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.
Ken Doherty and Igor Figueiredo will meet in the final of the 2024 Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship final after both won their semi-finals by a 4-1 scoreline on Saturday afternoon at the Crucible Theatre.
Both players are aiming to lift the World Seniors title for the first time in their career and they will face off on Sunday afternoon in a best-of-nine frame title match.
Doherty is now one victory away from the completion of an historic ‘grand slam’ which would see him add the Seniors crown alongside the World Under-21, World Amateur and World Professional titles he won in 1989 and 1997 respectively.
Meanwhile, Figueiredo becomes the first ever cueist from outside of Europe to reach the final of the tournament and success against Doherty would represent the biggest victory of the 46-year-old’s career.
UNSTOPPABLE IGOR FIRES THROUGH
Figueiredo gave the finest performance of the tournament so far to wrap up a 4-1 victory over ‘The Tornado’ Tony Drago with back-to-back century breaks.
The high-scoring nature of the contest may have come as a surprise to those watching the opening frame which was a nervy affair and saw neither player able to build up any rhythm as the Brazilian took it on the final blue.
The break-building quickly arrived for both players as Drago levelled the game with a break of 69 before Figueiredo restored his advantaged with his first half-century of the afternoon.
A stunning break of 110 from Figueiredo, the first century break of this year’s tournament, moved the Brazilian one frame away from the final and he charged over the line in emphatic fashion by firing in a 119 to complete the victory with impressive back-to-back centuries.
After reaching Sunday’s final, Figueiredo said: “I am very happy – I played very well in the last two frames. Two century breaks is not bad for myself! I am very happy to get into the final.
The Brazilian credits his wife Camilla for his upturn in form and he said after the victory: “My wife is my heart, she inspires me a lot and gives me power and support. My life changed after my wife and I do everything for her.”
CRAFTY KEN INTO SECOND SENIORS FINAL
Doherty booked his place in a first Mr Vegas World Seniors Championship final since 2020 by defeating Barry Pinches 4-1 in the semi-final.
The Irishman offered his best performance of the event so far and will be aiming to quash the memories of his last World Seniors final, when he led Jimmy White 4-0 at the Crucible before succumbing to a 5-4 defeat.
There was clear tension early on in the contest with the first frame taking over half an hour before Doherty crucially took it on the final black.
The 1997 World champion ultimately needed three visits to take the second frame, but eventually got over the line, before an unexpected miss from an out-of-sorts Pinches allowed Doherty to move one away from victory at 3-0.
The Englishman briefly rallied to pull a frame back at 3-1, but it was too little too late as ‘The Darling of Dublin’ completed the victory in frame five to set up a Sunday afternoon final meeting with Figueiredo.
“I got off to a good start by winning that black ball game and I’m thrilled to bits to get through to the final” Doherty reflected post-match.
“It was a really tough match and I’m a bit jaded but just so excited about tomorrow and the final against Igor Figueiredo.
“I’m not going to count any chickens, I’m just going to go out and play my best and give it all I can. I definitely want to win this tournament, it’s one I want to tick off my list, but I have a very tough opponent in front of me.”
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 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.
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 