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World Snooker Tour Awards
The World Snooker Tour produces annual awards in several categories, including player of the year. The Association of Snooker Writers, founded by a group of journalists who wrote about snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ... in 1981, first instituted awards for players and others associated with the game in 1983. From 1985, the awards were taken over by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. In 1998, the journalists' group was reformed as the Snooker Writers' Association, and the awards were in that body's name for several years. The awards are now administered by the World Snooker Tour. List of awardees Hall of fame The World Snooker hall of fame was instituted in 2011, with eight winners of multiple world snooker championships as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Snooker Tour
The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, first formed in 1982 as the commercial arm of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). It is also the organiser of most of the events throughout the professional circuit, including the prestigious World Snooker Championship. As more professional tournaments were held outside the British Isles since the 1970s, the "World Snooker" banner was increasingly being used for different tournaments along with the growth of the sport to other countries. The establishment of the World Snooker Association (WSA) in 1997 introduced a unified branding for the professional game, and it was further revised to its current form in 2020. Since 2010, the principal stakeholder in World Snooker Ltd is Matchroom Sport, which owns 51 perc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve James (snooker Player)
Stephen James (born 2 May 1961 in Cannock)White, Jason (2002) "Steve James: Crucible or bust for James; Last act beckons in great entertainer's compelling snooker tale", '' Sports Argus'', 26 January 2002, (confirms May 1961) is an English retired professional snooker player. Career James became a professional snooker player in 1986 based on his results in the Professional Ticket Tournaments in 1985. In 1988, he was involved in a car accident ten days prior to his World Championship debut which flipped his car over into a field, although he escaped with only cuts, bruises and a black eye. He subsequently became the first debutant to score two centuries at The Crucible in his first round match of the 1988 Snooker World Championship against Rex Williams. He went on to reach the quarter-finals that year. The high point of his career was his sole ranking title – the Classic in 1990, beating Australian Warren King 10–6 in the final. His world ranking peaked at number seven t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Higgins
John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by number of ranking titles, all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (41) and Stephen Hendry (36). He has won four World Snooker Championship, World Championships, three UK Championships and two Masters (snooker), Masters titles, for a total of nine Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown titles, putting him level with Mark Selby and behind only O'Sullivan (23), Hendry (18) and Steve Davis (15). He first entered the top 16 in the 1995–96 snooker world rankings, 1995–96 world rankings and remained there continuously for over 29 years until September 2024, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted tenure as a top-16 player. He reached the List of world number one snooker players, world number one position four times. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Walker
Lee Walker (born 11 February 1976) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and former World Seniors Champion. He is an official WPBSA coach and is the long-term coach of Mark Williams. Career After turning professional in 1994 at the age of 18, Walker reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 1997, with victories over Dave Harold 10–7 and Alan McManus 13–10, before he lost 13–8 to Alain Robidoux. This was the first time he had reached the latter stages of a ranking tournament, and he also reached the last 16 of the same tournament in 2004 with a 10–7 win over Stephen Lee before losing 13–5 to David Gray. He dropped off the Main Tour after the 2005–2006 season, but returned a year later after a strong campaign on the Pontin's International Open Series, from which the top 8 finishers gain Main Tour places. However he dropped off again at the end of the season. Walker did however return to the tour in 2014 as he won a 2-year tour card by reaching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters (snooker), Masters champion, winning the event in 2001 Masters (snooker), 2001, 2002 Masters (snooker), 2002, and 2004 Masters (snooker), 2004; on all three occasions, he recovered from a deficit in the final to claim the title on a . He also won three List of snooker players by number of ranking titles, ranking events: the Welsh Open (snooker), Welsh Open in 1998 Welsh Open (snooker), 1998 and 2002 Welsh Open (snooker), 2002, and the 2002 British Open. Hunter was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumours in March 2005, but he continued to play for several months after receiving the diagnosis. He died shortly before his 28th birthday in October 2006. A tournament in Fürth, Germany, was renamed the Paul Hunter Classic in his memory, and he was posthumously awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award. In April 2016, the Masters t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tai Pichit
Chuchart Trairatanapradit (), popularly known as Tai Pichit (; born 10 January 1963) is a Thai former professional snooker player. Pichit participated at the World Snooker Championship three times, reaching the first round in 1995. Pichit's best overall ranking finish was at the 1994 Thailand Open, where he reached the last 16 stage. Career At the 1991 Thailand Masters, Tai lost 4–5 in the first round to Allison Fisher. He won the IBSF World Amateur Championship in 1993, defeating Praput Chaithanasakun 11–6 in the final, and turned professional in 1994. At the 1994 Thailand Open he beat Colin Morton 5–2 in the wildcard round and then and Stephen Hendry 5–2, before losing to Darren Morgan 4–5 in the second round. One year later, he participated at his first World Snooker Championship, qualifying for the 1995 edition of the tournament. Pichit defeated Mark Whatley 5–3, Adrian Rosa 5–1, Mike Dunn 5–2, Warren King 10–0, Stuart Reardon 10–8, Alex Higgins 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fergal O'Brien
Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish retired professional snooker player who competed on the World Snooker Tour from 1991 to 2024. He won one ranking title during his career, defeating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final of the 1999 British Open. He was runner-up at the 2001 Masters, where he lost the final 9–10 to Paul Hunter. His best performance at the World Snooker Championship was reaching the quarter-finals of the 2000 event, where he lost 5–13 to eventual champion Mark Williams. He reached his highest world ranking of ninth in the 2000–01 season, but spent only three seasons of his 33-year career ranked inside the top 16. He retired from professional competition at the end of the 2023–24 season, intending to remain active in the sport as a coach and a commentator for Eurosport. Career O'Brien is the only player to score a century in their first frame at the World Championships in the Crucible, which he achieved against Alan McManus in 1994 (thou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a modern-era record he holds jointly with Stephen Hendry. He has also won a record eight Masters (snooker), Masters titles and a record eight UK Championship titles for a total of 23 Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown titles, the most achieved by any player. He holds the record for the most List of snooker players by number of ranking titles, ranking titles, with 41, and has held the top ranking position multiple times. After winning amateur titles including the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship, O'Sullivan turned professional in 1992, aged 16. He won his first ranking event at the 1993 UK Championship aged ; he remains the youngest player to win a ranking title. He is also the youngest player to win the Masters, having claimed his f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ebdon
Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English retired professional snooker player who is a former world champion and current coach. Ebdon won nine ranking titles during his career, placing him in joint 14th position (with John Parrott) on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. He won two Triple Crown titles, the 2002 World Snooker Championship and the 2006 UK Championship. After winning the 1990 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship, Ebdon turned professional in the 1991–92 season. He made his first Crucible appearance at the 1992 World Snooker Championship, reaching the quarter-finals on his debut. Winning his first professional ranking title at the 1993 Grand Prix helped him enter the top 16 in the world rankings for the 1994–95 season; he remained consistently in the top 16 until the end of the 2009–10 season, reaching a career high of third. He made 24 Crucible appearances during his career and reached three World Championship finals, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan McManus
Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player, and a current commentator and pundit for ITV and Eurosport on snooker coverage. 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 was a consistent performer on the snooker tour, 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 Will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigel Bond
Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English retired 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 season. He reached the final of the World Championship in 1995, where he lost 9–18 to Stephen Hendry. He won the 1996 British Open, defeating John Higgins 9–8. Having reached three other ranking tournament finals, Bond won the 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out and, in 2012, defeated Tony Chappel to win the World Seniors Championship. He fell off the tour following his loss to Lukas Kleckers in the second qualifying round for the 2022 World Championship, and subsequently announced his retirement. Career After a strong amateur career, Bond turned professional for the 1989–90 season. He reached his first ranking semi-final in his first season, and his first final in his second season, but his career peaked in the mid-1990s. In the first rou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Russell (billiards Player)
Mike Russell (born 3 June 1969) is an English player of English billiards. He is twelve-time WPBSA World Champion and has six IBSF World Billiards Championship titles. He has been described as an "archrival" of India's prodigy, Geet Sethi, an eight-time World Champion, and each of them had defeated the other for the title, with Russell victorious in 1996, and Sethi the winner in 1998, as of their next encounter at the 2007 event. Both scored two apiece, but Russell knocked Sethi out in the semi-finals, 1835–1231, (65.5 vs. 45.6 average). Russell went on to win the title for the ninth time and a £6,000 prize, solidly beating Chris Shutt, 2166–1710 (52.8 vs. 42.8 avg.), with four double ''and'' four triple centuries to Shutt's four and none, respectively. At the IBSF World Billiards Championships 2010, Russell not only claimed the 150up- and time-format title, recorded a break of 1137 points in the time-format final. Even though the amateur rules applied in this tournamen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
