Together in Newbury you all raised over £1000 for the Sussex Snowdrop Trust. That’s not taking into account that some players have decided to donate their prize money as well, and that will add to the total.
Thanks so much everyone who participated
No launch dinner in Sheffield …
The players involved in World Championship 2019 at the Crucible in August take it very seriously and want to prepare properly. With the matches starting right in the morning, the decision was made – wisely – not to have a launch dinner on the tournament’s eve.
… Instead we will have a Champion’s PARTY!
Join all the legends at the Champions Reception party after the World Final on Sunday 18th August. Players Hotel Jurys Inn Sheffield.
DJ and Karaoke is the legendary Lee ‘The Shirt’ Richardson
Buffet included as well as the comeback performance of “El Legendaros” Thorburn, Taylor, Virgo and Johnson, the karaoke Kings!
Dance and singing till late.
Tickets are just £15 but limited numbers. Reserve yours now by messaging on here or email info@snookerlegends.co.uk
The ROKiT World Seniors Championships welcomes CHEN GANG from China. Chen is the nomination of the Chinese Billiard and Snooker Association. CBSA
Chen owns a snooker club in Hefei Anhui province and coaches in the club.
Chen was asked what it means to him to play in the ROKiT World Seniors Championship? He said…
“The Crucible Theatre is such a holy place for every snooker player. We have more and more players to play the professional snooker but not all of them has the opportunity to play at the Crucible, I never thought I would have this opportunity in my life, now I’m 42 years to get this opportunity, it’s more like a great encouragement for me after playing snooker over 20 years. I feel dreams can come true, I have no regrets for my persistence in this game these years. A great honour to show up in Crucible as a player. I will prepare for it, start to do exercises and adjust my daily schedule- get up early and go to bed early, and practice. ”
Chen joins the likes of Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White and James Wattana in the quest for the title and £25,000 winners cheque. The Event runs from 15th-18th August and you can get your tickets here. https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/snooker-seniors
Yes, we have the first event of the new season, in beautiful Bruges.
Here is the draw:
And the format:
Prelim Match: Ricky Sadhwani 0-3 Hans Blankaert (replaces Stephane Ochoiski) – winner to play Lee Richardson
Last 32
Patrick Wallace 3-0 Jan Mortelé Alain Vandersteen 3-0 Markus Silja Fischer Jonathan Charlton 3-0 Lee Taylor Gary Filtness 3-1 Simone Zappi Stuart Watson 3-0 Ian Spawton (replaces Garry Coulson)
Andy Turner 1-3 Wang-Chooi Tan Andreas Papaiacovou 3-1 George Apperley
Max Acquati 0-3 Rodney Goggins
Michael Judge 3-0 Philip Owen Blackburn Lieven Vanthournout W/O … Wasseem Shurih Les Dodd 3-1 Giuseppe Colonna
Saman Rasool … W/O Sean Lanigan Richard Emery 3-0 Jos Voets
Dean Sycamore 2-3 Ludovic Arnaert
Dharmendra Patel 2-3 David Coltro
Lee Richardson 0-3 Hans Blankaert
Last 16
Patrick Wallace 3-2 Alain Vandersteen
Jonathan Charlton 2-3 Gary Filtness Stuart Watson 3-0 Wang Chooi Tan
Andreas Papaiacovou 0-3 Rodney Goggins
Michael Judge 3-1 Lieven Vanthournout
Les Dodd 1-3 Sean Lanigan Richard Emery 3-1 Ludovic Arnaert
David Coltro … W/O Hans Blankaert
Belgian Referees on the final day
Quarter Finals
Patrick Wallace 3-0 Gary Filtness
Stuart Watson 1-3 Rodney Goggins
Michael Judge 3-2 Sean Lanigan
Richard Emery 1-3 Hans Blankaert
Semi Finals
Patrick Wallace 3-4 Rodney Goggins
Michael Judge 4-1 Hans Blankaert
The Final
Rodney Goggins 4-2 Michael Judge
Rodney will play in the UK Championship 2019 in Hull end October. Well done!
Last night, in an exclusive interview with BBC Radio Humberside Stephen Hendry confirmed his participation into the ROKiT UK Seniors Snooker Championship which will take place at the Bonus Arena in Hull on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th October.
By his own admission the games most decorated World Champion hasn’t done himself justice on the ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Tour but today he has announced his participation for next season with a renewed focus to get back to winning ways. Following on from last night’s announcement on BBC Radio Humberside of his participation in the ROKiT Uk Seniors Championships in Hull, the King of the Crucible, has confirmed he will be competing in the One Frame Challenge in Liverpool in January, The Senior Masters in March, The British Open in Plymouth, the 6 Reds in Coleraine and the 2020 World Seniors Championship. If his Chinese Pool commitments allow he is also keen to line up in Goffs for the Senior Irish Masters, also in January.
The full interview with Sports Talk can be found here by scrolling to 36.31
Stephen said
“I am really looking forward to committing to more events this year on the World Seniors Tour. It’s great to see the growth in the number of tournaments and I’m excited to get back on the table and compete again. I certainly haven’t performed to my best over the last few events, so I am keen to get some practice in this year and being competitive.”
Jason Francis, Chairman of the ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Tour, said “I’m delighted we’re going to see Stephen on the tour again this season. Any line-up that includes his name excites snooker fans all over the world. He epitomises the description of a Snooker Legend”
Stephens first appearance will be at this year’s ROKiT World Seniors World Championship which is being staged at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Stephen plays his first round at 2pm on Friday 16th August with tickets being made available here https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/snooker-seniors
Following a meeting last week between Jason Francis, Chairman of the ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Tour, and Jason Ferguson, Chairman of the WPBSA, some exciting news has been announced today with the creation of the Super Seniors which will be for amateur tour players over 55 years of age.
5 Super Senior Events will be staged with a separate ranking list being created. The Top ranked player at the end of the series will be given a place in the ROKiT World Senior 6 Reds Event in June, with the chance of winning £20,000.
The Super Senior Events will be held on the Sunday of the main qualifiers in
Northampton on the 7th July Jersey on the 8th September Newbury on the 10th November Coulsdon on the 9th February Clacton on the 10th March
Entries will only be open to current ROKiT World Senior Tour Card players who have entered the main event being staged that weekend. Entries will be limited to 16 players who will play a best of three frame knockout event with a £400 prize fund, entry will be free of charge.
The ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Tour is open to any player of any gender or ability over 40 years of age on or before the first days play. Players interested in registering for any of the events should go to this Registration
Players over 55 who have entered should then register for the Super Seniors via emailjason@snookerlegends.co.uk
The tour look forward to making some more exciting announcements soon.
Although the line-up isn’t complete, and the draw hasn’t yet been made, the schedule for the first matches involving Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White and the defending champion Aaron Canavan has been announced:
Stephen Hendry, The King of the Crucible, will start his campaign in the World Seniors Crown on Friday 16th August at 2pm.
Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White will begin at 7pm on the very same day, Friday 16th August.
This promises to give fans the chance to see two legends of the game on the same day in the Crucible Theatre.
Defending Champion Aaron Canavan from Jersey starts his defence on Thursday 15th August at 7pm.
For some sessions the Crucible is filling very quickly, and for all sessions the first rows have already been booked completely. If you are interested don’t leave it too late!
ROKiT World Seniors Championship 15-18th August 2019 Crucible Theatre Sheffield.
Seedings
1 Aaron Canavan (Jersey) Defending Champion
2 Jimmy White (England)
3 Joe Johnson (England)
4 Stephen Hendry (Scotland)
5 John Parrott (England)
6 Cliff Thorburn (Canada)
7 Dennis Taylor (N Ireland)
8 Leo Fernandez (Ireland)
9 Au Chi Wai (Hong Kong)
10 Rhydian Richards (Wales)
11 Stuart Watson England)
12 Joris Maas (Holland)
13 Tony Drago (Malta)
14 Tony Knowles (England)
15 Willie Thorne (England)
16 James Wattana (Thailand)
17 Darren Morgan (Wales)
18 Wael Talaat (Egypt)
19 tbc
20 tbc
Seeds 13-16 will be drawn to play Seeds 17-20 in the prelim round.
Seeds 1-8 will be drawn into position in the draw.
A random draw will see the top 8 seeds play seeds 9-12 plus the four preliminary winners matches.
Thursday 15th Aug
10am 2 x Prelim matches
2pm 2 x Prelim matches
7pm 2 x Last 16
Friday 16th Aug
10am 2 X Last 16
2pm 2 x Last 16
7pm 2 x Last 16
Saturday 17th August
10am Women’s Snooker Tour Event
2pm 2 x Quarter Finals
7pm 2 x Quarter Finals
Sunday 18th August
10am Disability Snooker Event
2pm – Semi Finals
7pm – The Final
Details of when some of the legends will be playing will be announced soon with the draw being conducted the first week of July.
Joris Maas has just won his National (Netherlands) Championship. Wael Talaat qualified for the main tour in 2016, via the African Championship, although he didn’t really compete on the main tour. He’s also well-respected in his country for the work he does as a coach and mentor for younger aspiring snooker players.
Darren Morgan has won the Masters 2019 European Snooker Championships. As a result, he will play in the 2019 WSS ROKiT World Championship. So we will have those two legends at the Crucible in August: Tony Drago and Darren Morgan.
The event will also be the last opportunity to try to beat Igor’s 146 and win the £5000 High Break prize offered by Victor Wood Kia.
Hee is the list of century breaks so far…
Igor Figueiredo 146 Texas
Patrick Wallace 136 Celbridge
Rodney Goggins 135 Bruges
Barry Pinches 135 Coulsdon
Aaron Canavan 131 Northampton
Patrick Wallace 130 Liverpool
David Lilley 130 Leeds
Barry Pinches 125 Newbury
Patrick Wallace 125 Newbury
Patrick Wallace 124 Bruges
Michael Judge 123 Jersey
Rodney Goggins 121 Letterkenny
Mark White 120 Northampton
Barry Pinches 120 Clacton
Rhydian Richards 120 Northampton
Ken Doherty 117 Uk Champs
Michael Judge 117 Coulsdon
Barry Pinches 114 Newbury
Michael Judge 114 Coulsdon
Jonathan Bagley 114 Leeds
Stuart Watson 112 Jersey
Lee Richardson 111 Celbridge
Leo Fernandez 111 Liverpool
James O’Sullivan 110 Newbury
Aaron Canavan 110 Newbury
Joe Delaney 110 Celbridge
Simon Bedford 110 Leeds
Jonathan Bagley 109 Celbridge
Ludovic Arnaert 109 Bruges
David Lilley 109 Leeds
Barry Pinches 106 Clacton
Jonathan Bagley 106 Bruges
Rhydian Richards 105 Newbury
Jonathan Bagley 104 Newbury
Lieven Vanthournout 104 Bruges
Steven Waldron 104 Northampton
Michael Judge 104 Letterkenny
Barry Pinches 104 Newbury
Aidan Owens 104 Coulsdon
Wayne Cooper 104 Leeds
Patrick Wallace 104 Newbury
Ed Galati 103 Toronto
Joris Maas 102 Toronto
Li Chun 101 Beijing
Xu Mao 101 Beijing
Igor Figueiredo 101 Texas
Leo Fernandez 100 Jersey
Also there is good news regarding the playing conditions, as Jason Francis posted this on twitter:
Delighted to announce that Aramith have become the official ball supplier to the ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Tour. We now have 12 brand new sets of 1g balls that will travel with us where possible. Please by sympathetic that we can’t be carting these all over the world but it should ensure at the majority of venues we have the very best balls…. for you to miss with!
Following a rather upsetting number of withdrawals, the composition of the groups has changed … here are the “revisited” groups:
Group 1: 1 Aaron Canavan 2 Lee Richardson 3 Rodney Goggins 4 Leo Fernandez 5 Stuart Watson 6 Richard Emery 7 Gary Britton 8 Lee Martin
Group 2: 9 Sean Lanigan 10 Gary Filtness 11 Rhydian Richards 12 Garoid O’Connor 13 Mark White 14 Jon Charlton 15 Sanjay Meghani 16 Tony Corrigan
Group 3: 17 Nick Spelman 18 Karl Townsend 19 Les Dodd 20 Aidan Owens 21 Neil Craycraft 22 Stephen Campbell 23 James O’Sullivan 24 Dean Venables
Groupp 4: 25 Johnny Stevens 26 Marcus Lord 27 Andy Milliard 28 Levi Meiller 29 Matt Ford 30 Dean Sycamore 31 David McDonnell 32 Neil Carroll
This post will be updated as the event unfolds.
results from the last 32 round robin and tables
Group 1
Aaron Canavan 4-3 Sean Lanigan
Neil Craycraft 4-3 Matt Ford
Aaron Canavan 4-3 Neil Craycraft
Matt Ford 4-1 Sean Lanigan
Aaron Canavan 4-1 Matt Ford
Neil Craycraft 4-0 Sean Lanigan
1 – Aaron Canavan
2 – Neil Craycraft
3 – Matt Ford
4 – Sean Lanigan
Group 2
Lee Richardson 4-2 Sanjay Meghani
Stephen Campbell 4-0 Johnny Stevens
Lee Richardson 4-2 Stephen Campbell
Sanjay Meghani 4-0 Johnny Stevens
Lee Richardson 4-1 Johnny Stevens
Stephen Campbell 4-1 Sanjay Meghani
1 – Lee Richardson
2 – Stephen Campbell
3 – Sanjay Meghani
4 – Johnny Stevens
Group 3
Rodney Goggins 4-2 Rhydian Richards
Karl Townsend 4-3 Marcus Lord
Rodney Goggins 4-2 Karl Townsend
Rhydian Richards 4-1 Marcus Lord
Rodney Goggins 4-1 Marcus Lord
Rhydian Richards 4-1 Karl Townsend
1 – Rodney Goggins
2 – Rhydian Richards
3 – Karl Townsend
4 – Marcus Lord
Group 4
Leo Fernandez 4-3 Aidan Owens
Jon Charlton 4-0 Dean Sycamore
Leo Fernandez 4-1 Jon Charlton
Aidan Owens — Dean Sycamore
Leo Fernandez 4-1 Dean Sycamore
Aidan Owens 4-0 Jon Charlton
1 – Leo Fernandez
2 – Aidan Owens
3 – Jon Charlton
4 – Dean Sycamore
Group 5
Garoid O’Connor 4-0 Stuart Watson
Les Dodd 4-3 David McDonnell
Stuart Watson 4-2 Les Dodd
Garoid O’Connor 4-3 David McDonnell
David McDonnell 4-2 Stuart Watson
Garoid O’Connor 4-1 Les Dodd
1 – Garoid O’Connor
2 – David McDonnell
3 – Les Dodd
4 – Stuart Watson
Group 6
Richard Emery 4-2 Tony Corrigan
Nick Spelman 4-0 Levi Meiller
Nick Spelman 4-0 Richard Emery
Tony Corrigan 4-2 Levi Meiller
Levi Meiller 4-1 Richard Emery
Tony Corrigan 4-2 Nick Spelman
1 – Nick Spelman
2 – Tony Corrigan
3 – Levi Meiller
4 – Richard Emery
Group 7
Gary Britton 4-0 Gary Filtness
James O’Sullivan 4-1 Neil Carroll
James O’Sullivan 4-0 Gary Britton
Gary Filtness 4-1 Neil Carroll
Gary Britton 4-1 Neil Carroll
James O’Sullivan 4-0 Gary Filtness
1 – James O’Sullivan
2 – Gary Britton
3 – Gary Filtness
4 – Neil Carroll
Group 8
Mark White 4-1 Lee Martin
Dean Venables 4-0 Andy Milliard
Lee Martin 4-3 Dean Venables
Mark White 4-1 Andy Milliard
Lee Martin 4-1 Andy Milliard
Mark White 4-2 Dean Venables
1 – Mark White
2 – Lee Martin
2 – Dean Venables
4 – Andy Milliard
Watch here the award ceremony
Player of the year: Patrick Wallace
Most improved player : Stuart Watson
Performance of the year: Rodney Goggins
Commitment to the tour: Lee Richardson
Champagne moment of the year: Igor Figuereido’s 146
Chairman’s award: Paul Tett alias Teabag … who is everywhere, all the time making sure things work!
Results from the Rokit world seniors top 32 shoot out
Pre-lim
Sean Lanigan 1-0 Jason Francis
Round 1
Tony Corrigan 1-0 Johnny Stevens
Aaron Canavan 1-0 Levi Meiller
Neil Carroll 1-0 Garoid O’Connor
Gary Britton 0-1 Andy Milliard
Richard Emery 0-1 Mark White
Les Dodd 0-1 Dean Venables
James O’Sullivan 0-1 Stuart Watson
Nick Spelman 1-0 Stephen Campbell
Leo Fernandez 1-0 Rhydian Richards
Neil Craycraft 0-1 Aidan Owens
Lee Martin 1-0 Karl Townsend
Sean Lanigan 0-1 Gary Filtness
Marcus Lord 0-1 David McDonnell
Jon Charlton 0-1 Matt Ford
Dean Sycamore 1-0 Rodney Goggins
Lee Richardson 1-0 Sanjay Meghani
Round 2
Tony Corrigan 0-1 Aaron Canavan
Neil Carroll 1-0 Andy Milliard
Mark White 0-1 Dean Venables
Stuart Watson 0-1 Nick Spelman
Leo Fernandez 1-0 Aidan Owens
Lee Martin 0-1 Gary Filtness
David McDonnell 0-1 Matt Ford
Dean Sycamore 0-1 Lee Richardson
Quarter Finals
Aaron Canavan 1-0 Neil Carroll
Dean Venables 0-1 Nick Spelman
Leo Fernandez 0-1 Gary Filtness
Matt Ford 0-1 Lee Richardson
Semi Finals
Aaron Canavan 0-1 Nick Spelman
Gary Filtness 0-1 Lee Richardson
Final Nick Spelman 1-0 Lee Richardson
Before the final Nick and Lee agreed to donate half of the money to children’s charity Sussex Snowdrop. Well done gentlemen!
Main event Sunday Results:
Quarter finals
Leo Fernandez 4-3 Garoid O’Connor
Aaron Canavan 4-1 Mark White
Rodney Goggins 4-1 Nick Spelman
James O’Sullivan 4-3 Lee Richardson
Semi finals
Leo Fernandez 4-0 Aaron Canavan
James O’Sullivan 4-1 Rodney Goggins
The WSS says goodbye to Barry Pinches, who graduated through the Q-School 2019, event 3 and is returning to the Main Tour for at least two more seasons. Despite countless “teasing” posts on social media, make no mistake, Barry will be missed on the WSS ROKiT Tour.
Congratulations, Barry and good luck!
Barry last played at the Crucible … last April, when he made the Final of the 2019 WSS ROKiT Masters, beating Stephen Hendry, and the reigning World Champion Aaron Canavan before losing on the re-spotted black to Joe Johnson. The way Barry played in that event was impressive and he took that form to the Q-school apparently!
Another graduate, is no other than Peter Lines, the first WSS World Champion, who having lost his tour card after the World Championship 2019, immediately returns, thanks to a very consistent campaign in the Q-School. Peter graduated through the Order of Merit.
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 