Alfie Burden defeated Wayne Townsend 4-3 in the final of the first World Seniors Snooker (WSS) event of the brand new Race to the Crucible series at the Crucible Club in Reading.
Burden, who finished as runner-up to Jimmy White in the 2023 World Seniors Snooker Championship, came through a strong field in Reading to secure the maiden title of the series and make a perfect start to the campaign.
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.
A total of 54 cueists from five nations headed to Berkshire for the three-day tournament which included former World Seniors champion Aaron Canavan and the 2023 runner-up Burden.
Breaks of 55 and 108 saw Burden make a strong start as he whitewashed Gary Widdecombe in the opening round. Further victories over Wayne Gibbins, Andy Lavin and Philip Williams then earned the current World Snooker Tour (WST) professional a place in the last four where he would face Dharminder Lilly.
After taking a scrappy opener, Burden burst into life with two half-centuries to move one away from the final before a stunning tournament high break of 127 secured the 47-year-old’s place in the title match in style.
Burden would face Townsend in the final after the 44-year-old had gone on an impressive run which included victories over former English Seniors champion Lee Stephens and 2018 World Seniors champion Canavan along the way.
A break of 56 from Burden saw him take an early lead in the best-of-seven frame contest but Townsend quickly hit back to restore parity.
The high-scoring Burden made five of the six century breaks compiled over the weekend and he found two of these in back-to-back frames of the final as he followed an outstanding 123 with a further contribution of 112 to move 3-1 ahead.
Townsend refused to go down without a fight and battled back to force a decider with an 86 in frame six, but Burden was able to get over the line in the next with help from a break of 55 to secure the title in the first event of the series.
John Hunter came through a field of 21 players to secure the first Super Seniors 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.
The field included former UK champion Patsy Fagan, who reached the quarter-finals stage before succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Andy Booker – who subsequently lost to Hunter by the same scoreline in the semi-finals as the 58-year-old secured his place in the title match.
There he faced Mukesh Parmar, after he had defeated David Brock in the semi-finals.
Hunter looked dominant in the opener of the final, taking the frame by a 70-8 scoreline, before taking the second by just six points to secure the title in Reading.
This was announced yesterday by Jason Francis on social media and is now reported on the WSS official site:
World Seniors Snooker Championship Shootout Qualifying Event Unveiled
World Seniors Snooker (WSS) is delighted to announce that an additional qualification place will be made available to tour players at the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship following a change in the qualifying criteria
The top two players on the official World Seniors Snooker ranking list, as well as the top two on the ‘Race to the Crucible’ one-year list will earn their places in the Crucible Theatre, as previously announced, and they will now be joined by the winner of a newly announced ‘Top 16 Shootout’ event.
The 16 players qualifying for this new event will be those ranked between 3rd and 10th on both lists with the official ranking list taking precedence at all times.
Jason Francis, Chairman of WSS, said: “We want to be a tour that listens to its members. We have listened and we have reacted and it now the fight is not just for the top two spots on each ranking list, but also for the top ten.”
A full list of dates and venues can be found below:
2024
9-11 August (Reading)
27-29 September (Reading)
11-13 October (Reading)
22-24 November (Reading)
13-15 December (Reading)
2025
17-19 January (Newbury)
7-9 February (Reading)
7-9 March (Reading)
4-6 April (Reading)
Amateur players must be 40 on or before the first days play in each event, while professionals ranked outside the top 64 at the start of the 2024/25 season must be over 45 on or before the first days play.
Entries for all events are now open at WPBSA SnookerScores and will close seven days prior to each event.
There is no doubt that Jason is investing himself 100% to further develop the Seniors Snooker Tour, a tour that badly suffered from the covid crisis and its aftermath. In the early years the tour relied a lot on the past legends of the sport. Those players have earned the privilege and are still attracting a lot of fans. But it’s not viable as a long term strategy of course and – to make it worse – some of the oldest players on the main tour stubbornly continue to play very wel, sit at the top of the rankings and refuse to retire. The rascals! 😡😉
Points will continue to be awarded for every frame won at each of the nine events.
The official world rankings are now a two-year rolling system with players defending points from the last two seasons.
The top two ranked players on the official world rankings on 7 April 2025 will be invited to participate in the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
The Race to the Crucible series will be based purely on performances across the 2024/25 season and will encourage new tour players to join with them not thinking they are a year behind those already established.
The top two ranked players on the Race to the Crucible series ranking list on 7 April 2025 will be invited to participate in the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Should the same players sit in the top two of both rankings lists then the official world rankings would take priority.
CUT OFF DATES
On the official world ranking list, the following points will be removed in line with upcoming events:
Even 1: August 9-11, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 1
Event 2: Sept 27–29, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Open Series 1
Event 3: Oct 11-13, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 2
Event 4: Nov 22-24, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Open Series 2
Event 5: December 13-15, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 3
Event 6: Jan 17-19, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 4
Event 7: Feb 7-9, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 Open Series 3
Event 8: March 7-9, no points to come off.
Event 9: April 4-6, no points to come off.
2025 World Seniors Championship: players will be defending points won at the 2023 World Seniors Championship
Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty will be among those in action when the Mr Vegas World Seniors Snooker 900 heads to the Connexin Live in Hull on Sunday 8 September.
The event, which will be broadcast live on Channel 5, will bring some of the most decorated names in the sport to the city for the third edition of the Mr Vegas World Seniors Snooker 900, following victory for seven-time world champion Hendry in Epsom and an emotional success for Doherty on home soil at Goffs in March.
Reigning World Seniors champion Igor Figueiredo, ‘The Tornado’ Tony Drago and Barry Pinches also feature in the line-up at the former home of the UK Seniors Championship in East Yorkshire.
Jason Francis, Chairman of World Seniors Snooker said, “It is brilliant to return to Hull, a city that has welcomed World Seniors Snooker with open arms for many years. The field contains the four players who contested the semi-finals of the recent Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship at the iconic Crucible Theatre, as well as two icons of the game in Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry.”
Tickets start from just £10 and offer the opportunity to enjoy an afternoon of top class snooker played under the exciting ‘900’ format, with each frame only lasting a maximum of 15 minutes (900 seconds).
Former world champion Dennis Taylor will also be in Hull as part of the TV commentary team and will host a special ‘VIP Legends Lunch’ which will see snooker fans enjoy a champagne two course meal and a front row seat for the action.
WSS Chairman Jason Francis will go live later tonight to chat through todays news and also will answer any questions tour members or snooker followers wish to ask about any aspect of the Seniors. Feel free to leave your questions here today and he can answer them tonight at around 7pm live on this page.
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…
Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship 2024 | Schedule
World Seniors Snooker is pleased to confirm the schedule for the 2024 Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship.
The tournament sees a global field of 16 cueists head to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield aiming to secure the prestigious title at snooker’s most iconic venue. This year, for the first time, the Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship will be broadcast live on Channel 5 in the UK from 8-12 May.
First Round Schedule
Wednesday 8th May
12pm
James Wattana (Thailand) vs. Rodney Goggins (Ireland)
Ken Doherty (Ireland) vs. Tyson Crinis (Australia)
7pm
Tony Knowles (England) vs. Mohamed Khairy (Egypt)
Igor Figueiredo (Brazil) vs. Tessa Davidson (England)
Thursday 9th May
12pm
Tony Drago (Malta) vs. Michael Judge (Ireland)
Jimmy White (England) vs. Andrew Norman (England)
7pm
Joe Johnson (England) vs. Barry Pinches (England)
Darren Morgan (Wales) vs. Dechawat Poomjaeng (Thailand)
Jimmy White arrives in Sheffield looking to secure a record-extending fifth World Seniors crown and he will begin his campaign against Andrew Norman in the second match of the afternoon session on day two, following Malta’s Tony Drago against Michael Judge.
The honour of opening the event falls to qualifier Rodney Goggins and James Wattana, who is competing in the Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship for the first time since 2019, who will be followed by 1997 World champion Ken Doherty against Australia’s Tyson Crinis on the first afternoon.
Wednesday evening sees former World number two Tony Knowles begin his campaign against Egypt’s Mohamed Khairy before Igor Figueiredo and World Women’s Snooker Seniors champion Tessa Davidson face off in the final match of day one.
Former World champion Joe Johnson then headlines the second evening, taking on veteran former professional Barry Pinches, before Darren Morgan and Dechawat Poomjaeng conclude the opening round of action.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 May.
The 2024 Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship final will get underway at Sunday 12 May at 12 o’clock.
Tickets are now on sale from just £17.50 via the Crucible on 0114 2496000 or online at www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
This is a truly, diverse, international line-up! Bring it on!
Jason Francis shared this Press Release today (9 April 2024):
PRESS RELEASE
World Seniors Snooker are delighted to announce that MR VEGAS will headline their World Championship which will be played at the Crucible Theatre between 8-12th May and be shown live in the Uk on Channel 5.
A global field from 5 continents will make up this year’s field as players from as far as Australia and Brazil descend on the home of snooker to chase the coveted World Seniors Crown.
Defending Champion is Jimmy White, who will be searching for his 5th title but he will face stiff competition from 1997 World Champion, and recent Mr Vegas 900 Winner Ken Doherty as well as 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson.
From overseas we welcome Asian legend James Wattana, from Malta Tony Drago, as well as Pan American Seniors Champion Igor Figueiredo from Brazil and Tyson Crinis from Australia who holds the Asia Pacific Seniors Title.
Ireland is further represented for Uk Seniors Champion Michael Judge and former professional, and former Irish Seniors Finalist Rodney Goggins.
No one can forget how Dechawat Poomjeang lit up the crucible in 2013 and the former professional from Thailand take his first tilt at a Seniors Crown.
Also in the field is former world number 2 Tony Knowles, former ranking event winner Barry Pinches and current European Seniors Champion Darren Morgan from Wales. Africa is represented by way of their Seniors Champion Mohammed Khairy who hails from Egypt. Former professional Andrew Norman and the recent Women’s World Seniors Champion Tessa Davison make up the 16 who will contest a new £50,000 prize fund.
The winner will take home £20,000 and take a place in the Champion of Champions Event later this year.
Jason Francis, Chairman of World Seniors said “Its fantastic to welcome Mr Vegas as our title sponsor for the World Championship following our partnership with them on the two recent 900 events. We are also delighted to secure a major free to air broadcaster in Channel 5.
Ulle Skottling, deputy CEO of Videoslots, the UKGC-licensed online casino company running the Mr Vegas brand, said “We are pleased to continue our partnership with World Seniors Snooker. We like to bring a bit of Vegas in our sponsored events and we’re sure that the Snooker at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield will rock and roll.”
Snooker, Billiards Ireland are delighted to be chosen by World Seniors Snooker to host a World Seniors Snooker Championship qualifier from 23rd-25th February 2024.
” Play will start no earlier than 5pm on Friday 23rd Feb”
ENTER NOW
The winner of this senior’s event will receive a place at the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield against the stars of the game for the 2024 LLP Solicitors World Seniors Snooker Championship from the 8th to the 12th May.
Talbot Hotel – Carlow
22nd €95.00 single and €115.00 double.
23rd and 24th we can offer €120.00 single and €140.00 double
Players need to contact – reservations@talbothotelcarlow.ie or +353 (0)59 91 53000 to make a bookings.
The seniors cut off is Over 40 on or before 23rd Feb 2024.
There will also be a World Super Seniors event on Sunday 25th February at the SBI HQ in Carlow for prize money and ranking points. The super seniors cut off is Over 55 on or before 25th Feb 2024.
Open to all SBI Members
These events are open to all our members, and it promises to be an amazing event with leading players from around the world travelling to Ireland in search of the dream ticket of playing the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield so don’t miss out and all the links are below to enter.
Closing Date
The Closing dates is February the 16th at Noon for both events. The TD will be Paul from WSS.
Seniors Event
All players will need to secure a 2023/24 World Seniors Tour Membership to participate.
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!
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 
