The Dazzler Darren Morgan has been nominated as the EBSA Seniors Champion and will take his place at the Crucible Theatre for the 2023 World Seniors Championship.
Darren is a former seniors champion. Well done Darren, he will join PABSA Seniors Champion Vito Puopolo as one of the WSF Continental Invites
This nomination came shortly after Darren won the IBSF Amateur World Championship (Masters) in Turkey last week. Congratulations Darren … 11 World titles and counting!
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
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.
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.
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.
The World Seniors Snooker Tour is today pleased to announce the creation of the Open Series which will add 3 more weekend events to the 2022/23 Season Calendar.
The Events will carry a minimum £1000 to the winner with prize money paid down to the last 16.
Entry will be £50 and played on a Saturday and Sunday.
The Dates are:
WSS OPEN SERIES 1 10th & 11th Dec 2022 – Crucible, Newbury
WSS OPEN SERIES 2 4th and 5th Feb 2023 – Crucible, Reading
WSS OPEN SERIES 3 8th and 9th Apr 2023 – Crucible, Newbury
Players will need to be over 40 on or before the first days play of each event. The event will be open to Amateurs and Professionals Ranked 65-131 of eligible age.
Best of 5 all the way through, every event will carry points which will count towards both the Official Rankings and also Money List.
Entry for all 3 competitions will open on 3rd October via snookerscores.net
The mention of a “money list” suggests that the ranking system for the Seniors might change in the future to be “aligned” with what is used in the main tour. I will try to get more infos about that in the coming days.
The Dream continues…. lets get cracking and change a few more snooker players lives…
The World Seniors Snooker Tour is proud to announce the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship which will be held at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from Wednesday 3rd to Sunday 7th May 2023.
Once again the event will hold qualifiers to give opportunities for any amateur player, or any current WST professional player ranked 64-128 on the main tour, and over 40 on or before the 28th October 2022, to win one of four coveted spots at the event alongside legends of the game including Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty. Lee Walker will begin the defence of his title on the opening night.
Four Qualifiers will be held at the Crucible Club in Reading, with the winner of each event progressing to the main Championships. The dates of those qualifiers are
Qualifier 1 Friday 28th – Sunday 30th October 2022
Qualifier 2 Friday 13th – Sunday 15th January 2023
Qualifier 3 Friday 17th – Sunday 19th February 2023
Qualifier 4 Friday 10th – Sunday 12th March 2023
All players will need to secure, or already hold, a World Seniors Tour Membership for the 2022/23 Season. Pros who already hold a WPBSA membership do not need both.
Further details and an entry pack will be produced prior to entries opening.
This is not a full calendar, but it’s excellent news all the same.
Snooker legend James Wattana claims SEA Games gold for Thailand
Thai snooker legend James Wattana claimed his first Southeast Asian Games gold medal on Sunday.
The 52-year-old Thai overcame stiff resistance from young Malaysian Lim Kok Leong in the men’s final at Ha Dong Gymnasium in Hanoi.
Kok Leong, 27, drew first blood in the best-of-seven-frames showdown, winning the opener 75-24.
Wattana won the next 88-34 to level the match but the hot-potting Malaysian edged ahead by clinching the third frame 70-25.
However, 2-1 was as good as it got for Kok Leong as the Thai cue-master found another gear and began schooling the young upstart.
Wattana took the next three frames 65-48, 83-33 and 67-42 to grab the gold medal.
The victory was also sweet revenge after Kok Leong crushed Thailand’s Passakorn Suwanawat 4-0 in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, the Thai Billiard Sports Association celebrated its first SEA Games gold, having won five bronze medals at previous editions.
At press time, Thailand was in second place with 293 medals – 77 gold, 91 silver, 125 bronze. Host Vietnam tops the table with 401 medals – 185 gold, 108 silver, 108 bronze. Indonesia is in third with 211 medals – 61 gold, 80 silver, 70 bronze.
Lee Walker came back from two down with three to play to oust Jimmy White 5-4 in the final at the Crucible Theatre and win the Ways Facilities Management World Seniors Snooker Championship for the first time.
The 46-year-old raised the tournament curtain on Wednesday night and he was the last player standing in Sheffield on Sunday evening, with the title representing the biggest accolade of his career so far.
Walker, who qualified for the main draw in February, began his campaign in the preliminary round with a 3-0 victory over Tony Knowles before an impressive elimination of Stephen Hendry by the same scoreline in the last 16, a result which included a break of 121.
However, the Welshman needed to show different qualities during the latter stages of the championship as he became a master of brinksmanship.
He came back from 0-2 down to deny Ken Doherty 4-2 in the quarter-finals and was even further adrift as he dethroned defending champion David Lilley in the semi-finals – stringing together four frames as he memorably turned a 0-3 deficit into a 4-3 success.
His opponent in the title match was three-time winner Jimmy White, who was appearing in his fourth consecutive world seniors championship final.
A vintage White had produced some of his best form in recent years to get there, dropping just one frame in three matches. During his 4-1 win over Rory McLeod in the last eight, The Whirlwind constructed a total clearance of 138, an effort which would stand as the event’s highest this year. He also compiled another total clearance – a 132 – as he saw off reigning UK seniors champion and former winner of this title, Peter Lines, 4-0 in the last four.
The ever-popular Londoner started the final well, registering a run of 64 in the opening frame and carving out a 3-1 lead going into the mid-session interval.
On resumption, Walker made a 72 break to take frame five and reduce his arrears, but White went on the brink of a fourth title as he claimed the sixth frame to move 4-2 up in the race to five.
However, Walker was to conjure up yet another recovery, finding his scoring groove when it mattered the most to become the 11th different winner of this prestigious title.
He chalked up frame seven and then forced a deciding frame with a clearance of 79 in the eighth. Walker would save his highest effort of the contest until last, though, grabbing his opportunity in the decider by crafting a classy break of 83 to lift the trophy.
After his win, Lee declared that he will “cherish this forever”. Of course, he should!
He’s been a dedicated professional since 1994. He’s dropped off the tour a few times and came back. He had little success as a professional but still loves the game with a passion. He’s a well respected coach, he’s been helping Mark Williams for years. And now, he has finally won an event beating a legend of the game in the final, at the Crucible, no less. And he has done it the hard way.
He will be at the 2022 Champion of Champions.
In a few days he will head to the Q-school, where he will try to regain his tour card once more. Good luck Lee.
Jimmy took the high break prize for his marvellous 138
Jimmy played some marvellous snooker during the event. He was probably the best player out there but he couldn’t sustain his highest level in the latter stages of the final. Maybe, at 60, this is what happens. Consistency is hard to retain and tiredness may be a factor. But he delighted the crowd, and I hope he can take some satisfaction from that.
It was, once again, a great event. It was well supported by the fans.
Rob Walker, as usual, was a dynamic and enthusiast presence on the floor, be it to introduce the players or to interview them post-match.
The commentary team – John Virgo, Mike Dunn, Dennis Taylor, Stephen Hendry and Cliff Thorburn – did a sterling job.
The streaming on Matchroom.live was excellent too. The service had been terrible earlier in the season but it seems that the issues have now been adressed successfully.
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 