Craig Steaman has booked his place in the draw for the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship by winning the Seniors event, part of the various EBSA championships currently underway in Portugal.
Craig Steadman Secures Crucible Spot with European Glory
Craig Steadman defeated Wayne Brown 5-4 in the final of the European Seniors Championship to secure the title and a place in the 2025 World Seniors Championship at the Crucible Theatre.
The 42-year-old Englishman came through a strong field to secure the prestigious continental crown for the first time in his career. The success means Steadman will return to snooker’s most iconic venue in May 2025, ten years on from facing Ronnie O’Sullivan there in the first round of the 2015 World Championship.
The tournament was staged as part of the European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA) European Championships at the Vidamar Resort in Albufeira, Portugal and saw 77 cueists from 19 countries competing for glory.
Steadman, who compiled a top break of 113 during the six day event, stormed through his initial group phase with a clean sweep of victories while dropping just a single frame against opposition from Finland, Netherlands, Malta and Poland.
A whitewash win over Malta’s Frans Mintoff in the last 32 then saw the eventual champion set up a meeting with fellow countryman and former World Seniors Snooker (WSS) world number one Stuart Watson.
Steadman stormed into a 3-0 lead to move one away from victory in the last 16 contest, but Watson rallied to force a decider with breaks of 62, 44 and 70.
The former ranking event semi-finalist was ultimately able to get over the line, however, before overcoming Northern Ireland’s Declan Lavery 4-1 to reach the final day.
The semi-finals featured three Englishman and Steadman faced Lee Stephens, his fellow countryman and teammate in the European Seniors Team event, in the last four – coming away a 4-1 victor to reach the title match.
Wayne Brown was his opponent in the final after he had defeated James Darcy, Sean Gray, Peter Bullen and Brendan O’Donoghue in the knockout stages.
A high quality final saw at least a half-century compiled in each of the first six frames, with Brown scoring the tournament’s high break of 124 in the second, as the two players went blow for blow at 3-3 in a race to five.
Brown moved one away from victory by taking the seventh but, fittingly, the contest would be settled by a decider after Steadman won the eighth with help from a contribution of 40.
A 49 break in the decider was then enough for Steadman to complete the victory and book his place in the flagship event of World Seniors Snooker.
Dharminder Lilly Lifts Third Race to the Crucible Series Title
Dharminder Lilly defeated former World Seniors champion Lee Walker 4-1 in the final of the third event of the ‘Race to the Crucible’ series at The Crucible Club in Reading.
The 49-year-old came through a field of 49 cueists, which included two former World Seniors Championship winners, to secure the victory and join Alfie Burden and Rory McLeod on this season’s roll of honour.
The Race to the Crucible series sees nine events held across the season with the top two ranked players at the conclusion of the final event earning places at the World Seniors Snooker Championship, while those who finish between third and tenth will qualify for the ‘Top 16 Shootout’ – where a further place in Sheffield will be on offer.
Four nations were represented at The Crucible Club in Reading, where the three-day event got underway on Friday afternoon. Lilly began the event in the last 32 stage and kicked off with a comfortable whitewash win over Ian Desmier.
In the last 16 he faced Steven Nevett, who had defeated Toby Pugh in a deciding frame in the previous round despite Hugh compiling a stunning tournament high break of 141 earlier in the contest.
Nevett proved no match for Lilly, however, as he ran out a 4-1 victor before defeating Anthony Harris by the same scoreline to reach the semi-finals. After sharing the first four frames of the last four meeting with Neil Craycraft, the eventual champion then pulled away to complete a 4-2 win and book his place in the final.
2022 World Seniors champion Walker was his opponent in the title match after the 48-year-old Welshman had shown tremendous form to overcome Jason Pusser, Gerard Greene, Matthew Ford and fellow former World Seniors champion Aaron Canavan to reach the final – compiling a trio of century breaks along the way.
Despite Walker scoring a half-century in the opening frame of the final, it went to way of Lilly by a 72-59 scoreline and he quickly doubled his advantage to 2-0 in the best-of-seven frame match.
Walker briefly rallied to halve the deficit, but Lilly was too strong on the day and took the next two frames to complete a 4-1 victory and secure the title in the third Race to the Crucible series event of the season.
Hunter Wins Super Seniors
John Hunter defeated Mukesh Parmar 2-1 in the final of the Super Seniors event on Sunday to win his second title of the season.
The event is open to all cueists over the age of 55 and was held on Sunday alongside the main Race to the Crucible series event.
Hunter, who won the first Super Seniors title of the season in August, furthered his position at the top of the ranking list by coming through four matches to win the tournament.
The 58-year-old Englishman dropped just a single frame in defeating Dave Moritz, Andy Booker and Dennis Tristam to set up a final meeting with fellow countryman Parmar.
Parmar took the opener of the best-of-three frame title match to move one away from victory, but Hunter hit back to force a decider before taking the decisive frame by a scoreline of 68-40 to secure the title.
Event four of the Race to the Crucible series takes place on 22-24 November at The Crucible Club in Reading. Enter now!
LIVE SNOOKER RETURNS TO EPSOM RACECOURSE FOR CHRISTMAS
Following last years event we are delighted to say we will return on Monday 30th December 2024 for another Snooker 900 Special, and once again it will be live on Channel 5.
We are giving people who have registered an interest, an early chance to secure your tickets before they go on general sale. This year we will be providing a VIP ticket, a Gold Ticket and a Silver Ticket and you can secure tickets now with payment due on the 30th October, after which time they would be placed on general sale.
Jimmy White and Ken Doherty are already confirmed to play, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, Neal Foulds and Reanne Evans have also been announced as part of the presenting team.
So, if you wish to join us here are your options and what you can
VIP LEGENDS LUNCH PACKAGE You will enjoy the very best hospitality we have to offer at the event. Your day begins with arrival at 11.30am where you will be escorted to our Legends Lounge to enjoy a glass of bubbly. Here you will get to meet your hosts Dennis Taylor and John Virgo and get the chance to grab a photo with them and our trophy. A signed photo from Dennis and John to keep. At your reserved seat, a goody bag awaits which will include your Official Event Programme as well as Commentary Earpiece. At 12 we will serve you a two-course meal, a free prize draw will give everyone a chance to win some signed prizes and you’ll hear from Dennis and John as they recount stories from their careers and give you their predictions for the days play. At 12.45 we will escort you to your VIP seating which will be raised table seating with a QR code where any further drinks you order will be delivered to you. You will enjoy all the live TV action from our reserved VIP area. A Free Racecourse Parking pass is included with your booking VIP Legends Lunch Tickets are £147 pp but limited For bookings of 10 or more we will also include a free match shirt which will be signed by all the players.
GOLD TICKET Closest to the action our front row ground floor seats mean you will have an unobstructed view of the action Gold tickets are £70 per person
SILVER TICKET From the second row you will still have a great view of the action. Silver tickets are £50 per person
To reserve your seats or find out how your company could benefit from our of our partnering packages which can include Tv Branding and your logo on a player please email
You can reserve seats on a first come first serve basis, seats must be paid for before 31st Oct 2024, after which any reserved seats will go back on general sale.
Fabio Anderson Luersen, from Brazil, has won the Pan American snooker championship, earning his place in the draw of the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship, to be played at the Crucible theatre next May.
Fabio Anderson Luersen Wins Pan American Seniors Snooker Championship
Brazil’s Fabio Anderson Luersen defeated Alberto Camara 4-0 in the final of the Pan American Seniors Championship to secure his place in next year’s World Seniors Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Luersen, who lost just one frame in the event, will be looking to follow in the footsteps of fellow countryman Igor Figueiredo – who qualified for last year’s flagship World Seniors Snooker (WSS) event via the Pan American Seniors Championship before defeating Jimmy White, Tony Drago and Ken Doherty en route to winning the prestigious title.
Photo: PABSA
Pan American Billiards and Snooker Association (PABSA) staged the annual championship at La Bande O’ Coin, Saint-Lambert in Canada from 5-8 October and total of 58 cueists aged over 40 embarked on the North American venue with aims of securing the title and a spot at snooker’s most iconic venue.
Luersen began the competition in style, earning a clean sweep of victories in his seven-player group and dropping just a single frame against opponents from Canada and USA.
The Brazilian, who also compiled the tournament high break of 103, then completed back-to-back whitewash wins against Canada’s Rolland Tremblay and Rodney Cuilleri to set up a semi-final meeting with Ajeya Prabhakar.
The former USA national champion proved no match for the in-form Luersen, who advanced once more without dropping a frame to reach the title match.
Canadian cueist Alberto Camara was his opponent after he had defeated Sylvain Ethier, former World Seniors Championship qualifier Vito Puopolo and Jeffrey Kennedy to book a final spot against Luersen.
A dominant weekend from Luersen was rounded off in style on Tuesday evening as the Brazilian completed yet another whitewash victory to win the title and earn a place at the 2025 World Seniors Championship.
Photo: PABSA
CongratulationsFabio Anderson Luersen!
This means that there will be two Brazilian Seniors at the Crucible next year! Let’s Samba!
The 53-year-old, who famously defeated Judd Trump at the Crucible Theatre during the 2017 World Championship, made a big step towards a return to the iconic venue by lifting the title last weekend in Berkshire.
The Race to the Crucible series sees nine events held across the season with the top two ranked players at the conclusion of the final event earning places at the World Seniors Snooker Championship, while those who finish between third and tenth will qualify for the ‘Top 16 Shootout’ – where a further place in Sheffield will be on offer.
Seven nations were represented at the second event of the series with a total of 54 cueists embarking on the Reading venue.
McLeod made a stunning start to the weekend with back-to-back whitewash victories in his opening two matches, during which he also compiled the tournament high break of 137.
In the last 16, the cueist representing Jamaica looked to be facing a certain exit as he fell 3-0 behind to Wayne Townsend in a best-of-seven frame contest. However, McLeod held his nerve to win four consecutive frames before overcoming both Lee Martin and Gary Filtness by a 4-2 scoreline to book his place in the final.
His opponent in the final was Welsh former professional Williams, who is bidding to qualify for the final stages of the World Seniors Championship for a fourth time.
McLeod looked to be too strong in the title match as a break of 119, his second century of the event, helped him to move one frame away from victory at 3-0.
Despite a brief rally from Williams to reduce the deficit to two, it was too little too late as McLeod was able to take the fifth frame by a scoreline of 71-55 to secure the title.
Graham Beardmore defeated Joy Mehra 2-1 in the final of the second Super Seniors event of the season.
The event is open to all cueists over the age of 55 and was held on Sunday alongside the main Race to the Crucible series event.
A total of 19 competitors took part in the tournament, including event one winner John Hunter and former World Seniors Darts Championship runner-up Richie Howson – who eventual champion Beardmore defeated 2-1 in the opening round.
A trio of 2-0 victories against Kevin Willsher, Dennis Tristram and Hunter then set up a final meeting with India’s Mehra.
Mehra took the opening frame of the final to move one away from victory, but Beardmore hit back to force a decider before securing the title with a dominant 76-1 victory in the concluding frame of the contest.
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 