Christopher Melling (born 27 January 1979) is an English professional

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

and snooker player and former world number 1 at World Rules British Eight-Ball. He won the WEPF World Eightball Championship twice, in 2001 and 2003. He was ranked #1 in 2003 by the

World Eightball Pool Federation The World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) is an international pool governing body overseeing international tournaments and rankings in the British-originating variant of eight-ball pool played with red and yellow unnumbered balls instead of the s ...

. Melling has also twice won the International Pool Masters (2001 and 2002) and the European Professional title (2002). He was the first player to win two International Tour events back to back. His entrance by walk-on music is from the song “

Wannabe "Wannabe" is the debut single by English girl group the Spice Girls. Written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produ ...

” by Spice Girls. Melling is also the only cue sports player to hold professional status in English 8 ball, American pool and snooker.

Career

In 2001, Melling reached the last 16 of the 2001 WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, beating

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

along the way. Melling tours worldwide to pursue his 9-ball pool career. In October 2010 he won his first European 9-Ball event - the Portugal Open. On 12 June 2011 Melling was crowned China Open champion and received $40,000. This was his first major 9-Ball Pool tournament victory. In December 2011, Melling participated in the 18th annual

Mosconi Cup The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1994 between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf and the Weber ...

, and won four of his six matches. A year later he won the Most Valuable Player Award in the 2012 Mosconi Cup. In January 2013, he reached the final of the Chinese 8-Ball Masters, losing to Gareth Potts. He also lost to Potts in the final of the 2005 World Rules 8-Ball Championship. Also in 2013 he reached the quarter finals of the

2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship The 2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was the 22nd event in the annual WPA World Nine-ball Championship. The event took place from September 2 to 13, 2013 in Doha, Qatar. Germany's Thorsten Hohmann became world champion by a 13–6 victo ...

, the World Masters, World Cup of Pool and finished 5th in the US Open 9-Ball Championship. In May 2014, Melling entered snooker Q School in an attempt to regain his professional status and defeated the likes of former professionals Daniel Wells and

Chen Zhe Chen Zhe (; born 28 February 1993) is a Chinese former professional snooker player from Shanxi who won five matches at Q School in 2012 to earn a two-year card to play on the World Snooker Tour starting in the 2012–13 season. He is based in R ...

4–3 and 4–1 respectively, before winning his quarter-final match against

Duane Jones Duane L. Jones (April 11, 1937July 22, 1988) was an American actor and theatre director, best known for his lead role as Ben in the 1968 horror film ''Night of the Living Dead''. He was later director of the Maguire Theater at the State Universi ...

4–3 to earn a two-year tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. This saw him become the first person to have been a professional in 8-Ball Pool, 9-Ball Pool and Snooker at the same time. His first match as a professional saw him beat

2003 UK Championship The 2003 Travis Perkins UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 and 30 November 2003 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. The event was broadcast on the BBC between 22 and 30 November 2003 and ...

winner

Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

5–4 to qualify for the

2014 Wuxi Classic The 2014 Sports Lottery Cup Wuxi Classic was a professional ranking snooker tournament held between 23 and 29 June 2014 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. It was the first ranking event of the 2014/2015 season. Neil Robertson ...

, but he lost 5–1 to Zhao Xintong in the first round. Melling also played in the first round of the International Championship by defeating

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made h ...

6–5 and was knocked out 6–1 by

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 2 ...

. His first victory at the venue stage of a ranking event came at the Welsh Open after he edged out

Nigel Bond Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English former professional snooker player. Bond competed on the main tour from 1989 to 2022, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 s ...

4–3, before being whitewashed 4–0 by home favourite Michael White in the second round. The 2015–16 season proved harder for Melling as he could only win four matches all year. He dropped off the tour at the end of the season and could not win enough matches at Q School to win his place back.

Pool titles

* 2019 IPT Ultimate Pool Series - Event 2 * 2018

Derby City Classic The Derby City Classic is an annual pool convention and tournament held every January at the Caesars Southern Indiana casino in Elizabeth, Indiana, near Louisville, Kentucky. It is eight days long and offers various disciplines of competition for ...

9-Ball * 2018 World Pool Series 8-Ball Classic * 2017

14.1 Challenge * 2012 Mosconi Cup (MVP) * 2012

* 2011

* 2011 China Open 9-Ball Championship * 2010

Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool events set around Europe, founded in 1992, and created by the European Pocket Billiard Federation. The Tour's first event was the ''Belgium Open'', held on May 29 – 31, 1992. The event was won by M ...

Portugal Open * 2005 Snooker PIOS - Event 5 * 2003 WEPF World Eightball Championship * 2002 Q School Snooker Challenge Tour - Event 1 * 2001 WEPF World Eightball Championship

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melling, Chris English pool players Living people 1979 births World champions in pool English snooker players Sportspeople from London