Month: October 2022

Ben Hancorn Qualifies for the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship

seniorsnooker Event info, Interview , ,

Congratulations Ben Hancorn!

Ben Hancorn has beaten beat Alfie Burden in the final, to win the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship Qualifying event one. You will find all the detailed results on this page.

This was Ben’s reaction on social media:

Ben was very emotional. He had just kept a promise to his late father …

This is his post-match interview with Jason Francis:

That’s what it means to those players… Jason is really doing an important work there.

And some pictures …

Quarte-finals line-up: Alfie Burden v Lee Stephens, Mohamed Shehab v Wayne Townsend, Ben Hancorn v Lee Richardson, Stuart Readon v Daniel Ward

Semi-Finals and Final:

Vito Puopolo has won the 2022 PABSA Pan-American Seniors Snooker Championship in Toronto. 

seniorsnooker Event info

This means that he has earned a spot in the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship to be played at the Crucible in Sheffield in May.

Congratulations Vito!

Here is the report by WPBSA:

Puopolo is Crucible Bound After Pan-American Seniors Win

Vito Puopolo is set to make his Crucible Theatre debut next year after winning the 2022 PABSA Pan-American Seniors Snooker Championship in Toronto. 

Victory for reigning Canadian National Champion Puopolo in the multi-continent event – organised by the Pan-American Billiards and Snooker Association – qualifies him for the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship in May.

Players from Brazil, the United States of America and host nation Canada travelled to The Corner Bank venue for the event. Puopolo began his campaign with a 3-0 win over Jesus Batista Oliveria (Brazil) before he made breaks of 91 and 47 during a 3-0 defeat of Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) in the quarter-finals.

Frank Ammirante (Canada) won the opening frame of their semi-final with the help of a 67 break, but Puopolo strung together the next three frames to reach the final.

On the other side of the draw, defending champion Ahmed Aly Elsayed made it through; the record six-time United States National Champion came from 2-1 down to deny Jason Williams in the other last four match, 3-2.

However, the title would change hands, as Puopolo won the final 3-0, registering a run of 46 in the second frame.

The open Pan-American Snooker Championship will now take place over the coming days at the same venue, with the victor earning a professional World Snooker Tour card for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.

Article by Michael Day.

Here is how the latter stages of the event went

Today, the first qualifying event for the Seniors World Championship will start at the Crucible club in Reading… the club is ready!

You will find the draw, and you will be able to follow the event as it unfolds here

The draw for the 2023 World Championship Qualifiers Event 1 is out

seniorsnooker Event info

This was shared by Jason Francis on social media earlier this week:

The Draw for the World Seniors Snooker Championship Qualifier to be held at Crucible Reading has been made. Matches begin on Friday 28th. Format and match times to follow

Pre-Lim Matches

PL1 Nigel Howe v Marc Shaw

PL2 Paul Vallance v Dessie Sheehan

PL3 Michael Judge v Zhong Wei Tan

PL4 Michael Philbin v Damon Sykes

PL5 Chris Cookson v Ian Whiting

PL6 Muhammad Asif v Lee Stephens

PL7 Gary Thomson v Steve Porter

PL8 Kevin Palmer v Cary Kikis

PL9 Justin Eggins v Mark Sutton

Matches (with match number)

1 Peter Lines v Winner of Pre-Lim 1

2 Andrew Booker v Rodney Goggins

3 Lee Richardson v Winner of Pre-Lim 2

4 Gerard Greene v Gareth Prosser

5 John Hunter v Bal Sembi

6 Adam Denham v Craig Steadman

7 Steve Crowley v Winner of Pre-Lim 3

8 Adrian Morrissey v Ben Hancorn

9 Neil Craycraft v Gareth Edwards

10 Aaron Canavan v Milan Krstanovic

11 Steve Bird v Winner of Pre-Lim 4

12 Stuart Reardon v Jamshid Kharazchi

13 James Brown v James O’Sullivan

14 Mark Ganderton v Aaron Downey

15 Peter O’Malley v Winner of Pre-Lim 5

16 Dharminder Singh Lilly v Daniel Ward

17 Philip Williams v Ahmed Alashmi

18 Alfie Burden v Andrew Pagett

19 Dean Sycamore v Anthony Harris

20 Garry Coulson v Stephane Ochoiski

21 Patsy Fagan v Andy Battams

22 James Height v Winner of Pre-Lim 6

23 Matt Ford v Winner of Pre-Lim 7

24 David Brock v Paul Burrell

25 John Palmer v Daniel Mooney

26 Wayne Townsend v Simon Chandler

27 Karl Townsend v Winner of Pre Lim 8

28 Rod Lawler v Daren Millard

29 Andrew Greaves v Nigel Phillips

30 John Snape v Mohamed Shehab

31 Neal Jones v Winner of Pre-Lim 9

32 Stuart Watson v Gary Britton

Quite a few pros and “recent pros” in this draw.

Nice as well to see Stephane Ochoiski, from France, giving it a go. Stephane is Brian Ochoiski’s father. Brian was on the tour in recent years. Stephane runs a club in St Avold and is a coach.

Entries are open for the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship Qualifiers

seniorsnooker Event info

Here is the announcement, with the detailed information, published by WPBSA

World Seniors Snooker 2022/23 | Enter Now!

Online entry is now open for the 2022/23 World Seniors Snooker (WSS) Tour via WPBSA SnookerScores.

World Championship Qualifiers

The calendar is headlined by four qualifying events for the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship, which will provide opportunities for any amateur player, or any current WST professional player ranked 65-131 on the main tour, and over-40 on or before 28 October 2022, to win one of four coveted spots at the event.

Each qualifier will be held at the Crucible Club in Reading, with the winner of each event progressing to the final stages.

Alongside each qualifying event there will also be a Super Seniors ranking tournament staged on the final day, open to players aged 55 years or over.

Open Series

As well as the World Championship qualifiers, new for this season are three World Seniors Open Series tournaments, which each carry full ranking points and prize money.

In the event of late withdrawals, the world ranking system is often used to replace those who withdraw from the main televised events.

Tour Membership

Entry for all tournaments will open on Monday 3 October via WPBSA SnookerScores with the entry deadline for the opening tournaments of the season set to fall on 14 October.

All players will need to secure, or already hold, a World Seniors Tour Membership for the 2022/23 Season. Professionals who already hold a WPBSA membership do not need both. 

Membership is available to purchase now via WPBSA SnookerScores.

Also it has been confirmed the the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship will once again be played at the Crucible and broadcasted by the BBC.