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2008 Northern Ireland Trophy
The 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 31 August 2008 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed his 21st ranking tournament by defeating surprise finalist Dave Harold 9–3 in the final. Tournament summary *Notable comebacks in the qualifiers included: Li Hang coming from 0–4 down to beat Irish prodigy David Morris 5–4, and both Jimmy White and Ian Preece came from 2–4 behind to win their matches 5–4, against Jamie Jones and Paul Davies respectively. *Jimmy White qualified for the final stage of an event for the first time in over a year, stretching back to the 2007 China Open. *Long standing top-16 players, Mark Williams, Ken Doherty and Stephen Lee were playing in the qualifiers for the first time in over a decade. * Last year's runner-up, Fergal O'Brien fell at the first hurdle, losing 3–5 to Michael Holt. *In his match against Mark Selby, Andrew Higgins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Ireland Trophy
The Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional snooker tournament. History First contested in 1981 and named ''Northern Ireland Classic''. It was an invitational event held at Ulster Hall, Belfast, and Jimmy White beat Steve Davis in the final. The event was revived for the 2005/06 season as an invitational event and was contested by 20 players. From the 2006/07 season, it became a full ranking event, attended by the world's top 32 players plus 16 qualifiers. The event was the first ranking tournament to be held in Northern Ireland and has been staged as part of World Snooker's continuing efforts to popularise the game in more territories. The tournament took place at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. It has been the opening event of the season, other than in 2007 when it was held in November. Prize money for 2006 totalled £200,500 with the winner receiving £30,000. In the 2006 event Ronnie O'Sullivan broke a world record during his semi-final against Dominic Dale; he won ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Preece
Ian Preece (born 23 June 1982) is a Welsh former professional snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ... player, from the city of Newport. Preece first appeared on the World Snooker Tour, main tour in 2003, after a successful career as a junior; he held the record as the youngest winner of the IBSF World Snooker Championship, World Amateur Championship in 1999, when he beat David Lilley (snooker player), David Lilley 11–8 in the final. Career Until 2009 his best runs were to the last 48 of tournaments, which he has achieved in the 2007 Welsh Open (snooker), 2007 Welsh Open, 2007 China Open (snooker), 2007 China Open, 2007 UK Championship, and 2008 Shanghai Masters. He reached the last 32 of an event for the first time at the 2009 Welsh Open (snooker), 2009 Wels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Allen (snooker Player)
Mark Allen (born 22 February 1986) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player from Antrim. He won the World Amateur Championship in 2004, turned professional the following year, and took only three seasons to reach the top 16. In his fourth professional season, he beat the defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan en route to the semi-finals of the 2009 World Championship, where he lost to the eventual winner John Higgins. Allen reached his first ranking event final at the 2011 UK Championship, losing to Judd Trump. He won his first ranking title the following year at the 2012 World Open. He has won eight ranking titles to date, most recently the 2022 UK Championship. He captured his first Triple Crown title at the 2018 Masters. A prolific break-builder, Allen has compiled more than 550 century breaks in professional competition. He has made two maximum breaks, achieving his first in the 2016 UK Championship and his second in the 2021 Northern Ireland Open qualifying r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominic Dale
Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport. Career Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, which allowed him to compete at the World Amateur Championship in Bangkok. Dale reached the final, but lost 9–11 against Noppadon Noppachorn. Dale turned professional for the 1992–93 season. He has won two ranking tournaments in his career, the first of which – the Grand Prix in 1997 – he won while ranked number 54 in the world, beating then world number 2 John Higgins 9–6 in the final. It took him a decade to repeat the achievement at the 2007 Shanghai Masters, where he defeated compatriot Ryan Day 10–6 in the final, from 2–6 behind. On his way to the Shanghai final he beat Rory McLeod, Ken Doherty, Adrian Gunnell, Dave Harold and Mark Selby. Both of his ranking victories were in the season-opening tournaments; he also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2007 Welsh Open (snooker)
The 2007 Welsh Open was the 2007 edition of the Welsh Open professional snooker tournament and was held from 12 to 18 February 2007 at the Newport Centre in Newport, South East Wales. It was the 16th staging of the competition since 1992 and the tenth time it took place at the Newport Centre. The tournament was the fifth of seven World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) ranking events in the 2006/2007 season. The host broadcasters were BBC Cymru Wales and Eurosport. Grand Prix winner Neil Robertson won the tournament, defeating 500–1 outsider Andrew Higginson, who was in only his third appearance in the main stages of a professional competition, nine frames to eight (9–8) in the final. It was Roberston's second ranking tournament victory, becoming the fourth non-British and Irish player to win more than one ranking title. Robertson won against Michael Holt and world champions Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Steve Davis en route to the fina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Higginson
Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English former professional snooker player from Widnes, Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open. Career Early years After some success in amateur tournaments, Higginson turned professional for the 2000/2001 season after finishing third on the Challenge Tour. He remained there for five seasons before dropping off, after encountering limited success. He won a place back on the tour for 2006/2007 after finishing second on the Pontins' International Open Series. Breakthrough Higginson reached the televised stages of a ranking tournament for the first time at the 2007 Malta Cup, where he beat Steve Davis 5–4 before losing 2–5 to Ken Doherty at the last 16. At the very next tournament, the 2007 Welsh Open, Higginson hit an extraordinary run of form, defeating Marco Fu 5–2, John Higgins 5–3 (from 0–3 down), Michael Judge 5–1, Ali Carter 5–1 (making his first professional 147 bre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Selby
Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. In addition to his four world titles, he has won the Masters three times and the UK Championship twice for a total of nine Triple Crown titles, putting him on a par with John Higgins, and behind only Ronnie O’Sullivan (21), Stephen Hendry (18) and Steve Davis (15). After winning the England Under-15 Championship in 1998, Selby turned professional in 1999, aged 16. He made his Crucible debut in 2005, and reached his first World Championship final in 2007, when he was runner-up to John Higgins. He won his first major title at the 2008 Masters, and his first ranking title at the 2008 Welsh Open. Between 2014 and 2017, he won the World Championship three times in four years. He has been w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Holt (snooker Player)
Michael Holt (born 7 August 1978) is an English former professional snooker player from Nottingham. A former world Top 20 player, he has won one ranking event – the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out – and two minor-ranking tournaments. He has been runner-up at two ranking events – the 2016 Riga Masters and the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out. He also reached the semi-finals of the 2013 Shanghai Masters as well as five further quarter-finals. Career 2001–2010 Holt lost in the final qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship in 2001 and 2002. Holt almost qualified for the 2004 event – he was 9–5 ahead in his final qualifying match against Anthony Hamilton, before losing the next five frames to lose the match. In the 2005 World Snooker Championship, he beat his friend Paul Hunter in the first round. In the second round he faced Steve Davis, losing 10–13 after having led 8–2. For the 2005 tournament he used eBay to auction the sponsorship space on his waistcoat to Cabaret, ... [...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] |
Northern Ireland Trophy 2007
The 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 4–11 November 2007 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Stephen Maguire won his first ranking tournament since 2004 by defeating Fergal O'Brien 9–5 in the final. This was Maguire's third ranking title. In his third round match Ronnie O'Sullivan completed a maximum break against Ali Carter, one of five centuries that he compiled in his 5–2 victory. O'Sullivan remains the only player to make five centuries in a best of 9 match. Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: £30,000 *Runner-up: £15,000 *Semi-final: £7,500 *Quarter-final: £5,600 *Last 16: £4,000 *Last 32: £2,500 *Last 48: £1,625 *Last 64: £1,100 *Stage one highest break: £500 *Stage two highest break: £2,000 *Stage one maximum break: £1,000 *Stage two maximum break: £20,000 *Total: £200,000 Main draw Final Qualifying Qualifying for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Doherty
Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) 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 the World Amateur Championship. Since turning professional in 1990, Doherty has won six ranking tournaments, including the 1997 World Snooker Championship in which he defeated Stephen Hendry, inflicting Hendry's first loss in a world final. He came very close to breaking the Crucible curse, reaching the 1998 final where he lost out to John Higgins. He reached a third final in 2003, in which he was defeated by Mark Williams. In other triple crown events, he has been runner-up three times in the UK Championship and twice in the Masters. An intelligent tactician, Doherty has compiled more than 350 century breaks in professional competition. Since 2009, he has combined his playing career with commentating and punditry work. Career Doherty appeared in two quar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Williams (snooker Player)
Mark James Williams (born 21 March 1975) is a Welsh professional snooker player who is a three-time World Champion, winning in 2000, 2003 and 2018. Often noted for his single-ball long potting ability, Williams has earned the nickname "The Welsh Potting Machine". Williams turned professional in 1992 and has been ranked the world number one player three times ( 1999–00, 2000–01 and 2002–03). His most successful season to date was 2002–03, when he won the Triple Crown: the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Championship. In doing so, he became only the third player, after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, to win all three Triple Crown events in one season. He is the first player (and to date, the only player) to win all three versions of the professional World Championship: the World Snooker Championship, the Six-red World Championship and the World Seniors Championship. The first left-handed player to win the World Championship, Williams has won 24 ranking to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
