Portal:Cue sports
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The Cue Sports Portal
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 cushions. Cue sports are also collectively referred to as billiards, though this term has more specific connotations in some varieties of English.
There are three major subdivisions of games within cue sports:
- Carom billiards, played on tables without pockets, typically ten feet in length, including straight rail, balkline, one-cushion carom, three-cushion billiards, artistic billiards, and four-ball
- Pocket billiards (or pool), played on six-pocket tables of seven, eight, nine, or ten-foot length, including among others eight-ball (the world's most widely played cue sport), nine-ball (the dominant professional game), ten-ball, straight pool (the formerly dominant pro game), one-pocket, and bank pool
- Snooker, English billiards, and Russian pyramid, played on a large, six-pocket table (dimensions just under 12 ft by 6 ft), all of which are classified separately from pool based on distinct development histories, player culture, rules, and terminology.
Billiards has a long history from its inception in the 15th century, with many mentions in the works of Shakespeare, including the line "let's to billiards" in Antony and Cleopatra (1606–07). Enthusiasts of the sport have included Mozart, Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette, Immanuel Kant, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, George Washington, Jules Grévy, Charles Dickens, George Armstrong Custer, Theodore Roosevelt, Lewis Carroll, W. C. Fields, Babe Ruth, Bob Hope, and Jackie Gleason. (Full article...)
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The 2015 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2015 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament which took place from 18 April to 4 May 2015 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 39th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, and was the final ranking event of the 2014–15 snooker season. Sports betting company Betfred sponsored the event for the first time in three years, having previously done so from 2009 to 2012. The top sixteen players in the snooker world rankings were placed into the draw, and another sixteen players qualified for the event at a tournament taking place from 8 to 15 April 2015 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield.
Mark Selby was the defending champion, having defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2014 final. Selby lost 9–13 in the second round to event debutant Anthony McGill, and became the 16th first-time champion unable to defend his title at the venue. Shaun Murphy, the 2005 winner, met Stuart Bingham in the final. Bingham, who was given odds of 50–1 to win the tournament by bookmakers before the start of the tournament, defeated Murphy 18–15 in the final to win the first world title of his 20-year professional career. Aged 38, Bingham became the oldest player to win the title since Ray Reardon in 1978. (Full article...) -
Image 2The 2019 Champion of Champions (officially the 2019 ManBetX Champion of Champions) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 4 and 10 November 2019 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, England. It was the ninth Champion of Champions event, the first of which was held in 1978. The tournament featured 16 participants who had won World Snooker events throughout the prior snooker season. In 2019, the Women's World Champion competed at the tournament for the first time. As an invitational event, the Champion of Champions tournament carried no world ranking points.
Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion having defeated Kyren Wilson 10–9 in the final of the 2018 event. O'Sullivan lost 5–6 to Neil Robertson in the semi-finals. Robertson defeated reigning world champion Judd Trump 10–9 in the final to win the championship, having required foul shots in the penultimate frame to avoid losing the match. There were 20 century breaks during the tournament, eight of which were made in the final. Mark Allen compiled the highest break of the tournament, a 140, in his semi-final loss to Trump. The tournament's total prize fund was £440,000, the winner receiving £150,000. (Full article...) -
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The 2020 Masters (officially the 2020 Dafabet Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at Alexandra Palace in London, England, from 12 to 19 January 2020. It was the 46th staging of the Masters tournament, which was first held in 1975, and the second of three Triple Crown events in the 2019–20 season, following the 2019 UK Championship and preceding the 2020 World Snooker Championship. The event invites the top sixteen players from the snooker world rankings in a knockout tournament. It was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and was broadcast by the BBC and Eurosport in Europe.
Judd Trump was the defending champion, having defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–4 in the final of the previous year's event. Trump lost to Shaun Murphy 3–6 in the first round. O'Sullivan was eligible to compete, but chose not to participate, so his entry was given to Ali Carter, next on the world ranking list. Carter reached the final, where he played Stuart Bingham; recovering from 5–7 behind, Bingham won the final 10–8 to claim his first Masters title. He became the oldest Masters champion at the age of 43 years and 243 days, beating the previous record set by Ray Reardon in 1976; Bingham remained the tournament's oldest winner until 2024, when O'Sullivan won the title aged 48 years and 40 days. (Full article...) -
Image 4The 2020 Tour Championship (officially the 2020 Coral Tour Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 to 26 June 2020, at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it was the second edition of the Tour Championship and the third and final event of the second season of the Coral Cup. It was the 16th and penultimate ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season following the Gibraltar Open and preceding the World Championship. The tournament was originally scheduled for 17 to 22 March 2020, but on the morning of 17 March the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following advice from the UK government, it had been decided that no spectators would be permitted at the event.
The draw for the Tour Championship comprised the top eight players based on the single year ranking list. The event was contested as a single-elimination tournament, with each match played over a minimum of two sessions and the final being a best-of-19-frames match. The winner of the tournament won £150,000 out of a total prize fund of £380,000. The event was sponsored by betting company Coral. (Full article...) -
Image 5The 1988 World Snooker Championship, also known as the 1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 April to 2 May 1988 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), it was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1987–88 snooker season and the twelfth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible, the first tournament there having taken place in 1977.
A five-round qualifying event for the championship was held at the Preston Guild Hall from 22 March to 2 April 1988 for 113 players, 16 of whom reached the main stage, where they met the 16 invited seeded players. The tournament was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, and was sponsored by the Embassy cigarette company. The winner received £95,000 from the total prize fund of £475,000. (Full article...) -
Image 6The 2021 Masters (officially the 2021 Betfred Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 10 and 17 January 2021 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. It was the 47th staging of the Masters tournament, which was first held in 1975, and the second of three Triple Crown events in the 2020–21 season, following the 2020 UK Championship and preceding the 2021 World Snooker Championship. The top sixteen players from the snooker world rankings were invited to compete in a knockout tournament. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association organised the tournament, which was broadcast by the BBC and Eurosport in Europe. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred. It was played behind closed doors because of COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom. Two players, world number one Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski, withdrew from the event after testing positive for COVID-19.
The defending champion, Stuart Bingham, had defeated Ali Carter 10–8 in the previous year's final. Bingham lost 6–5 to Yan Bingtao in the semi-finals. Yan (one of three debutants at the event, alongside Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Gary Wilson) met John Higgins in the final. Yan completed a 10–8 victory to win his first Triple Crown tournament. As the winner of the event, Yan was awarded £250,000 from the total prize pool of £725,000. The highest break of the event was a 145 made by Higgins in his quarter-final win over Ronnie O'Sullivan which earned him £15,000. (Full article...) -
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The 2020 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 July to 16 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 44th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible. The final ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season, the tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 18 April to 4 May 2020, but both the qualifying stage and the main rounds were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was one of the first to allow live audiences since the onset of the pandemic, but on the first day it was announced that the event would be played behind closed doors for subsequent days. A limited number of spectators were allowed in for the final two days of the championship.
The tournament was organised by the World Snooker Tour, a subsidiary of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and was broadcast by the BBC, Eurosport and Matchroom Sport. The event had a total prize fund of £2,395,000, with the winner receiving £500,000. Qualifying for the tournament was due to be held between 8 and 15 April 2020 but instead took place from 21 to 28 July at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. There were 128 participants in the qualifying rounds, with a mix of professional and invited amateur players, 16 of whom reached the main stage of the tournament where they played the top 16 players in the snooker world rankings. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred. (Full article...) -
Image 8The 1987 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1987 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1987 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season. The championship was the 1987 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927, and had 32 participants. The highest ranked 16 players were awarded a place in the first round draw, whilst a pre-tournament qualification event for 104 professionals was held between 26 March and 4 April at the Preston Guild Hall for the remaining places. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy and had a prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000.
Since his 1986 victory, Joe Johnson had experienced a disappointing season leading up to the 1987 Championship, and bookmakers considered it unlikely that he would retain the title. Johnson did reach the final, a rematch of the previous year's final against Steve Davis. Davis won his fourth championship by defeating Johnson 18 frames to 14. A total of 18 century breaks were made during the tournament, the highest of which was 127 made by Davis in first frame of the final. Stephen Hendry, aged 18, became the youngest player to win a match in the tournament's history since it moved to the Crucible in 1977, whilst it was the last time that six-times champion Ray Reardon appeared. (Full article...) -
Image 9The 2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship was a professional pool tournament for the discipline of ten-ball organised by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and CueSports International. It was the fifth WPA World Ten-ball Championship; the previous championship was held in 2015. After plans for an event in both 2016 and 2018 to be held in Manila fell through, a 2019 event at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as part of a three-year deal for the event to be played in the United States was agreed. The event was held concurrently with the Billiard Congress of America's National Ten-ball event from July 22 to 26. The event was sponsored by cue manufacturer Predator Group.
The competition featured 64 participants, selected according to world and continental pool rankings as well as qualifying events. The tournament was played as a double-elimination bracket until 16 players remained, at which point it changed to a single-elimination format. Ko Ping-chung, representing Chinese Taipei, won the event, defeating German player Joshua Filler 10–7 in the final. Ko's brother Ko Pin-yi, who was the defending champion, lost to Filler 10–8 in the semi-final. The event featured a prize fund of $132,000, the winner receiving $30,000. (Full article...) -
Image 10The 2021 Tour Championship (officially the 2021 Cazoo Tour Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 to 28 March 2021 at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it was the third edition of the Tour Championship and the third and final event of the third season of the Cazoo Cup. It was the 14th and penultimate ranking event of the 2020–21 snooker season, following the conclusion of the WST Pro Series and preceding the World Championship.
The draw for the Tour Championship comprised the top eight players based on the single year ranking list. The event was contested as a single-elimination tournament, each match being played over two sessions. The winner of the tournament received £150,000 out of a total prize fund of £380,000. The event was sponsored by car retailer Cazoo. The defending champion was Stephen Maguire, but as a result of reduced earnings during the season he was unable to qualify and defend the title. In a repeat of the 2019 final Australian Neil Robertson played Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan. Robertson won the event defeating O'Sullivan 10–4 in the final. There were 26 century breaks made during the event, Barry Hawkins making the highest break, a 138. (Full article...)
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The English-originating version of eight-ball pool, also known as English pool, English eight-ball, blackball, or simply reds and yellows, is a pool game played with sixteen balls (a cue ball and fifteen usually unnumbered object balls) on a small pool table with six pockets. It originated in the United Kingdom and is played in the Commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool".
The English version of eight-ball has two main sets of playing rules used in professional play; those of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), known as "blackball rules", and the code of the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF), known as "international rules". (Full article...) -
Image 2The Billiards Section of Futebol Clube do Porto is a professional billiards team based in Porto, Portugal, founded in 1950. The team competes in the Portuguese Billiards League and in European Championships, in both carom billiards (three-cushion) and pool (eight-ball and nine-ball) events. They play their home games in the former headquarters of the club and they also have a billiards school, the first in the country.
The most important achievements in this section history were the four silver medals won in 1998–99, 2007–08, 2011–12 and 2015–16 in the European Cup, having also achieved six bronze medals in this competition in 1971–72, 1995–96, 2004–05, 2010–11, 2013–14 and 2014–15.
In Portugal, the men's and women's squads have achieved many championships, as well as many other trophies making the section one of the most titled in the country. One of the greatest players of this section, Alípio Jorge Fernandes, received the Galardão de Ouro in representation of the president Pinto da Costa, a trophy attributed to the club because of its accomplishments. (Full article...) -
Image 3Hossein Vafaei (Persian: حسین وفایی; born 15 October 1994) is an Iranian professional snooker player. He is the first professional player from Iran. He won his first ranking title at the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out, beating Mark Williams 1–0 (71–0) in the final.
Vafaei made his Crucible debut at the 2022 World Snooker Championship, where he lost 4–10 to Judd Trump in the first round. He made his Masters debut at the 2023 event, replacing Zhao Xintong in the draw after the sport's governing body suspended Zhao amid a match-fixing investigation. Vafaei defeated Mark Selby 6–2 in the first round, but lost 4–6 to Jack Lisowski in the quarter-finals, despite equalling the tournament's highest break of 143 in the match. (Full article...) -
Image 4Danny DiLiberto (born in Buffalo, New York) is an American retired professional pool player nicknamed "Buffalo Danny".
A veteran player from the Johnston City era, a teacher, an author, and previously working as a commentator for Accu-Stats, DiLiberto is an active member of the pocket billiards community. He was elected into the One Pocket Hall of Fame in 2004 for his "outstanding contribution to the legacy of the game of one pocket". (Full article...) -
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Barry Pinches (born 13 July 1970 in Catton, Norwich) is an English former professional snooker player, recognisable for his bright and flamboyant waistcoats, which usually feature the yellow and green colours of Norwich City F.C. He is a former top 32 player and ranking-event quarter-finalist. He has compiled over 100 century breaks in his career. He has also made one maximum break. (Full article...) -
Image 6The World Straight Pool Championship is a pool competition, that was held up until the game of Nine-ball became popularized in America. It was the most prestigious straight pool tournament up until the early 21st century, tournaments like the American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship and the European Pool Championship 14.1 that are still held annually, have gained prominence in recent years. During the tournament's early years, it was the only global professional title for straight pool (also known as 14.1 continuous). The event was revived in 2006, in part to restore the game's popularity in the United States. The World Straight Pool Championship was sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010. The tournament continued unsanctioned from 2011 to 2019. Ralph Greenleaf & Willie Mosconi are the most successful players having both won the tournament on 19 occasions. The oldest player to win the tournament is Irving Crane at 59 years old at the time of his victory. The youngest player to win the tournament is Ralph Greenleaf at 20 years old at the time of his first victory. (Full article...)
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Image 7Sporting Clube de Portugal is a professional billiards team based in Lisbon, Portugal, founded in 1930. The team competes in the Portuguese Billiards League and in European championships, in both carom billiards (three-cushion) and pool (eight-ball and nine-ball) events. The team includes some players from Belgium, France and Spain. (Full article...)
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Cao Yupeng (Chinese: 曹宇鹏; born 27 October 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional main tour for the 2011–12 season. In his first season on the circuit, he reached the last 16 of the World Championship.
He served a ban for match-fixing from 25 May 2018 until 24 November 2020. He received the ban on 1 December 2018, after pleading guilty to manipulating the outcome of matches. (Full article...) -
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Dominic Dale (born 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player, as well as snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport. (Full article...) -
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Rodney Morris (born November 25, 1970, in Anaheim, California) is a professional pool player, nicknamed "the Rocket". In 2016, he was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame. Morris won the 1996 U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship, 2003 World Pool League, 2006 UPA Pro Tour Championship (nine-ball), and 2013 U.S. Open Ten-ball Championship, among many other individual titles. In doubles play, he and Shane Van Boening took the 2008 World Cup of Pool. He has also been a member of the winning Team USA in the Mosconi Cup events of 2003–2005, and was the Mosconi Cup MVP in 2004. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch
- ... that Gary Wilson threw his snooker cue to the floor in anger at the 2022 UK Championship?
- ... that during a match at the snooker 2021 UK Championship, player Mark Williams fell asleep?
- ... that the 1810s reign of Ioan Caragea introduced Wallachia to carom billiards, sugar sculptures, and an eponymous plague?
- ... that John Spencer won a World Snooker Championship on his first attempt in 1969?
- ... that John Spencer "exploded two myths" by winning the 1977 World Snooker Championship with a two-piece cue that he had only been using for a couple of months?
- ... that the final of the 2009 IBSF women's snooker championship was interrupted so that drug tests could be conducted on the players?
- ... that Mark Williams travelled for more than 13 hours to be a last-minute replacement at the 2022 Hong Kong Masters?
- ... that at the 1978 World Snooker Championship, Fred Davis reached the semi-finals at the age of 64?
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Ng On-yee BBS MH (Chinese: 吳安儀; born 17 November 1990) is a Hong Kong snooker player who has won three IBSF World Snooker Championships and three World Women's Snooker world championships. She held the number one position in the World Women's Snooker world ranking list from February 2018 to April 2019.
After competing in several International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) tournaments, Ng became the youngest-ever IBSF women's world champion at the age of 19 and successfully defended the title the following year. At the 2015 World Ladies Snooker Championship she defeated Reanne Evans—who had held the title for the previous ten years—in the semi-final and won the title. After losing the final of the same tournament to Evans the following year, Ng regained the title in 2017, defeating Evans 5–4 in the semi-final and overcoming Vidya Pillai 6–5 in the protracted final. In 2018, Ng won the title for a third time and in 2019 she collected her third IBSF World Title. (Full article...) -
Image 2The 2019 Northern Ireland Open (officially the 2019 19.com Northern Ireland Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 11 to 17 November 2019 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The fourth edition of the Northern Ireland Open, it was the sixth ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season, the second tournament of the Home Nations Series. Featuring a prize fund of £405,000, the winner received £70,000. The event was broadcast on Eurosport and Quest domestically and was sponsored by betting company 19.com.
The defending champion was Judd Trump, who had defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–7 in the 2018 final. The pair both reached the final in 2019, with Trump successfully defending the title, defeating O'Sullivan by the same scoreline. Stuart Bingham scored the highest break of the tournament, compiling a maximum break in the first frame of his first round match with Lu Ning, the sixth of his career. (Full article...) -
Image 3Daryl Peach (born 8 March 1972) is an English professional pool player, from Lancashire, who resides in Blackpool, England. He won the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, where he defeated the Philippines' Roberto Gomez 17–15 in the final to become the first British player to win the WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
Representing England with partner Mark Gray, Peach has competed at the World Cup of Pool on six occasions, reaching the final in 2008 and 2015. Peach represented Great Britain and won the inaugural World Team Championship in 2010. He has also represented Europe in the Mosconi Cup in 1995 and 2007, and was a member of the winning team on both occasions. Peach was the youngest winner of the World Pool Masters, his first pool tournament, winning the 1995 event at the age of 23 years and three months. He is also the first player to have been ranked number one in the UK rankings, European tour rankings, and WPA World rankings concurrently. (Full article...) -
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Ding Junhui (Chinese: 丁俊晖; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport and widely regarded as the greatest Asian player of all time. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (2005, 2009, 2019). He has twice reached the final of the Masters, winning once in 2011. In 2016, he became the first Asian player to reach the final of the World Championship.
Ding began playing snooker at age nine and rose to international prominence in 2002 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championship and the Asian Championship. At age 15, he became the youngest winner of the IBSF World Under-21 Championship. In 2003, Ding turned professional at the age of 16. His first major professional successes came in 2005 when he won the China Open and the UK Championship, becoming the first player from outside Great Britain and Ireland to win the title. (Full article...) -
Image 5Margaret Fefilova Styer (formerly Marharyta Fefilava; born 31 May 1997) is a Belarusian professional pool player from Minsk, Belarus. Fefilova has won a total of 29 Belarusian national women's championships, with an additional three national championships in mixed competitions against both men and women. She is the first player from Belarus to win a medal at the European Pool Championships, a bronze medal in the nine-ball competition in 2015. She also reached the final of the European Girls Championship in 2014, losing 3–6 to Kamila Khodjaeva.
Fefilova is a regular player on the Euro Tour and the Baltic Pool League. In 2017, she became the number one ranked player on the Euro Tour for the first time after winning two Tour events, the Dutch Open and the Portugal Open. In 2019, she reached three finals, bringing her career total to six finals on the Euro Tour. Fefilova alongside Yana Shut were the first Belarusian billiard players to receive state funding. (Full article...) -
Image 6The 1932 World Snooker Championship, known at the time as the Professional Championship of Snooker, was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 14 to 20 April 1932, with the final being held at Thurston's Hall in London, England. It is recognised as the sixth edition of the World Snooker Championship. The defending champion, Joe Davis from England, won the title for the sixth time by defeating New Zealander Clark McConachy by 30 frames to 19 in the final. The score when Davis achieved a winning margin was 25–18, with dead frames played afterwards. Davis set a new Championship record break of 99 in the 36th frame of the final. McConachy had become the first player from outside the British Isles to enter the championship. The only other participant was Tom Dennis, who was defeated 11–13 by McConachy in the semi-final at Skegness. (Full article...)
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Image 7Clive Harold Everton MBE (born 7 September 1937) is a sports commentator, journalist, author and former professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded Snooker Scene magazine, which was first published (as World Snooker) in 1971, and continued as editor until September 2022. He has authored over twenty books about cue sports since 1972.
Everton began commentating on snooker for BBC radio in 1972 and for BBC Television from 1978 until 2010. In the snooker boom years of the 1980s, he commentated alongside Ted Lowe and Jack Karnehm, and became the leading commentator in the 1990s. As an amateur player, he won junior titles in English billiards and the Welsh billiards title several times. He was five-times runner up in the English amateur billiards championship and twice a semi-finalist at the world amateur championship. In snooker, he partnered Roger Bales as they won the United Kingdom National Pairs Championship. Everton turned professional in 1981, achieving a highest ranking of 47th in the world in ten years as a snooker professional. He reached a peak of ninth place in the professional billiards rankings and remained in the top 20 ranked players even into his sixties. (Full article...) -
Image 8The 2021 Welsh Open (officially the 2021 BetVictor Welsh Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 to 21 February 2021 at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. It was the 10th ranking event of the 2020–21 snooker season and the 30th edition of the Welsh Open, first held in 1992. It was the fifth of six tournaments in the European Series and the fourth and final event of the Home Nations Series. The event was sponsored by sports betting company BetVictor, with the winner being awarded £70,000 from a total prize fund of £405,000.
Shaun Murphy was the defending champion, having won the 2020 event with a 9–1 victory over Kyren Wilson in the final. However, Murphy lost 5–4 to Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. Jordan Brown defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–8 in the final to win the first ranking title of his career. Ranked 81st in the world, Brown became the lowest-ranked player to win a ranking event since world number 93 Dave Harold won the 1993 Asian Open. (Full article...) -
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Kristina Olegovna Tkach (Кристина Олеговна Ткач; born 19 January 1999) is a Russian professional pool player. She became the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Junior Championship winner, defeating Lee Woo-jin in the final 9–6. Tkach is a four time European champion having won the eight-ball event in 2016 and 2019, as well as Straight pool in 2017 and 2019. In addition, she is a nine-time Junior European Champion.
Tkach is a regular player on the Euro Tour events, reaching the Tour number one in 2016. She is the second most successful player of all time on the tour behind Jasmin Ouschan, having won seven events beginning with the 2016 North Cyprus Open. (Full article...) -
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The 2019 Masters (officially the 2019 Dafabet Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, that took place between 13 and 20 January 2019 in London, England and the second of three Triple Crown events in the 2018–19 snooker season. It was the 45th staging of the Masters, and was broadcast in Europe by the BBC and Eurosport.
Judd Trump reached his first Masters final, while Ronnie O'Sullivan reached the final for a record-extending 13th time. Trump led 7–1 after the afternoon session and went on to win the match 10–4, despite O'Sullivan making two century breaks in the evening session. It was O'Sullivan's heaviest defeat in a Masters final. (Full article...)
General images - load new batch
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Image 1A player racking the balls (from Pool (cue sports))
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Image 2Paul Gauguin's 1888 painting Night Café at Arles includes a depiction of French billiards (from Carom billiards)
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Image 6A complete set of snooker balls (from Snooker)
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Image 9A close-up view of a cue tip about to strike the cue ball, the aim being to pot the red ball into a corner pocket (from Snooker)
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Image 10Dutch pool player Niels Feijen at the 2008 European Pool Championship (from Pool (cue sports))
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Image 11alt=Blue snooker ball (from Snooker)
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Image 12alt=Pink snooker ball (from Snooker)
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Image 14alt=Brown snooker ball (from Snooker)
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Image 15Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the World Championship seven times in the 21st century. (from Snooker)
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Image 16Illustration A: Aerial view of a snooker table with the balls in their starting positions. The cue ball (white) may be placed anywhere in the semicircle (known as the "D") at the start of the game. (from Snooker)
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Image 17A sliding scoreboard, some blocks of cue-tip chalk, white chalk-board chalk, and two cue sticks (from Snooker)
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Image 18alt=Yellow snooker ball (from Snooker)
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Image 19The Family Remy by Januarius Zick, c. 1776, featuring billiards among other parlour activities (from Carom billiards)
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Image 21alt=Red snooker ball (from Snooker)
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Image 22Balkline table with standard markings (from Carom billiards)
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Image 23alt=Green snooker ball (from Snooker)
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Image 24A full-size snooker table set up for the start of a game (from Snooker)
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Image 25A set of standard carom billiard balls, comprising a red object ball, one plain white cue ball, and one dotted white cue ball (replaced in modern three-cushion billiards by a yellow ball) for the opponent (from Carom billiards)
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Image 26alt=Black snooker ball (from Snooker)
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Image 27Historic print depicting Michael Phelan's Billiard Saloon located at the corner of 10th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, 1 January 1859 (from Carom billiards)
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Image 28A pool table diagram (from Pool (cue sports))
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Ranking events | |
Non-ranking events | |
Seniors events |
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Tours and series | |
Related lists | |
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