across from the continent after the Romans left, said Dr Mark Thomas, of the Centre for Genetic Anthropology at UCL
7.
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
8.
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
9.
UK Championship (snooker)
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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
10.
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
11.
Alan McManus
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Alan McManus is a Scottish professional snooker player. He also won the 1994 Masters, ending Stephen Hendrys five-year and he was ranked in the Top 16 from 1990 to 2006, dropping out after an unsuccessful 2005/2006 season. He has reached twenty-one professional semi-finals, but won four events. He has reached the semi-finals of the World Championship three times, but has never appeared in a final, until 2005, McManus had gone eleven years without reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament, despite consistent achievements in other events. His last major final was at the 2002 LG Cup at the Preston Guild Hall where he lost 5–9 to fellow-countryman Chris Small, a series of poor results in the 2005–2006 season saw him drop out of the top 16 for the first time since 1991. He reached the semi-finals of the 2006 Snooker Grand Prix, losing to Neil Robertson and he lost a World Championship qualifier 10–9 to journeyman Joe Delaney in 2007. This loss of form saw him drop out of the top 16. His poor form reached a trough in the 2009/2010 season, where he failed to qualify for any of the stages of the tournaments he took part in. McManus was unable to qualify for any of the venues during the 2011/12 season. He was beaten in the quarter-final 5–3 by compatriot Stephen Maguire, McManus put in a good performance, he ultimately lost 3–5, but picked up valuable ranking points in the process. He made a start to the Players Tour Championship, reaching the quarter-finals of the first event. He carried this form to the PTC event 2, once again reaching the quarter-finals before losing 1–4 to eventual runner-up Stephen Maguire. However, McManus only managed four last-32 results from the rest of the events and he then defeated 1995 World finalist Nigel Bond 10–8 in the penultimate qualifying round. In the final qualifying round he led Tom Ford 5–4 after the first session, in the first round he lost to Ding Junhui 5–10, picking up £12,000 for his efforts. McManus earned £49,442 during the 2012/2013 season, at the start of the 2013/2014 season McManus was ranked 49th in the World Rankings. At the 2013 Wuxi Classic qualifiers he won his match against Darryl Hill 5–3 to qualify for the last 64 of the event held in Wuxi, at the venue he defeated Ken Doherty 5–3 before losing to Dave Gilbert 2–5. At the first Asian Tour event, he bested players such as Michael White before beating local favorite Ding Junhui 4–2 in the last 16. He then defeated Yu Delu 4–1 in the quarter-finals, in the semi-final he lost to eventual winner Joe Perry 2–4, McManus qualified for the inaugural Indian Open, beating amateur Sydney Wilson 4–1 in qualifying
12.
Stephen Hendry
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Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish former professional snooker player. Hendry became the youngest professional player in 1985 aged 16 and, in 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion. He won the World Championship seven times, a record in the modern era, Hendry has the distinction of winning the most world ranking titles and is second on the century break list behind Ronnie OSullivan with 775 competitive century breaks. He has made 11 competitive maximum breaks, second only to OSullivan with 13, Hendry started playing snooker in 1981, aged 12, when his father, Gordon, bought him a child-sized snooker table as a Christmas present. Two years later he won the Scottish U-16 Championship and he also appeared on BBCs Junior version of Pot Black. The following year he won the Scottish Amateur Championship and also became the youngest ever entrant in the World Amateur Championship, in 1985, after retaining the Scottish Amateur Championship, he turned professional. At 16 years and three months old he was the youngest ever professional, Hendry was managed by entrepreneur Ian Doyle. In his first season, he reached the last 32 in the Mercantile Credit Classic and was the youngest ever Scottish Professional champion. He also became the youngest player ever to qualify for the World Championship and he lost 8–10 to Willie Thorne who then applauded him out of the arena. Hendry and Mike Hallett combined to win that years World Doubles Championship, in 1987/88 Hendry won his first world ranking titles, the Grand Prix, beating Dennis Taylor 10–7 in the final, and the British Open. He also claimed three other tournament victories, retaining both the Scottish Professional Championship and the World Doubles Championship, and the Australian Masters, by the end of that season he was ranked world no.4 and was voted the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year. No ranking titles came his way the following season, although he did win the New Zealand Masters, the 1989/90 season saw the beginning of Hendrys period of dominance. The following season, he set a record of five ranking titles in one season and recorded a hat-trick of Masters, beating Mike Hallett 9–8 after coming back from 0–7. However, Hendry failed to retain his title, losing to Steve James in the quarter-finals. In 1991/92, Hendry regained the World title, winning 10 frames in a row to come from 8–14 down to defeat White 18–14 and he won the Masters, too, and achieved his first competitive 147 break, in the Matchroom League. A year later, he retained both his World Championship title and a fifth consecutive Masters crown, the following season, he retained the World Championship, narrowly beating Jimmy White 18–17 in the final. Also in 1997, Stephen Hendry played Ronnie OSullivan in the Liverpool Victoria charity challenge final, the match was best of 17 frames. Stephen raced into a 6-1 and 8-2 lead with breaks of 110,129 and 136, Ronnie won the next 6 frames to level the match at 8-8
13.
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
14.
UK Snooker 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
15.
Crucible Theatre
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The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as performances, it hosts the most prestigious event in professional snooker. The Crucible Theatre was built by M J Gleeson and opened in 1971, in 1967 Colin George, the founding Artistic Director of the Crucible, recommended a thrust stage for Sheffield, inspired by theatres created by Sir Tyrone Guthrie. Tanya Moiseiwitsch, who had involved in designing Guthrie’s theatres, was the designer. The architects Renton Howard Wood Levin Architects were engaged and the building began to take shape in 1969. The audience sits on three sides but no member is more than the length of a cricket wicket –22 yards – from the performer, consequently, although it seats 980 people the spectator has an intimate relationship with the activity on stage. In 2001, the Crucible was awarded the Barclays ‘Theatre of the Year Award’ and it is a Grade II listed building. The building went through a £15 million refurbishment between 2007 and late 2009 – opening during that period only for the 2008 and 2009 World Snooker Championships. The Crucible reopened as a theatre on 11 February 2010 with a production of Henrik Ibsens An Enemy of the People, the Crucible is a producing theatre, meaning shows are designed and rehearsed in-house. These productions are normally overseen by the Sheffield Theatres Group, the World Snooker Championship tournament has been played annually in the Crucible since 1977. The Ladies World Snooker Championship was also held at the Crucible between 1998 and 2003 but was withdrawn due to financial difficulties. The venue has also hosted championships of other sports, such as table tennis
16.
Mark King (snooker player)
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Mark King is an English professional snooker player. He has also appeared in two ranking tournament finals - the 1997 Welsh Open, where he lost 2–9 to Stephen Hendry, and the 2004 Irish Masters. King has reached the last 16 of the World Championship seven times, in 1998,1999,2001,2002,2008,2009 and 2013, King turned professional in 1991 and advanced steadily through the rankings, reaching the top 48 by 1996. His 1997 Welsh Open final run lead to a top 32 place in the end of season rankings and he remained in the top 16 the following season without reaching a ranking quarter-final, but dropped out a year later. He made a return in 2000/2001, climbing to a career-high of #11. A poor 2002/2003 season ended with him dropping out of the top 16 again after defeat to Drew Henry 10–5 in the first round of the World Championship. In the post-match interview, King suggested that he had lost patience with the game, King later retracted this statement and began the following season in the qualifiers. After the 2004 World Championship, King became involved in a battle with Quinten Hann after his friend Andy Hicks eliminated Hann in a controversial first-round clash. Hann had been making provocative gestures during the match and after Hicks took victory, upset by Hanns behaviour, King challenged the Australian to a boxing match, for which King was later criticised, as Hanns behaviour had already put the game into disrepute. Nevertheless, the bout went ahead and Hann controversially won the fight on a points decision, in December 2004, King beat Mark Williams, Alan McManus and John Parrott en route to the semi-finals of the UK Championship, losing 9–4 to eventual winner Stephen Maguire. At 8–3, a mobile phone went off in the crowd, prompting King to quip if thats my missus, tell her Ill be home soon. In 2005, King beat Ronnie OSullivan 9–8 at the same event, King would eventually lose 9–6 in the last 16 to Joe Perry, but made a career best 146 break at the 2006 Championships. In 2007, King went out to David Gilbert in the round for the event. In the 2008 World Championship, King beat six-times runner-up Jimmy White to qualify, then shocked the previous years runner-up Mark Selby 10–8, after potting the match ball, King showed his delight by shouting Get in. He lost to Peter Ebdon in the last 16, but his place was secure. A consistent 2008/2009 season saw King retain his top 16 spot, at the 2009 Grand Prix King needed three snookers in the deciding frame against Ricky Walden to claim a 5–4 victory. He managed to get them and won by potting the final black, in the next round he lost to Robert Milkins. At the 2010 China Open King defeated Thai player James Wattana 5–4 in the first round after trailing 2–4 and he then won his second match 5–3 against Chinese player Tian Pengfei to reach his first Quarter final since the 2007 Malta Cup
17.
Ken Doherty
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Ken Doherty is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and this made him the first, and so far one of only two players to have been world amateur and professional champion. The following year, he came close to breaking the crucible curse. In 2003 he reached a final, where he was defeated by Mark Williams. In other triple crown events, he is a three-time UK Championship runner-up, an intelligent tactician and prolific break-builder, Doherty has compiled more than 300 century breaks in professional competition. From 2009 onwards he has combined his career with commentating. After two semi-finals in the 1991/92 season, Doherty reached the final of the 1992 Grand Prix, in the same event a year later, he lost 6–9 to Peter Ebdon. His first ranking title was the 1993 Welsh Open, enough to him into the top 16 in the world. In the 1994 World Championship he reached the quarter-finals, his run past the first round before 1997. Doherty became only the player from outside the United Kingdom to win the World Championship when he beat Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the 1997 final. Ken also reached the World Championship final in 1998 and in 2003, in that championship he played more frames than anyone before or since. In the final, Williams led 11–4 but Doherty fought back to 12–12, in frame 33, Doherty missed the 2nd to final red with a clearance there for the taking. Williams won that frame and the next to prevail 18–16. He is one of the few players to win back-to-back ranking events – the Welsh Open and Thailand Masters in 2001 and this one pot would have seen him win an £80,000 sports car. However, at 140 he did at least have the consolation of the £19,000 highest break prize. In the 2005 World Championship, Doherty beat Barry Pinches in the first round 10–5, winning the last 8 frames, following an average start to the 2005/06 season, Doherty won the Malta Cup in February 2006, beating John Higgins in the final. Doherty had trailed 8–5 at one stage but managed a stirring comeback, Doherty called the victory, which bridged a five-year gap, his most important tournament win since the World Championship. In the 2006 World Championship, Doherty started brightly winning his first match and defeated Barry Hawkins 10–1 and then he beat Matthew Stevens 13–8 and he was favourite in his quarter-final match against Marco Fu but lost 13–10
18.
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
19.
Tony Drago
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Tony Drago is a professional snooker and pool player from Malta. He reached the finals of the World Snooker Championship in 1988. He won the 2003 World Pool Masters Tournament beating Hsia Hui-kai 8–6 and 2008 Predator International 10-ball Championship beating Francisco Bustamante 13–10, Dragos highest snooker world rankings position was number ten. He has reached two major finals – the Mita/Sky World Masters in 1991, and the International Open in 1997 and he reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 1988. He has appeared in the tournament 11 times more, most recently in 2004/2005 and he lost to Matthew Stevens in three successive years – 8–13 in the last 16 in 1999, 2–10 in the 2000 first round, and 1–10 in the 2001 first round. After failing to qualify for the 2004 World Championships, Drago entered a decline in snooker. He dropped out of the top 32 of the rankings a year later, in 2009, Drago won the EBSA International Open, which gave him the chance to return for the 2009/2010 season. He reached the qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters, Grand Prix. He then qualified for the Welsh Open, by defeating Simon Bedford, Peter Lines, Jimmy Michie, and Gerard Greene, where he played against Ryan Day in the first round, but he lost 4–5. In the China Open qualifying, Drago defeated Lee Page, John Parrott, Anthony Hamilton, as a result of such a solid season, he got a place in the top 64 and finished 54th. 2010/2011 was again a season for Drago, as he climbed 8 places to finish 46th in the rankings. However, the 2011/12 season was worse, with only 4 qualifying wins to Dragos name. His best results were reaching the last 32 of several of the PTC events, Drago could not qualify for any of the ranking events during the 2012/2013 season. Drago finished the year ranked world number 82 and his first match of the season was against Adam Duffy in the qualifying round for the 2013 Wuxi Classic, Drago lost the match 2–5. In the qualifying rounds for the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open, Drago defeated Christopher Keogan 5–2 and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5–4, Drago lost his place on the tour at the end of the 2015/2016 season and he failed to qualify for the main tour in that seasons Q School. At 2007 in Las Vegas, Drago won all of his matches which earned him the Most Valuable Player Award. In 2008, Drago won the Predator International 10-ball Championship, beating Francisco Bustamante 13–10, Drago is well known for the speed of his play, and holds a number of records resulting from this. In 1993 he recorded the fastest ever best-of-9-frames snooker victory by beating Sean Lanigan in just thirty-four minutes at the 2nd leg of the Strachan Challenge and he also holds the record for the fastest best-of-17 match, beating Joe OBoye 9–0 in 81 minutes at the 1990 UK Championship
20.
Jimmy White
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James Warren Jimmy White, MBE is an English professional snooker player. Whites non-world championship achievements include the UK Championship, the Masters, a two-time winner of both the World Cup and the British Open, White was also the first left-handed player, and second player overall, to record a maximum break at the World Championship. White was born in Streathbourne Road, Tooting, London, England and he never achieved academic success, as he was often truant from school from the age of eight or nine, spending more and more time at Zans, Ted Zanoncellis snooker hall. The club was known as Zans and after Teds death in 1978 it was handed down to his daughter. It was around this time that White met Tony Meo with whom he would compete in matches in many venues. His natural aptitude for snooker led to an amateur career. With a host of major titles and achievements, including ten ranking tournaments, the BBC describes him as a legend. A left-hander, he reached the World Professional Championship Final on six occasions, nonetheless, his consistency waned in the 2000s and a first-round defeat in the 2006 World Championship saw White drop out of the worlds top 32 player rankings. Whites continued slide down the rankings saw him drop to 65th, White is one of only six players to have completed a maximum break at the Crucible Theatre, doing so in the 1992 World Snooker Championship. He has compiled more than 300 century breaks during his career, White established himself as a top professional in 1981. The World Championship has provided the theatre for Whites greatest disappointments, in 1982, he led Alex Higgins 15–14 in their semi-final, was up 59–0 in the penultimate frame and was a red and colour away from the final. After missing a red with the rest, however, he could watch as Higgins compiled a frame-winning 69 break. Higgins won the frame that followed to reach the final. In 1984 White won the Masters for the time to date. He followed this success by reaching his first World Championship final, trailing Steve Davis 4–12 after the first two sessions, White responded by reducing the deficit to 15–16. He then made a clearance of 65 to take the score to 16–17, but was unable to build upon a 40-point lead in the following frame. White did, however, become a World Doubles Champion later that year when he and Alex Higgins defeated Willie Thorne, in 1986 White reached his second Masters final, but was defeated by Cliff Thorburn. However he won the Classic and also retained the Irish Masters title he won in 1985, White won the Classic when he beat Thorburn in the final frame after needing a snooker
21.
Joe Swail
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Joe Swail is a professional snooker player from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Championships, Swail is renowned for playing well at the Crucible Theatre, having reached the last 16 on four further occasions. He is also a former English amateur champion and N. Ireland amateur runner-up and he was Irish champion in 2005. Swail has had a mixed history in the rankings. He took just two seasons to reach the Top 32, and three to reach the top sixteen, but only remained there for one season, before sliding out of the Top 32 after winning just two matches in 1997/1998. His 2000 Crucible achievement made him the player to return to the Top 16 in the rankings after dropping out of the Top 32 in between. He climbed to No.10 after his 2001 semi-final, but dropped to 16–27–30–40 in the few years. He then bounced back with an impressive and consistent showing in 2005/2006 that brought him back into the Top 32 and this caused him to again miss the top 16, finishing the season in 20th place. He started 2008/2009 poorly, with four successive first-round defeats and his first victory of the season was against Liang Wenbo in qualifying for the 2008 UK Snooker Championship. He then reached his first ever ranking final in his 18-year professional career at the 2009 Welsh Open, Swail led the match 5–2, but never won another frame, losing 9–5 to Ali Carter. After finishing 69th the end of the 2011/2012 season, outside of the top 64 that retain their professional status, as an amateur, Swail played in many of the Players Tour Championship events. At the Paul Hunter Classic, Swail defeated players such as Jimmy White, Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins en route to the final, in the final, he was defeated 1–4 by Mark Selby. This not only booked his place on the tour for the season, but also qualified him for the PTC Finals in Galway, Ireland. He lost 0–4 in the Last 16 to fellow Northern Irishman Mark Allen and he lost his Last 64 match against Mark Joyce 7–10, picking up £4,600 for his efforts. After regaining his professional status due to his performances in the previous seasons PTC events, Swail was able to play in ranking events during the season. He lost in the Last 96 of the Wuxi Classic, 2–5 to Ken Doherty, in the qualifiers for the Australian Open, he beat Darren Cook 5–2, Swail is known for his very unorthodox way of cueing up. Instead of keeping his cue-arm vertical as most players do, Swail cues up with his arm bent at least 45 degrees outwards, and his elbow towards his back. Although it appears to be difficult to actually pot balls when cueing like that it has worked for Swail
22.
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
23.
Peter Ebdon
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Peter David Ebdon is an English professional snooker player. He was World Champion in 2002, beating Stephen Hendry 18–17 in the final and he was also a losing finalist in the World Championship in 1996 and 2006. Ebdon turned professional in 1991 and soon made an impact by beating world champion Steve Davis 10–4 in the first round of the 1992 World Championship. However, it was a run which earned him the WPBSA Young Player of the Year award as a result and his first ranking title was the 1993 Grand Prix. He climbed the rankings rapidly to reach a career-highest position of three in 1996, he again reached world number three status at the close of the 2002 season. Perhaps Ebdons greatest achievement, thus far, was his 18–17 defeat of Stephen Hendry in the 2002 World Championship final, having started the tournament at odds of 33–1. In the semi-final before the final he led Marco Fu 15–9 before being pegged back to 16–16 before Ebdon took the decider, Ebdon is a remarkably focused and determined player. Until recently, his times had slowed down considerably, this attracted some criticism – particularly. Resuming at 10–6 down, Ebdon won the first six frames of the evening session, Ebdon nevertheless won the match 13–11. Such performances, though lacking fluency, often appear to break his opponent mentally, Ebdon stated after his victory over OSullivan, When Im trying my hardest I seem to go slow. When The Times described his play as cheating, he attempted to sue them for libel. However, he failed to reach a ranking quarter-final in 2007, the WPBSA, of which Ebdon is a board member, has yet to announce an investigation of its own. In 2009, Ebdon beat John Higgins 10–8 to win the China Open, however, in the subsequent World Championship, Ebdon lost 10–5 to Nigel Bond in the first round. A year later, after a season, Ebdon once again lost 10–5 in the World Championship. This result meant Ebdon dropped out of the top 16 in the rankings after an uninterrupted 16-year stay. At the start of the season Ebdon issued a statement announcing that he would not be able to play to the best of his ability in the last round of the Shanghai Masters qualifiers. He enjoyed a return of form in the World Open, where he beat Steve Davis 3–1, Fergal OBrien 3–2, Liu Song 3–2. This was his first semi-final since the 2009 China Open and saw him retake a place in the top 16 and he also reached the quarter-finals of the China Open and the last 16 of the German Masters and Welsh Open
24.
Snooker world ranking tournaments
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This is a list of professional and alternative format snooker tournaments. A non-ranking tournament may take the form of an event where player participation is conditional on criteria set by the organiser or sponsor or by personal invite. Most tournaments take the form of an event, but there are several team formats that have appeared on the calendar over the years. In recent seasons alternative forms of snooker have proliferated on the calendar and this is a list of ranking professional snooker tournaments. The professional snooker tournaments listed below are non-ranking and invitational events, a list of tournaments that use an alternative set of rules to the official rules of the game. This is a list of ranking professional snooker tournaments that no longer part of the snooker calendar. The professional snooker tournaments listed below were non-ranking and invitational events
25.
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
26.
2008 Bahrain Championship
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The 2008 Bahrain Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 8 and 15 November 2008 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre in Manama, Bahrain. It was the ranking event of the 2008/2009 season. Due to a clash with a previously arranged Premier League match-day and this meant that they earned no ranking points. While Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty and Jamie Cope qualified automatically due to the spaces in the draw. Likewise, the players ranked from 33–35 and 49–51 played one less than usual. Additionally, Ronnie OSullivan withdrew three days before the tournament for unspecified medical reasons, steve Davis was also involved in Premier League action, playing on 13 November, but did not withdraw from the tournament. He played his match and received a walkover due to OSullivans withdrawal. However, before his last 16 match he withdrew from the event as an ear infection prevented him from flying to Bahrain, liang Wenbo made the 65th official maximum break during his qualifying match against Martin Gould. This was Liangs first official 147, marcus Campbell made the 66th official maximum break during his wildcard round match against Ahmed Basheer Al-Khusaibi. This was Campbells first official 147, neil Robertson won his third ranking title by defeating Matthew Stevens 9–7. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below, matches were played at Bahrain International Exhibition Centre on Saturday,8 November. Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontins in Prestatyn, Wales between 27 and 30 October 2008
27.
Martin Gould
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Martin Gould is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He practises at the Rileys Watford pool and snooker club and he has appeared in three ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Gould began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2000. In 2002, Gould won his first English Amateur Championship, beating Craig Taylor in the final, Gould reached the semi-finals of the 2002 European Championship. Gould enjoyed a run in the qualification for the 2003 World Snooker Championship, winning 8 matches, beating Alain Robidoux. Goulds campaign ended when he lost to Patrick Wallace, however, he dropped off the Main Tour after this sole season, and barely played for the next four years, having to look after his terminally ill mother. He then won the English Play-offs in Leeds to ensure his return to the Main Tour for 2007/08 season, Gould reached the last 32 of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, beating Matthew Stevens 5–4 from 3–0 down in the last 48. He also won multiple qualifying matches at both the UK Championship and World Championship qualifying events, although he did not ultimately qualify for either event and he finished the season inside the top 64. Gould came through qualifying for the 2008 UK Championship, beating Supoj Saenla 9–1, Tom Ford 9–6, Gould then also reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, at the 2009 Welsh Open, beating Stephen Hendry 5–3 in the last 32. Solid qualifying results in the remainder of the season helped him into the top 48 in the rankings for 2009/10 season meaning Gould had only to win two matches to qualify for events. Despite dismal results during the first tournaments of 2009/10 season, he returned to the Crucible the following year. In the second round he spectacularly led Neil Robertson 6–0, 11–5 and 12–10, playing arguably his best snooker ever, Robertson went on to win the championship that year. He performed successfully during the minor-ranking PTC events, his best result being the final of the Event 6, having qualified to the PTC Grand Finals, in March 2011 Gould reached his first career final, where he was beaten 4–0 by Shaun Murphy. Gould once again qualified for the World Championship, and defeated Marco Fu 10–8 in a repeat of the years first round match. Gould was then defeated by reigning China Open champion and eventual World Championship runner-up and his consistent performances were enough to see him break into the elite top 16 for the first time in October, meaning he would no longer have to qualify for the ranking tournaments. In November, Gould won the Masters Trophy of the variant form of the game, Power Snooker, Gould finished 2011 by reaching the final of PTC Event 11, where he lost to Tom Ford 3–4. He also reached the semi-finals of Event 9 and Event 12 to finish 10th in the Order of Merit and seal his place in the Finals, Goulds recent rise up the world rankings earned him a place in the prestigious Masters tournament for the first time in 2012. Only the top 16 are invited to the event with Gould drawing Shaun Murphy in the first round, after breaking into the top 16, Gould only won two matches in ranking events during the rest of the campaign
28.
Barry Pinches
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Barry Pinches is an English former professional snooker player, recognisable for his bright and flamboyant waistcoats, which usually feature the yellow and green colours of Norwich City F. C. He is a former top 32 player and ranking-event quarter-finalist and he has compiled over 100 century breaks in his career, becoming the 33rd player to have done so. He won the English Amateur Championship in 1988, enabling him to professional in 1989. He is coached by Stephen Feeney, after a largely unsuccessful start to his career, he hit good form for a while in the 2000s. In his first appearance at the Crucible, in 1991 he lost 3–10 to Terry Griffiths, at one point he was established in the worlds top 32, and provisionally 14 at one point – advancing 82–56–36–21 in the rankings over a strong sequence of seasons up to 2003/2004. However, he dropped out of the top 32 two years later, and then won only one match in 2006/2007, dropping to number #56. He attributed this loss of form to attempting to change his cue action, however, he won an invitational event that featured many top players, the 2007 Paul Hunter Classic that August, beating Neil Robertson and Ken Doherty en route. The 2008/2009 season was successful for him however. In the 2011/2012 season Pinches narrowly missed out on a maximum 147 break at Event 2 of the Players Tour Championship in Gloucester and he would later finish the season ranked world number 64, grabbing the final spot on offer through the world rankings to play in the 2012/2013 season. He fell 23 places in the rankings during the season – the most of anyone on the snooker tour, Pinches won two matches but then lost in the final round in qualifying for the first three ranking events of the season. He made it to the draw at the next event. He had to play in a wildcard round once at the venue in Chengdu, China, and lost 5–6 to Lu Ning. This was the furthest Pinches got in an event this season. He finished the year ranked world number 62, Pinches qualified for the 2013 Indian Open, the fourth ranking event of the 2013/2014 season with a 4–1 victory over Chris Wakelin. He almost pulled off a shock in the first round as he led Ding Junhui 3–2. Pinches also reached the draw of the World Open and China Open. Pinches stated before the match that he would stick to his game with a defensive approach as he has always played the same no matter who the opponent is. He edged out Peter Ebdon 5–4 to qualify for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, Pinches won three games to play in the final qualifying round for the Australian Goldfields Open where he lost 5–3 to Ebdon
29.
Mark Allen (snooker player)
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Not to be confused with Mark Johnston-Allen Mark Allen is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. He won the World Amateur Championship in 2004, the following year he entered the Main Tour and took only three seasons to reach the elite top 16. As a prolific break-builder, Allen has compiled more than 300 century breaks in professional competition, Allen has reached five ranking semi-finals, the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, the 2008 Bahrain Championship, the 2009 World Championship, the 2010 China Open and the 2010 UK Championship. In June 2009, he won his first professional title, the invitational Jiangsu Classic in China and he reached his first ranking event final at the 2011 UK Championship. Allens highest break is 147, which he achieved in the 2016 UK Championship and he began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. Before entering Main Tour for the 2005/2006 season, Allen won the European Championship and the IBSF World Championship, plus Northern Ireland Championship at under-14, under-16 and his early career was aided by National Lottery funding. By chance, an invitational Northern Ireland Trophy was staged shortly after Allen turned professional, as a local player, he was invited and made an immediate impact, defeating Steve Davis and John Higgins to reach the quarter-finals, before losing to Stephen Hendry. In his first year on the tour, he reached the last 32 of the 2005 UK Championship and he also got to the final qualifying round of the 2006 World Championship, losing 7–10 to Andy Hicks, after leading 7–4. In March 2007 he qualified for the World Championship for the first time, in April 2007 he beat former world champion Ken Doherty 10–7 in the first round held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, but lost to Matthew Stevens 9–13 in the second round. This was his first run to the last 16 of a tournament, in the 2007 Grand Prix, in a match with Ken Doherty, he was involved in an incident that led to his opponent branding him a disgrace. Unhappy that the black would not go back on its spot after potting it, the referee told him that he would be warned if he did that again. Allen was not warned, and ended up winning the match, Doherty said, He was a disgrace. For such a relative newcomer to the pro game, hes got an attitude problem. Mark later commented, It was entirely my own fault and if there are going to be any repercussions then so be it, Allen did not reach the knockout stage of the tournament. In the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy he gave his home supporters plenty to shout about, by beating Graeme Dott 5–3, in it he defeated Gerard Greene 5–3 to reach the semi-final, where he lost 3–6 to Fergal OBrien. In the following UK Championship he defeated Stephen Hendry in the last 32 and he opened his last-16 match against Mark Williams with two centuries in the first three frames, building a 5–1 lead, but Williams fought back and he lost 5–9. He then reached the quarter-finals in the 2008 China Open before losing to Shaun Murphy, at the 2008 World Championship he led Stephen Hendry 6–3, 7–4 and 9–7 before losing 9–10. However, first-round defeats for all his rivals for a top 16 place ensured that he finished the season at number 16 in the rankings, after a consistent season, Allen was back at the Crucible the following year where he beat Martin Gould in his opening match
30.
Marcus Campbell
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Marcus Campbell is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He was ranked within the worlds top 64 for 15 consecutive seasons and he is perhaps most famous for whitewashing Stephen Hendry 9–0 in the 1998 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship, one of the most surprising results in snookers history. He followed this win with a 9–6 win over Quinten Hann in the last 32 and he also reached the last 32 of the Welsh Open where he beat Lee Spick, Ricky Walden and Gerard Greene and gave Ding Junhui a run for his money before Ding eventually won 5–4. He qualified for the 2008 Bahrain Championship before scoring a 147 in his match against Ahmed Basheer Al-Khusaibi. He lost to eventual champion Neil Robertson in the last 32 and he then qualified for the 2010 World Championship, where he lost 10–5 to Mark Williams. Campbell won the first professional tournament of his career in Germany when he won Event 3 of the Euro Players Tour Championship beating Liang Wenbo 4–0 in the final and this result along with other consistent performances were enough to see him enter the top 32 in the rankings. He also qualified for the championship for the second successive year. He subsequently lost 10–1 to Murphy, in the 2011/2012 season Campbell qualified for six of the eight ranking events. He played former champion Matthew Stevens in the first round of the UK Championship, despite the death of a close friend just a few hours before. Campbell played in all 12 of the PTC events, making two quarter-finals in Event 1 and Event 3, to finish 30th in the Order of Merit, Liang had time to compose himself and won the decider to end Campbells season, which he finished ranked world number 25. The 2012/2013 season began well for Campbell as he qualified for the Wuxi Classic. He dispatched Stephen Lee, Fergal OBrien and Mark Williams to play Ricky Walden in the semis and he lost the match 1–6 and stated afterwards that he didnt feel comfortable at all and put it down to nerves. However, he felt that winning a ranking tournament was now within his reach. He qualified for four of the seven ranking events. He had his best run of the season since Wuxi at the China Open where he overcame Peter Ebdon 5–3, there, Campbell lost 2–5 to Neil Robertson. Campbell missed opportunities in the first session to finish it 2–7 behind, Campbell was ranked world number 28 at the end of the season. Campbell lost in the first round to local favourites in the first two ranking events he qualified for in the 2013/2014 season, in the Australian Goldfields Open it was Neil Robertson who eliminated him 5–1 and at the Indian Open he lost 4–1 to Pankaj Advani. At the UK Championship Campbell saw off Lü Haotian and Michael White, Campbell was thrashed 5–0 by Ricky Walden in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open
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John Higgins
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Neil Robertson
Mark Allen
Patrick Delsemme
Ken Doherty
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