Igor Figueiredo beat Ken Doherty by 5-2 to be crowned “2024 World Seniors Snooker Champion”.
Congratulations Igor!
Here are the frames score: 1-109(100); 77(72)-14; 89-26; 93(93)-0; 74-44; 33-110(50, 56); 117(88)-0
As you can see, it was Ken who got off to the better start, knoking in a century to lead 1-0. But Igor, who has played the better snooker and scored heavily all week, got over the early nerves and won the next three, with breaks of 72 and 93, to lead 3-1 at the MSI. When they return, Igor won a rather scrappy frame – the only of the match – to put himself just one off victory. Ken wasn’t going to lay down, of course, he took the next one – with two good breaks of 50 and 56 – to keep his hopes alive. But Igor wasn’t in the mood for a long afternoon. After a few safey exchanges, he got it… and a great 88 sealed it.
Here are the pictures I took today …
I’m very pleased for Igor whose career was hindered by financial issues. He didn’t have the money to play on the main tour and support his family, whilst staying in the UK. I guess that the cost of living in Brazil is significantly lower to what it is in the UK, and, remember, there was no 20000 pounds guaranteed back then. But he loves the game and played the best snooker all week. He’s a totally deserving champion!
This is the best World Seniors Snooker Championship I have attended so far. First of all, I want to thank Jason Francis for all the hard work he puts into the Seniors snooker circuit and for inviting me. Next – but not least – l want to thank the players. They gave it all and it made for a great five days of snooker. And finally, thank you as well to everyone at the Crucible this week: the players, the referees, the media people in the media room and on the floor as well as the personnel of the theatre. Everyone contributed to a great week and I always felt welcome.
Igor Figueiredo is the Mr Vegas World Seniors Snooker Champion
Igor Figueiredo defeated Ken Doherty 5-2 to win the Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship for the first time.
The victory marks the greatest success of the 46-year-old’s career as he becomes the first player from outside of Europe to lift the prestigious World Seniors crown and secures the £20,000 winner’s cheque, the £2,000 high break prize and entry into the Champion of Champions.
For Doherty, the wait goes on to complete a unique ‘grand slam’ as the World Seniors title continues to elude the Irish former World Professional, World Amateur and World Under-21 champion.
Figueiredo qualified for the event as the Pan-American Seniors champion was unarguably a deserved champion, dropping just four frames as he defeated World Women’s Seniors champion Tessa Davidson, 4-time and defending champion Jimmy White and Tony Drago before overcoming 1997 World champion Doherty in the title match.
‘The Darling of Dublin’ had shown his grit and determination in making the final, coming from behind against both Tyson Crinis and Dechawat Poomjaeng before securing a 4-1 victory over Barry Pinches in the last four, and he made a dream start to the Sunday afternoon contest by firing in a break of exactly 100 to take an early lead.
The Brazilian, who wrapped up his semi-final match with back-to-back centuries, continued to show his break-building prowess as he compiled breaks of 72 and 93 to storm into a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
The fifth frame saw a potential turning point when Figueiredo looking to be clearing up to take it but missed the green to allow Doherty a seemingly golden opportunity to reduce the deficit. However, the Irishman was unable to capitalise as he too jawed the green to leave his Brazilian opponent with the simplest of chances to move one away from victory.
Doherty briefly rallied in emphatic fashion with two half centuries in the sixth to make it 4-2, but it was too little too late as an emotional Figueiredo fired in an 88 clearance for glory before punching the air in front of a joyous Crucible crowd.
“I don’t have the words for this moment – I’m still sleeping or dreaming!” Figueiredo said after the victory.
“I think I played very well. I am very happy that people enjoyed it and for the people in Brazil. I have a lot of people behind me giving me support – thank you so much.
“I came in very confident but also nervous because it was a very important moment, not only for myself and my history but for the Americas – it is very important for current players and for the future generation.”
World Seniors Snooker would like to thank Channel 5, Mr Vegas Casino and everyone involved in making the 2024 World Seniors Snooker Championship a success.
Tony Drago beat Stuart Watson by 3-1 and you will find the frames scores for that match here. Tony started very impressively: he won the first frame in no time and in one scoring visit with a break of 91. It proved to be the only big break of the match as the next three frames were extremely close and “fragmented”. I spoke briefly to Stuart after the match and he was absolutely devastated, maybe not as much about the outcome as he was about his performance. Stuart is currently the Seniors number one, he has never been a pro. He qualified for this event by winning a lot of matches on the Seniors tour. Stuart and other senior players like him deserve much better than the scorn the “other number one”, Mark Allen, showed for the event yesterday on twitter… It could be you here in a few years Mark, and delighted to be part of it as well. Time catches up with everyone.
Anyway… here are the images taken during that match:
Barry Pinches always looked in control of the last quarter-final . He beat James Wattana by 3-1. It’s not every day that you see a canary get the better of a typhoon … it can only happen only on a snooker table, an environment well known to create unexpected events and produce “strange things”. The scores for that match are here. Barry looks very, very sharp. He’s entered the Q-School so, as you would expect, he has put the hours in, and it shows,
Here are the images for that match:
And Michaela was trying to steal my job…
Seriously … she was taking pictures of a very proud Mark Beale. Mark has given a lot of his time to the amateur game, refereeing on the Women’s Tour, on the Seniors’ Tour, and countless hours in the “900” events. Yesterday he refereed at the Crucible… a totally deserved recognition for his impeccable work and his dedication to the sport we love.
The action continued today at the Crucible, in front of a good crowd, considering that this is aweek day and and afternoon session.
The first match of the day saw Tony Drago beat Michael Judge by 3-1. The full results are on snookerscores.net. I wasn’t expecting anything from Tony who, in recent years, has suffered some serious health issues but he played really well. He’s certainly been putting the hourd in on the practice table. Nothing at all against Michael Judge but I’m very pleased for Tony. Here are the images taken before and during that match.
The next match saw the defending champion, Jimmy White take on Andrew Norman, a player who had never before played at the Crucible. Andrew, who used to work at the SWSA in Gloucester, took the first two frames. A big upset looked on the cards at that stage. But the match turned on one ball in the next frame, a frame Jimmy took before winning the next two. Andrew, who was watched by his wife and young son Elliott, had no complaints. Despite the defeat he told me that he had enjoyed the experience. You couldn’t meet a nicer man than Andrew. I was gutted for him, more than he was himself.
Here are the images taken before and during that match, a match during which Leo Scullion was really put to hard work!
It all brought back a lot of memories from the SWSA days. Both Andrew and Jimmy were managed by Paul Mount for a while, Andrew worked at the SWSA and Clive Brown, who was marking this match, used to be the TD at the Pink Ribbon… those were the days…
The four referees who will be officiating at the Crucible for the Mr Vegas 2024 World Seniors Snooker Championship have been announced. They are Michaela Tabb, Leo Scullion, Tatiana Woollaston and Mark Beale, who has been officiation at the 900 all season. Senior snooker is in safe hands!
It has also been announced that there will be a 30 seconds shot clock. Jason Francis has explained that this decision was taken to prevent players from getting bogged down and matches from dragging unnecessarily. Channel 5 will broadcast the event live in the UK – which is great – and they are a commercial channel. They need “time slots” for advertising and that of course adds to the duration of the matches. So it’s important that matches stay “fluent”.
Following the success of the first Mr Vegas Seniors event, the “concept” moves to Ireland! Indeed the Irish fans will have the opportunity to attend the second Seniors Mr Vegas event “live” in no other than the the iconic Goffs arena … and support their very own Ken Doherty and Fergal O’Brien! I suppose that Denis Taylor will count as “Irish” under the circumstances as well.
The event will be played under the “900” format:
Each match consists of just one frame
Each frame lasts (maximum) 900 seconds ie 15 minutes
There is a 20-second shot clock in operation
Players must hit a cushion or pot a ball with each shot
Any foul will give the offender’s opponent ball-in-hand
This event will be broadcast live on Channel 5 for UK and Irish viewers.
Goffs is really a special arena. Its atmosphere is unique. The fans literally surround the circular playing arena. There is no hiding place. It’s a pressure cooker! Thrill guaranteed!
The first “900” Senior event concluded yesterday, with Stephen Hendry once again beating Jimmy White in the final. It was the first ever snooker event on Channel 5 and it was a huge success.
It also generated a record level of interest on this blog.
Thank You!
I have got questions about how to get tickets for the next similar event. I can’t answer that as this was a first and nothing had been planned yet for the future. Given the huge success I’m expecting a sequel obviously …
If you want to be kept in the loop, you can sign up for the seniors snooker mailing list by emailing info@seniorssnooker.com
World Seniors Snooker (WSS) is delighted to announce the agreement of a new multi-year agreement with World Snooker Tour (WST) which will underpin the continued growth of the WSS Tour.
The new deal will see up to five events staged year around the world by WSS, which will continue to be governed by snooker’s world governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).
During the current 2023/24 season, events will be open to all amateur players aged 40 or over, as well as professionals who are 45 or over as of 1 June 2024 and ranked outside of the top 64 at the start of this season. From next season, all players must be aged 45 or older.
The first event under the new agreement is planned to take place in December 2023 and will be broadcast on mainstream television.
Jason Francis, World Seniors Snooker Chairman said: “Following today’s announcement I am pleased to be able to continue our important work alongside the WPBSA which has seen us provide vital opportunities for older players to be able to extend their snooker careers.
“I would like to thank both organisations for their cooperation and support and look forward to the announcement of a number of exciting events soon.”
Jason Ferguson, WPBSA Chairman said: “As a members association the WPBSA sees the organisation of a successful World Seniors Tour as a fundamental element of our events structure.
“We have seen in recent years with performances by greats including Jimmy White and Ken Doherty, as well as seasoned professionals such as David Lilley, Lee Walker and Peter Lines, that these players still have a great deal to offer our sport as they reach the end of their WST careers.
“It has also been pleasing to see the growth of seniors snooker around the world, which has seen many continental champions earn their place at World Seniors already in recent years and this will continue to play a major role in our strategy moving forwards.”
Further announcements about upcoming events will follow shortly at seniorssnooker.com
This was shared yesterday and it really made my day!
I can now share this… the reason why there was no event planned/announced in the recent months was that the agreement between the snooker governing body and the chair of the Seniors snooker, allowing pros over 45 to compete on the seniors tour had expired and a new agreement needed to be negotiated. It wasn’t straightforward but here it is!
Without such agreement, players like Jimmy White, Ken Doherty or Stephen Hendry would not be allowed to compete on the Seniors tour, and without recognisable household names and Legends, marketing the Seniors events was an extremely difficult task.
Now the Seniors can go forward and grow. Happy days!
After the last Seniors World Championship, we got no news about the World Seniors Tour, no provisional calendar for this season, no invitation to register for qualifiers… nothing.
Instead, Jason Francis has been involved in a lot of newer projects: Seniors Darts, the 900 and more… Many, me included, became worried that the World Seniors Snooker Tour would disappear. Clearly, there were some issues.
Yesterday, Jason Francis, posted this on social media
The announcement triggered a lot of positive comments, and, of course, questions.
Here is one comment by Barry Pinches, with Jason Francis’s answer
Of course the other Jason he is mentionning is Jason Ferguson. That’s reassuring and definitely good news! Hopefully, we will know more and get a “calendar” very soon.
Today the World Seniors Snooker Tour announces some changes to the Qualifying criteria for the upcoming events in December 2021 and February 2022.
These changes are immediate and follow lengthy consultations with the players commissions of both the WPBSA and World Seniors and the WPBSA Board. These changes apply to this season only at this stage as a trial, a decision on whether to adopt them for the tour will be taken after the conclusion of the 2022 World Seniors Snooker Championship.
The changes are:
For the World Seniors Qualifier in December (14-19) no current professional players will be eligible for entry which means that two Amateur players will progress from that event to the 2022 World Seniors Snooker Championship which will be held at the Crucible Theatre between the 4-8th May 2022.
For the World Seniors Qualifier in February (8-13) no amateur players will be eligible for entry which means that two Professional players will progress from that event to the 2022 World Seniors Snooker Championship.
The following amateur players have already secured their places in the final event and so will also not be eligible to enter the December Event. Those players are Patrick Wallace, Michael Judge, Gary Filtness, Wayne Cooper, Bob Chaperon, Frank Sarsfield and Darren Morgan.
Jason Francis, Chairman of World Seniors said, “We must listen to our players and never be afraid to make bold decisions when needed. Its important the tour provides opportunities for both professional and amateur senior players.
With some of the very best over 40 Amateur players in the world already in Sheffield Decembers event represents a fantastic opportunity for any snooker player over 40 to walk out at the Crucible live on TV”
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 