Tyson Crinis – Wins the Asia-Pacific Seniors Championship.
Tyson Crinis is the latest to add their name to the entry list for the 2024 World Seniors Snooker Championships. Tyson hails from Wollongong which is South of Sydney along the Grand Pacific Drive, he recently moved to Canberra for work.
He defeated Hassan Kerde 4-1 in the final of the Asia-Pacific Seniors and locked in his spot for the Seniors Championship which will take place at the Crucible Theatre from the 8-12th May
On securing his spot he said…
“I grew up watching Stephen Hendry at the crucible on VHS tapes passed on from snooker enthusiasts and always dreamed of going even just to be a part of the crowd – now I could get to play him – its a dream come true“
Tyson started playing as a junior at just 12 which is when he first met Neil Robertson. They both played at the national championship.
He fondly recalls that The Thunder lost the semi and he lost the final, which was probably the first and last time I got one up on Neil.
Tyson joins names already confirmed which include Jimmy White, Ken Doherty, James Wattana, Joe Johnson, Tony Drago, Darren Morgan and Igor Figueredo
Tyson Crinis is 41 years old and has never been a professional.
Michael Judge defeated fellow Irishman Fergal O’Brien 4-2 in the third LLP Solicitors World Seniors Championship qualifying event to book his place at the Crucible Theatre in May.
The victory means 2019 UK Seniors champion will return to the Crucible following a one-year absence from the LLP Solicitors World Seniors Championship, having last played at the 2022 event.
The qualifying event, held in Carlow, Ireland, saw twenty-eight players from the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland competing for a coveted spot at the most famous venue in the sport.
Judge, who made three appearance at the Crucible Theatre during his professional career, began his campaign with comfortable 3-1 victories over fellow countrymen James Darcy and Dylan Rees.
The 48-year-old then whitewashed Englishman Neal Jones before another comfortable victory over Tony Corrigan saw him book his place in the final.
On the opposite side of the draw, veteran professional O’Brien was in rampant form as he dropped just two frames on his way to the last four, with a stunning break of 135 completing a 4-1 quarter-final victory over Neil Craycraft. Despite losing the opener in the semi-final, a 4-2 defeat of Englishman Matt Wilson then set up a final meeting with Judge.
The final was a high-qualify affair that featured four half-centuries in six frames, but with breaks of 66, 68 and 71 it was Judge who secured his place at the showpiece event of the World Seniors Snooker calendar.
England’s Gary Filtness was victorious in the Super Seniors 3 event, open to all entrants over-55 years old, which was held alongside the main LLP World Seniors Championship qualifier in Carlow, Ireland.
Filtness, who was eliminted in the last eight of the qualifying event, whitewashed John Maher in the Super Seniors quarter-final before defeating Northern Ireland’s Gregory Cooke to reach the final.
There, he would meet John McCarthy, who had beaten Keith Thomas 2-1 to reach the Super Seniors title match.
Filtness, who reached the last 16 of the 2022 World Seniors Championship, proved too strong in the final and ran out a 2-0 victor to secure the title.
Stephen Hendry ousted Jimmy White in a thrilling final in front of the live television cameras to win the inaugural World Seniors Mr Vegas Snooker title.
Held at the famous Epsom Racecourse, this unique, one-day World Seniors Snooker Tour event featured six of the sport’s most iconic characters competing in single-frame matches with a 20-second shot-clock in operation throughout.
Split into two round robin groups of three players with the top two from each progressing to the knockout semi-finals, Hendry and White both qualified from Group A earlier in the day.
The duo initially met in the second match of the tournament with Hendry coming out on top with the help of a 55 break after White had broken down on 46.
Hendry also came from behind to defeat 1985 World Champion Dennis Taylor in his other group match, registering a run of 56 during the tie. That result set up a winner-goes-through contest between White and Taylor which the former won without conceding a point.
There was a grandstand finish to Group B as all three contestants finished level on one victory each.
In a meeting of former world champions to break the tournament off, Ken Doherty countered with a decisive 60 break to get the win against Joe Johnson.
Former world number two Tony Knowles entered the fray and impressed as he dispatched Doherty, but in the final fixture of the group, Johnson responded from his opening loss to pip Knowles in a close encounter and put everyone level on wins. However, due to the highest break tiebreak rule, it was Doherty and Johnson who both advanced to the last four.
In the semi-finals – pitching group winners against runners-up from the other group – Hendry eliminated Johnson, and White constructed a break of 59 during his frame success against Doherty.
That meant a new chapter to the Hendry-White career rivalry would be written as they squared off in yet another televised final.
Hendry potted the opening red of the title match but was unfortunate to go in-off after deliberately colliding with the pack of reds. However, after receiving cueball in hand for his opponent’s foul, White unexpectedly missed a black off its spot when on a break of 17 to present Hendry with a scoring opportunity.
The seven-time World Champion duly obliged, although whilst on a run of 62, he too missed a relatively straightforward pot, with the winning line very close.
White had a chance to counter-attack with the final three reds remaining, but – despite knocking in a fantastic long pot on the final red – he was unable to convert, and after some subsequent dramatic moments Hendry managed to secure victory on the colours and claim his maiden title on the World Seniors circuit.
The coverage by Channel 5, the commentary, and the punditry were all great. Neal Foulds, Reanne Evans and Rachel work really well together as a team. Rob Walker was there too, working both as MC and interviewer. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like his enthusiasm and dynamism.
The set-up, with the fans sat around tables on all sides of the playing area, looked festive and convivial. That was excellent. There were some known faces in the audience, notably Nigel Bond who was interviewed by Rob and was very appreciative about the event.
Stephen Hendry played quite well. It’s actually the best I have seen him play for years.
Those images were shared on social media by World Seniors Snooker and Jason Francis
During his post-match interview in the arena, Stephen Hendry said a few interesting things:
He really likes the format and the atmosphere of the event, notably the setup and the close proximity of the crowd. That gave him the motivation to prepare well, a motivation he struggles to find when facing the prospect of playing qualifiers in soulless venues in front of nobody or nearly nobody.
He likes the quick format as well. No surprise there … his game is, and always was, about attacking and going for his shots.
Jimmy once again failed to beat his Nemesis. He could have won today, probably should have won. It’s hard to explain. Some of the shots he took, and missed, during the final … I thought he wouldn’t have taken them, missed them in the previous rounds, or in the final had he faced someone else. But maybe that’s just me reading too much in some of the missed shots?
In an all-Brazilian final on home soil, Igor Figueiredo defeated Zico 5-0 to win the 2023 Pan American Seniors Snooker Championship held at the Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club.
Victory for the 46-year-old secures qualification for the 2024 LLP Solicitors World Seniors Snooker Championship which is set to take place at the Crucible Theatre in May. It would represent Figueiredo’s second appearance in the tournament there having reached the semi-finals in 2021.
Organised by the Pan American Billiards and Snooker Association (PABSA) – a continental federation serving players from across North, Central and South America – a total of 40 players were divided into eight round robin groups of five with the top two from each advancing to the knockout rounds.
Former professional Figueiredo finished top of Group 8 after winning all his games 2-0 before defeating Maciel (Brazil) 3-0 and Fabinho (Brazil) 3-1 in the last 16 and quarter-finals, respectively.
Returning for Finals Day, Figueiredo constructed breaks of 71, 63 and 85 as he eliminated fellow countryman Tuzinho 4-0 in the last four.
Emerging from the other side of the draw was Zico who relinquished just one frame on his way to the semi-finals where he ousted Jason Williams (Canada) 4-3 on the final pink in the deciding frame. In frame three, Zico made a break of 72.
However, Figueiredo proved to be too strong in the final as he registered runs of 58, 72, 62, 54 and 50 en route to the title.
Attention in Rio now turns to the full Pan American Snooker Championship which runs from Thursday to Sunday where the winner will earn a two-year professional World Snooker Tour card.
Andrew Norman won the first qualifying event of the season, the LLP Solicitors World Seniors Championship Qualifying 1. He will play at the Crucible in May next year.
In the Final Andrew beat Ben Hancorn in a deciding frame. This was a difficult mat for both of them, as they are brothers in law, Ben’s sister being Andrew’s wife.
Here is what Andrew had to say on social media this after the match:
What a thrilling weekend winning the World Seniors Snooker LLP Solicitors World Championship Qualifier 1 Event.
Big shout out to my Bro-in-law Ben Hancorn. To play him in the final in prob the most intense occasion we’ve ever played together added with such a reward for the winner to get an invite to the crucible .. the pressure was unreal and it was such a close game.. we even had our wives and sons there this weekend cheering us on making it a real family occasion if stressful for them to watch!
it was always going to get nervy and I just fell over the line in the last few balls. Ben will be back.
Thank you to all the many many messages of congratulations, I will get back to as many as I can tomorrow as brain frazzled at mo!
Once again the efforts from Jason Francis, TD Paul and all the Refs & everyone at Crucible Sports & Social Club Reading make the Senior Tour a real asset and community for the players.
And he added a few pictures …
Congratulations Andrew!
There was also a Super Seniors event, played at the same venue yesterday. It was won by Asley Beal.
Congratulations Ashley!
This is Ashley, winner of the English Seniors Snooker Championship in 2021
The European Championships (EBSA) continued and the senior players once again showed their class.
In the 6-reds competition, open to all without age restrictions, it’s the 53 years old Wayne Brown, from England who prevailed. Wayne beat several former professionals en route to the title: Eden Sharav (31) from Israel (4-0) in the last 16, Alex Borg (54) from Malta (4-3) in the QFs and finally Harvey Chandler (28) from England by 5-3 in the final. In the semi-finals Wayne faced a young promising player from France, Nicolas Mortreux, only 20; he beat him by 4-1.
In the Seniors Team Event, Darren Morgan and Philip Williams, representing Wales, defeated Wayne Brown and Gary Milne by 5-1, representing England, in the final, to take the title.Both are successful regulars on the World Seniors tour.
Im the previous post I mentioned the EBSA competitions in Bulgaria, and the fact that the winner of the Seniors event would earn a sport at the 2024 Seniors Snooker World Championship.
Once again Darren Morgan proved what a force he remains in snooker.
Darren Morgan claimed his 13th EBSA European Seniors Snooker Championship with a 5-3 victory against Gary Milne in the final of the 2023 edition held at the Perunika Hall in Albena, Bulgaria.
Victory for the prolific Welshman also sees him qualify for the 2024 World Seniors Snooker Championship, an event he won in 2011.
Players representing 20 different nations entered this year’s event which was being held alongside several other continental championships in South-East Europe.
Former professional world number eight Morgan won all three of his matches without dropping a frame as he topped his group and progressed to the knockout rounds.
The 57-year-old then eliminated Ville Pirilä (Finland) 3-0, John Farrell (Ireland) 4-0 and Peter Bullen (Belgium) 4-0 to reach the semi-finals where he faced Wayne Brown (England) in a rerun of last year’s final. Brown won the opening frame with the help of an 80 break, but Morgan registered runs of 82, 62 and 51 as he strung together four frames in-a-row to make the final yet again.
Playing in the event for the first time, Englishman Milne qualified second from his group and then saw off players from Northern Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland before ousting Wales’ Philip Williams 4-3 in the last four.
However, Morgan was in no mood to relinquish the trophy as he won three consecutive frames from 3-2 down to retain the Championship.
The result means that Morgan maintains his perfect record in EBSA Seniors Championship finals. He first won this title in 2007, and he has triumphed at every staging since 2015; it’s now eight successive titles (no event held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic).
Last year’s World Seniors champion Lee Walker crafted the highest break of the tournament – a 117 during the groups phase. Walker bowed out to Williams in the quarter-finals.
Jimmy White won the LLP Solicitors World Seniors Championship for the fourth time, beating Alfie Burden 5-3 in the final at the Crucible.
Victory caps off a fantastic season for White in which he reached the last 16 of two ranking events as well as the last 32 of the UK Championship, earning enough ranking points to book two more years on the professional tour. To finish the campaign with a trophy on snooker’s most famous stage in Sheffield is a tremendous reward for the 61-year-old whose enthusiasm for snooker seems to get stronger as time goes on.
After knocking out Philip Williams and Adrian Ridley to reach the semi-finals, White saw off Tony Drago 4-1 before getting the better of close friend Burden. Over his four matches, the Londoner made breaks of 70, 76, 103, 80, 84, 64, 74, 56, 68, 62, 63, 55 and 84.
He looked set for a comfortable night in the final when he led 4-1, before Burden fought back by taking frame six. In the seventh, Burden trapped his opponent in a tough snooker behind the black after potting the last red, and gained enough penalty points to close to 4-3. In frame eight, White made 31 before playing safe, then capitalised on a loose safety from Burden to get back among the balls, and finished superbly with a break of 84 to secure the title which he had previously won in 2010, 2019 and 2020.
“I love the game, it’s fascinating,” said White, who may earn a place in the Champion of Champions in November. “Sometimes I can play good stuff and beat anyone, sometime I fall over the line. We both struggled to control the cue ball tonight, I got a bit ‘jabby.’ But I still have the motivation and sometimes you have to do what Mark Selby does and win when playing badly. I’m delighted.
“My thanks go to the sponsors LLP Solicitors, to Jason Ferguson and Jason Francis and everyone behind the event which gets bigger every year, and thanks to the fans for their support.”
Burden said: “If I was going to lose to anyone I would want it to be Jimmy. I enjoyed every moment of playing at the Crucible.”
How the final unfolded in pictures …
The players got a wonderful introduction in the arena! Three former World Champions, Cliff Thorburn, Dennis Taylor and John Parrot were acclaimed by the fans and interviewed by Rob Walker, before the finalists themselves were welcomed into the arena
Some images taken during the match from high in the arena … and the final balls.
And the trophy ceremony…
Thank you Jason Francis…
I was a fantastic event, the overall quality of the snooker was very high. The crowds were really good all week especially considering the event clashed with King Charles Coronation. Rob Walker and Alisha Singh did a great job, always with a smile, kindness and enthusiasm. Legends of the game were everywhere: on the floor, in the commentary box, in the audience.
It was covered by the BBC but also streamed live in China despite the fact that no Chinese player was involved.
For me personally, it was a wonderful return to live snooker and photography. Thank you Jason for having me. I reconnected with friends from all over the world, people I hadn’t seen in years. It was marvellous … thank you, 谢谢 xièxiè … you know who you are.
Philip Williams will be back at the Crucible, after winning the “Golden Ticket” yesterday. He beat Craig Steadman in the Final. He will play Jimmy White in the first round at the Crucible.
Congratulations Philip!
This is now the complete line-up and round one schedule
The fourth, and last, qualifying event for the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible took place over the week-end and was won by Peter Lines. He beat Andrew Norman in the final.
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 