Shokat Ali (born 4 March 1970) is an English snooker player of Pakistani descent, who represents Pakistan in international tournaments."International Open 1997"
, by Hermund Årdalen, ''WWW Snooker'',

Oslo, Norway Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of i ...

, 4 May 2005; accessed 1 March 2007

Career

Ali turned professional in 1991, but his best performance in professional competition came ten years later in the 2001

Thailand Masters The Thailand Masters was a professional snooker tournament. Previously known as Asian Open and Thailand Open, it was a ranking tournament from 1989/90 to 2001/02. An event called the ''Thailand Masters'' also formed part of the ''World Series'' ...

where he reached the quarter-finals, beating

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

en route. He first gained notice when he defeated

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

to reach the last 16 of the 1998 Grand Prix, and also enjoyed a run of form in 1999. He has career earnings of over £240,000 and has a high of 139. In 1998 Ali became the first man to win a gold medal for

cue sport Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

s in world competition which he achieved at the Asian Games. Ali also won an episode on the game show "The Big Break" in 1996. In doing so, he became the first Pakistani snooker player to win the show. In 2005, his cue was stolen from his car, and he suffered a deterioration of results as he struggled to find another cue he could show his best form using. He dropped off the game's Main professional tour in 2007, but showed signs of a return to form in 2008, winning an event on the secondary PIOS Tour.World Snooker News: The Wonder Of Cue
/ref> Together with fellow player and horse enthusiast

Chris Norbury Christopher Norbury (born 14 August 1986) is an English former professional snooker player. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. Norbury first entered Main Tour fo ...

, Ali is co-owner of Elite Snooker Club in Preston. Ali was awarded the

Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Tamgha-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, is a state-organised honour of Pakistan. It is given to any civilian in Pakistan based on their achievements. While it is a civilian/military award, it can be bestowed upon officers of the P ...

by the Pakistani government for his gold medal achievement.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Shokat Pakistani snooker players 1970 births Living people English people of Pakistani descent People from Accrington British sportspeople of Pakistani descent Asian Games medalists in cue sports Asian Games gold medalists for Pakistan Asian Games bronze medalists for Pakistan Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Cue sports players at the 1998 Asian Games Cue sports players at the 2006 Asian Games World Games bronze medalists Competitors at the 2001 World Games