David "Dai" John (born 24 November 1984 in

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

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. John is banned from snooker until december 2023 after being found guilty of match fixing by the

WPBSA The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

in February 2019.

Career

Early years

John drew attention in 2000 by reaching the quarter-finals at the European Under-19 Championship. His first major success occurred in 2002 when he won the EBSA European Championship after defeating David McLellan 7–2, he continued this success at amateur level for the remainder of the year and reached the final of the

IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship The IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and S ...

lost but 9–11 against

China's China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

. For the 2002–03 snooker season John joined the main tour. In the first world ranking tournament of the season, the 2002 LG Cup, John secured a 5–3 win against

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 tourn ...

before being eliminated in the following round by

Martin Dziewialtowski The 1997 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England. The event started on 12 November 1997 and the televised stages were shown on BBC between 22 and 30 N ...

. After this John struggled for much of the season with his best performance of the season came in the 2003 Welsh Open where John reached the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

before losing 4–5 to future

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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 ...

in a final frame decider. John finished the season ranked 111th . In June 2003, John defeated fellow countryman

Andrew Pagett Andrew Pagett (born 25 April 1982) is a Welsh professional snooker player. Career Early career He played on Challenge Tour from 2003 to 2005, and first qualified for the Main Tour in 2008–09, but lost his place after just one season. He ...

7–3 to retain the EBSA European Championship, becoming the first person to do so. As of 2022, John,

Robin Hull Robin Hull (born 16 August 1974) is a Finnish former professional snooker player. For some time, he was the sole Nordic player on the game's main tour. He is known as a solid -builder, having compiled over 150 competitive during his career, a ...

and Maltese player

Alex Borg Alex Borg (born 5 June 1969 in Mellieha) is a Maltese former professional snooker player. Borg currently resides in Mellieha, Malta. Career Borg first turned professional in 1991, and regularly appeared as a wild card in the Malta Grand Prix, ...

are the only players to have won the EBSA European Championship consecutively.

Amateur years

Having dropped off of the tour at the end of the 2002–03 snooker season John spent the next 13 years playing as an amateur. During this time he twice won the Welsh Amateur Championship. In June 2015, John entered

Australian Goldfields Open The Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament. The final champion was John Higgins in 2015. History Australia had previously hosted the 1971 and 1975 World Snooker Championships, as well as several other high-pr ...

, defeating world number 44

Alfie Burden Alfred Burden (born 14 December 1976) is an English professional snooker player from London. Career Burden originally had his eyes set on making a career as a professional footballer, but a badly broken leg curtailed this ambition. He spent a c ...

in the

first qualifying round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

5–1. Although he was ultimately defeated by

Peter Lines Peter Lines (born 11 December 1969) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the father ...

by the same score in the following round, this performance encouraged John that he could still make a full-time return to the game at a professional level.

Return to professional status

After a 13-year absence John earned a place on the main tour by coming through Q School in 2016. He beat

Zak Surety Zak Surety (born 4 October 1991) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Stuart Bingham and Allan Taylor. Career As an amateur, Surety based in Basildon entered in Players Tour Championship events from their e ...

4–1 in the final round of the second event to secure a two-year tour card. In May 2018 he was suspended from the tour for suspected match fixing, although he had not accrued enough ranking points to stay on the main tour in any case.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Amateur finals: 7 (4 titles)

References

External links

David John
at ''worldsnooker.com''
David John
at ''CueTracker.net: Snooker Results and Statistic Database'' {{DEFAULTSORT:John, David Welsh snooker players Living people 1984 births Sportspeople from Bridgend