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1999 Welsh Open
The 1999 Regal Welsh Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 25 and 31 January 1999 at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales. Paul Hunter was the defending champion, but he lost his last 32 match against Fergal O'Brien. Mark Williams defeated Stephen Hendry 9–8 in the final to win his fifth ranking title. Tournament summary Defending champion Paul Hunter was the number 1 seed with World Champion John Higgins seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o .... Ronnie O'Sullivan made a maximum break during the third frame of his quarter final victory over James Wattana. Main draw Final Century breaks References {{Snooke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regal (cigarette)
Regal is a British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco. History The coupon cigarette was originally released as Embassy Regal Filter in 1969. The brand became very popular and sold coupon cigarettes until around 1999. Classed as a "premium" brand cigarette, they are one of the most expensive cigarette products available in the United Kingdom. Regal are very popular in Scotland, Northern Ireland and in the north of England; further south Regal's sister brand Embassy is more popular. Regal is available in king size and regular filter size. In 2014 the cigarette factory in Nottingham that produced Regal cigarettes closed its doors and production was moved to Germany and Poland. "Reg" advertising campaign In the 1990s, Imperial Tobacco launched an advertising campaign featuring an everyman named Reg who offered his dad-humour insights on various subjects. The first ad read, "Reg on Smoking: I smoke 'em because my name's on 'em." As he held his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fergal O'Brien
Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish professional snooker player who plays on the main professional tour since 1991. Ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1994 to 2022, he has reached his highest position of 9th in the 2000–01 season. He has won one ranking title, the 1999 British Open, defeating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final. He has reached two other major finals, notably the 2001 Masters, where he lost 9–10 to Paul Hunter. O'Brien was relegated from the professional tour after losing to 15-year-old Welsh amateur Liam Davies in the 2022 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds. However, he regained his professional status immediately by coming through Event 1 of Q School. Career O'Brien is, along with Yan Bingtao, one of only two players to score a century in their first frame at the World Championships in the Crucible, which he achieved against Alan McManus in 1994 (though he lost the match 10–7 and did not qualify again until 1998). Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marco Fu
Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP (, born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player. He is a three-time ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open and the 2016 Scottish Open. He has been a runner-up at two Triple Crown events, at the 2008 UK Championship and the 2011 Masters. In addition, Fu has reached the semi-finals of the World Championship twice—in 2006 and in 2016. Fu reached a career-high ranking of fifth in the world in 2017. He turned professional in 1998 and has remained on the World Snooker Tour to-date. Despite not competing in events during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fu was given an invitational place to remain on the tour during the 2021–22 snooker season. As a prolific break-builder, Fu has compiled over 500 century breaks in professional competition, including five maximum breaks. A cultural icon in Hong Kong, Fu presented a 10-episode chat show called ' on ViuTV. Career Early career Marco Fu wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graeme Dott
Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. 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 world rankings in 2007, but a subsequent episode of clinical depression seriously affected his form, causing him to drop to number 28 for the 2009–10 season. He then recovered his form, regained his top-16 ranking, and reached a third World Championship final. In 2011, he published his autobiography, ''Frame of Mind: The Autobiography of the World Snooker Champion.'' Career Early career 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, where he remained until 2009. Early success ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan McManus
Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Dubai Classic and the 1996 Thailand Open, and competed in the World Championship semi-finals in 1992, 1993 and 2016. He also won the 1994 Masters, ending Stephen Hendry's five-year, 23-match unbeaten streak at the tournament with a 9–8 victory in the final. McManus announced his retirement on 9 April 2021 after losing 6–3 to Bai Langning in the second qualifying round of the 2021 World Snooker Championship. Career Top 16 career and Masters winner McManus has long been considered a consistently good player, having a record of fourteen consecutive seasons in the Top 16, but never managed to achieve the success of his contemporaries Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams. He was ranked in the Top 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bradley Jones (snooker Player)
Bradley Jones (born 16 May 1974) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Born in 1974, Jones turned professional in 1991. His first few years on the tour were low-key, but he reached the first semi-final of his career at Event 1 of the 1994 Strachan Challenge; there, he defeated Wayne Lloyd, John Giles, Darren Limbug, Billy Snaddon and Matt Wilson before losing 4–5 to Andy Hicks. The following season, runs to the last 16 of the 1994 Benson & Hedges Championship, where he lost 2–5 to the rising Rod Lawler, and the quarter-final of Event 5 of the 1995 Minor Tour, where twenty-year-old John Higgins defeated him 4–0, were highlights, although Jones' prize money from these exploits amounted only to £1,575. The 1995/1996 season was very poor for Jones, and having earned nothing from ten tournaments, he dropped to 199th in the world rankings. However, he enjoyed a vast upturn in form from 1996; Jones reached the last 32 of the 1997 International Open, losin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Davis
Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World Snooker Championship finals in nine years, won six world titles, and held the List of world number one snooker players, world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons. He was runner-up to Dennis Taylor in one of snooker's most famous matches, the 1985 World Snooker Championship final, 1985 world final, whose dramatic black-ball conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK records for any broadcast after midnight and any broadcast on BBC Two that stand to this day. In addition to his six world titles, Davis won the UK Championship six times and the Masters (snooker), Masters three times for a total of 15 Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown titles, placing him third on the all-time list behind Ronnie O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Johnson (snooker Player)
Joe Johnson (born 29 July 1952) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator, best known for winning the 1986 World Championship after starting the tournament as a 150–1 outsider. A former English Amateur Championship and World Amateur Championship finalist, Johnson turned professional in 1979, and after several years as an unranked player, reached the final of the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, where he lost 9–8 to Tony Knowles. In 1986, as an underdog, he defeated Steve Davis 18–12 to win the 1986 World Snooker Championship. The following year, he reached the final again, losing 18–14 to Davis. At the 1987 UK Championship, Johnson came close to making a maximum 147 break, missing the pink ball on 134. Johnson also won the 1987 Scottish Masters, the 1989 Norwich Union Grand Prix and the 1991 Nescafe Extra Challenge before retiring from professional play in 2004. He has also won the 1997 Seniors Pot Black and the 2019 Seniors Masters, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Harold
David Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's pottery industry and his profession of potting snooker balls). He was also the first player on the television circuit to sport a plaster on his chin as a guide for his cue, which is a practice now adopted by Graeme Dott. As an amateur he played as David Harold, but after turning professional in 1991 he was registered as Dave Harold. He won one ranking title, reached two further finals and several semi-finals, and spent four seasons ranked among the top 16. Harold was renowned for both his very strong defensive play and his unusual cue-action, with which he is able to unleash a great deal of power on a shot without using backswing on the cue. Despite safety play ultimately being considered his strong point, he compiled 143 century breaks. Steve Davis has commented that he is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali Carter
Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached number two in the world rankings in 2010. His nickname, "The Captain", comes from his hobby of piloting aeroplanes. Career Carter turned professional in 1996. He first emerged in 1999, winning the WPBSA Association Young Player of the Year award after winning the Benson and Hedges Championship in 1999 – this earned him a wild card place in the Masters. He also reached the semi-finals of the 1999 Grand Prix. It was eight years before he reached another ranking semi-final, the 2007 Malta Cup. He was close to the elite top 16 for three successive seasons ranking as 17, 19, and 19 through 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06, respectively, before reaching it in the 2006–07 season and remaining there in 2008. He reached the last 16 (second ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian McCulloch (snooker Player)
Ian McCulloch (born 28 July 1971) is an English former professional snooker player from Walton-Le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire. He is known for his ability to grind opponents down through protracted safety exchanges and disjointed breakbuilding. He compiled 105 century breaks in his career. Career McCulloch turned professional in 1992, and after steadily climbing up the rankings for many years, he reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in the 1999 Welsh Open. He also made his debut in the Crucible stages of the 1999 World Championship. Like Barry Pinches he entered his best form in his early 30s. He reached two ranking event finals – the 2002 British Open (losing to Paul Hunter) and the 2004 Grand Prix in his home town (losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan). He beat David Gray to qualify for the 2003 World Championship in a clash between players who share their names with musicians, and went on to reach the quarter finals in 2004. He went one stage fur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Wattana
James Wattana (; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm'', then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm'' in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker player. A professional between 1989 and 2008, and from 2009 to 2020, Wattana reached his highest ranking position – world number 3 – for the 1994–95 season. He has won three ranking tournaments, the 1992 Strachan Open and the Thailand Open in 1994 and 1995, and has finished as the runner-up in a further five ranking events. He twice reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship, in 1993 and 1997. When he was defeated in the semi-finals in 1993 by Jimmy White, it was only Wattana's second appearance in the final televised stages at the Crucible Theatre, his first being the previous year when he lost in the second round to the eventual winner Stephen Hendry. Having received two year invitational tour cards in 2014, 2016 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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