The Festival of World Women’s Snooker will return to the Northern Snooker Centre on 12-15 April 2019. The four-day event will provisionally include the following events: World Women’s 10-Red Championship World Women’s 6-Red Championship World Women’s Under-21 Championship World Women’s Seniors Championship World Women’s Pairs Championship The daily schedule will be confirmed closer to the […]
Tag: Reanne Evans
Women to Compete at Snooker Shoot Out
It has today been announced that both Reanne Evans and Emma Parker will compete at the Shoot Out which will be staged at the Watford Colosseum from 21-24 February.
The pair, who both compete regularly on the World Women’s Snooker Tour, have been selected for the professional event among eight wildcard players for the first time and will join 126 other players looking to win the £32,000 top prize.
Dudley’s Evans will face 10-time ranking event winner Jimmy White in a mouth-watering tie during the evening session on Friday 22 February, while former world under-21 champion Parker will play India’s Laxman Rawat a day earlier.
The event will be televised live on Eurosport.
Prior to the event, both players will also be in action at the Belgian Open’s Open in Bruges from 1-3 February. Entries for that event are still being accepted HERE.
Rebecca on the Rise
Since 2005 there have been just two winners of the World Women’s Snooker Championship as leading stars Reanne Evans of England and Hong Kong’s Ng On Yee have firmly established themselves as the dominant forces in the sport.
There are now however signs that perhaps this long-standing duopoly on the World Women’s Snooker Tour could come to an end following the emergence of Keighley’s Rebecca Kenna, who has made rapid progress in the sport since her first event at the Eden Classic in March 2016. That year she reached the semi-finals of the World Women’s Snooker Championship at only her second event, a feat that she has since matched in both 2017 and 2018.
Kenna can also count three ranking finals among her achievements in the sport so far, including at this September’s LITEtask UK Women’s Snooker Championship where she notably shocked eight-time UK queen Reanne Evans with a 3-2 win at the last 16 stage, her second ranking event victory against the player widely regarded as the best-ever woman to have picked up a cue.
Although she was able to follow-up her win with a dramatic black-ball 4-3 victory against highly-rated Thai youngster Nutcharut Wongharuthai, coming back from 3-1 down at one stage, Kenna eventually fell to world number one Ng On Yee in the title match. Nevertheless, it was a strong start to the season and enough to see her rise to a career-high equalling position of number three in the world rankings:
“I was very happy to reach the final of this season’s first ranking event,” said the 29-year-old. “My targets going into the season included to reach more finals [Kenna reached her first final at the 2017 Connie Gough Trophy] and hopefully to win one, so I was pleased to achieve that at the first event of season.”
Practice makes perfect
Since she first joined the tour back in 2016 the improvement in Kenna’s game has been significant, something that she credits to her increased time on the practice table, particularly since the opening of her own shop Cue Sports Yorkshire together with her husband Ash Kenna in September 2017:
“After competing in my first event I was keen to improve my game,” explained Kenna. “Before then I had never tried any practice routines or drills, so I had some coaching and followed drills from books and online and started to see improvements in my game.
“To compete with the top players you need to be on the table for a lot of hours, so I decided that I needed my own table. This came together with the idea for a cue sports shop and so last year we opened with a full-size installed which enables me to get as much practice as possible in between my work as a personal trainer.
“Practice is a pleasure for me, not a chore and I believe that since having my own table my game has improved tremendously. I am very competitive and love competing in tournaments so will thoroughly enjoy trying to better my ranking over the coming seasons!”
Global growth
The women’s circuit is currently enjoying a period of significant growth with the backing of snooker’s world governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and the introduction of new international ranking events in countries such as Malta, Belgium and Australia in 2018. With new opportunities both on the women’s tour itself and to compete at prestigious mixed gender events through the World Snooker Federation (WSF), Kenna is excited by the potential of the sport and to be able to follow in the footsteps of her professional heroes.
It was recently announced that this season’s World Women’s Snooker Championship will be held at the spectacular Dubai World Trade Centre in the U.A.E. for the first time, as part of the second WSF Championships following this year’s inaugural edition in Malta won by On Yee.
“I think that I have come into the women’s game at the right time,” continued Kenna. “I can see it growing at every event and also now with having more events abroad it’s a great opportunity to see the world and travel to places I wouldn’t have ever visited whilst playing a sport I love.
“I’m really excited to be heading to Dubai for next year’s World Championship. After being in Singapore and Malta during the last couple of years it will be another different experience and I’ve heard great things about Dubai so am looking forward to it.”
Kenna says that snooker helps her to de-stress and relax, but as well as playing the sport to a high-standard, she is also actively involved in snooker as a coach and recently gained her 1st4sport Level 2 Certificate in Snooker Coaching in Leeds, enjoying the ‘bonus’ of being able to complete the course with three-time professional ranking event winner Marco Fu earlier in the year.
As committed and determined to succeed in her snooker journey as anyone, she will be hoping that her maiden title on the World Women’s Snooker Tour is just around the corner and that she can be the one to break from the pack and truly challenge the feared top two on a regular basis.
Get involved!
Why not join Rebecca on the World Women’s Snooker Tour? With tournaments regularly held for women and girls of all ages, regardless of experience, you will be made to feel welcome by our experienced events team.
Learn how you can get involved and to enter your first event HERE. Whether you aspire to compete at an elite level or wish to play snooker and have a great time meeting new people, we would encourage all women to participate and to give snooker a try!
This article was originally published in the tournament programme for the English Open.
Belgian Women’s Open 2019: Enter Now
Entries are now being accepted for the Belgian Women’s Open as the World Women’s Snooker Tour heads back to Belgium next February.
The three-day event will take place from 1-3 February 2019 and will be played at The Trickshot club, situated in the centre of the historic city of Bruges.
Following victory for Reanne Evans at the European Women’s Masters back in October, the event marks our second trip to Belgium during the 2018/19 World Women’s Snooker Tour, which once again will see a full-ranking event staged, as well as side-events staged for under-21 and senior players.
The closing date for entries and payment of entry fees is 4:30pm GMT on Friday 25 January 2019.
Hotel / Shuttle information
There is an agreed rate in place with the Velotel Hotel Bruges (although players are free to stay at any hotel) and we are hoping to provide a shuttle service between this hotel and the venue during the event.
There will also be a shuttle service provided to/from three local airports courtesy of club owner Olivier Vandenbohede and his team.
For full hotel/shuttle information download the full event entry pack here.
World Women’s Rankings – Eden Women’s Masters 2018 Update
The official world women’s rankings have been updated for the final time in 2018 as the season reached its midway point following victory for Reanne Evans at the Eden Women’s Masters last weekend.
The WLBS world rankings operate on a rolling two-year basis, with points earned during 2016/17 to be removed during the course of this season. At this revision, points earned at the 2017 Eden Women’s Masters (Derby) were removed from the ranking list and replaced by those earned at this year’s event held at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester.
Evans closes the gap
Reanne Evans has closed the gap to Hong Kong’s Ng On Yee to 7,050 points following her record fifth triumph at the Eden Women’s Masters last weekend.
Having entered the event 10,800 points behind her Asian rival, Evans duly maximised her opportunity to home in on the current world number one with On Yee not competing at the tournament.
Interestingly, although she claimed the maximum 7,500 points on offer by taking the title in Gloucester, the gap between the top two has only narrowed by 3,750 points as we head towards the Christmas break. This is because Evans was defending maximum points at the corresponding event in January 2017, while On Yee only reached the quarter-finals of that event in Derby, meaning that she had fewer points to defend at this update.
With 10,400 more points to defend than Evans between now and the end of the season however, On Yee must have a strong finish to the season if she is to retain her number one ranking next summer.
The top 10
Elsewhere there was a new entry to the top 10 as Emma Parker climbs four places to 10th following her maiden semi-final appearance in Gloucester. The 19-year-old replaces Aimee Benn, who herself had a positive weekend reaching only her second quarter-final, but was defending last 16 points from two seasons ago.
With no points to be removed from her total however, having not competed in the corresponding event in January 2017, Parker gains 3,750 points as she continues her rise up the ranking list from 22nd position 12 months ago. In fact only six players have earned more points than her so far this season meaning that if she can maintain her current form then she has a real chance to rise further still.
Otherwise the top 10 remains stable, players including Rebecca Kenna (3), Laura Evans (6) and Suzie Opacic (7) consolidating their positions having all reached the quarter-final stage or better at the Eden Women’s Masters.
Rise and fall
Outside of the top ten, there are career-high positions for Hong Kong trio Ho Yee Ki (12), Fong Mei Mei (17) and Pui Ying Mini Chu (18), who despite not competing in Gloucester have gained positions because they were not defending points from 2017.
Also setting a new high watermark in their respective careers are players including Chloe White (22), who reached her first quarter-final at the weekend and Jackie Ellis (23), after she reached the knockout rounds for the first time.
A little further down the list both Yvette Greenway (39) and Connie Stephens (40) have broken into the top 40 for the first time having also made it through to the last 16, while there are three new entries on the list as the circuit continues to expand.
With players on the rise it is inevitable that others have dropped down the list, most notably So Man Yan (24) who is down seven places following the expiration of her points from reaching the final of the event two years ago.
Others to have slipped down are Jenny Poulter (down four) and notably Vicky Shirley, a quarter-finalist in Derby who has played only one event since which sees her drop to 90th position on the latest list.
Under-21
For the second time in three events there is a change at the head of the under-21 rankings after Shannon Metcalf captured her first Under-21 title to reclaim top spot at the expense of Emma Parker.
Stephanie Daughtery consolidated third position after an impressive win against Parker at the semi-finals stage of Gloucester’s junior event, although she would ultimately finish as tournament runner-up to Metcalf.
The World Women’s Snooker Tour will return in 2019.
Five-Star Evans Wins Eden Masters Title
Reanne Evans defeated Rebecca Kenna 4-0 to win the Eden Women’s Masters for a fifth time in Gloucester last weekend.
- View all results from the weekend at MySnookerStats
- View the updated world rankings
- View the updated world under-21 rankings
- Watch selected matches from the tournament via YouTube
First staged in 2013, the Eden Women’s Masters returned to the South West Snooker Academy as the 2018/19 World Women’s Snooker Tour season reached its halfway point.
Installed as top seed for the tournament, 11-time world champion Reanne Evans was looking to maintain her 100% record of final appearances at the Masters event and duly did so with victories against Louise Cothier, Chloe White and Emma Parker.
Joining the 33-year-old in the title match was third ranked Rebecca Kenna, who recorded comfortable wins against Jackie Ellis and Stephanie Daughtery, before defeating Suzie Opacic 4-1 in a deceptively tight semi-final to reach her second ranking final of the season.
Kenna has two previous victories against Evans to her name including a 3-2 success earlier this season at the UK Women’s Championship, but it was Evans who ran out a 4-0 winner at their most recent meeting at the last four stage of the European Women’s Masters last month
Having taken a 40-minute opening frame in Sunday’s final, Evans then survived a scare in the second after Kenna had gained a snooker on the blue to double her lead. Although Kenna continued to battle to the end it was not to be her day as Evans added the following two frames to complete her fourth whitewash of the weekend and secure the title with a perfect 100% record, replicating her achievement at the same tournament back in January 2017.
The triumph was Evans’ second title of the season following her success at the European Women’s Masters last month. The world number two also claimed the high break prize with her final day run of 62 and closes the gap to top ranked Ng On Yee at the top of the world rankings heading into the second half of the season.
As well as the finalists, the tournament was also significant for a number of promising junior players on the tour with four Under-21 players progressing to the quarter-finals of the main event and 19-year-old Emma Parker building on her recent progress by reaching the semi-finals of a World Women’s Snooker Tour event for the first time in her career.
Side-events
The Challenge Cup event for players who had not reached the quarter-finals of the main competition was won by Stephanie Daughtery, who defeated Sharon Kaur, Connie Stephens and Germany’s Diana Schuler 2-0 in the final to claim the title.
It was a busy Sunday for Daughtery who also reached the final of the Under-21 event following a notable 2-1 win against Emma Parker in the semi-finals. There would not be a title double however as she was defeated by Shannon Metcalf in the final, a result that takes the Leeds youngster back to the top of the Under-21 ranking list ahead of Parker.
Finally there was a maiden Seniors event victory for Tanja Ender of Germany who defeated Bugsie Cothier, Sharon Kaur and Maureen Rowland to take home the top prize.
The World Women’s Snooker Tour will return in 2019. View the latest calendar of events HERE.
Eden Women’s Masters 2018
Entries are now being accepted for the Eden Women’s Masters organised by World Ladies Billiards and Snooker (WLBS). Enter the event online now The event will be played on the weekend of 24-25 November 2018 at Gloucester’s South West Snooker Academy. Last year’s tournament was won by world number one Ng On Yee following a […]
Eden Women’s Masters 2018: Draw and Format Released
The draw and format for this weekend’s Eden Women’s Masters is now available:
- View the main tournament group stage draw
- View the under-21 draw
- View the seniors draw
- View the match schedule for the weekend
- View all draws via MySnookerStats
The event is the fourth event of the 2018/19 World Women’s Snooker Tour season and as in 2017 will be the final competition of the calendar year. The players will return to the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester with top seed Reanne Evans gunning for a record fourth Eden Women’s Masters title since the event was first held in 2013 and looking to close the gap to Ng On Yee at the top of the ranking list.
She will be joined by several talented women including this season’s UK Women’s Championship finalist Rebecca Kenna, former world women’s number one Maria Catalano and Welsh star Laura Evans, who reached the final of the event back in 2015.
Alongside the main tournament there will also be side-events for Under-21 and Seniors players, with players to note that both of these competitions will begin on Saturday. There will also be a Challenge Cup event for players who have been knocked out of the main competition before Sunday to guarantee snooker on both days for all players.
If you have any questions please contact a member of the team via our website.
World Women’s Rankings – Australian Women’s Open 2018 Update
The official world women’s rankings have been updated for the third time this season following the latest success for Ng On Yee at the first-ever Australian Women’s Open last weekend.
The WLBS world rankings operate on a rolling two-year basis, with points earned during 2016/17 to be removed during the course of this season. At this revision, no points were removed from the ranking list as there was no corresponding event two years ago, with just points added based on results in Sydney, Australia.
On Yee extends her lead
With victory in Australia, world number one Ng On Yee landed the latest blow in what has so far been an intriguing battle at the top of the world women’s ranking list so far this season.
The campaign began with the 27-year-old having significantly extended her lead at the top of the standings following victory at the UK Women’s Championship in September, only for Reanne Evans to immediately close down the gap with her first title of the season in Belgium earlier this month.
This latest triumph for On Yee however, combined with a semi-final defeat for Evans means that the Hong Kong player is again clear by 10,800 points heading into the final ranking event of the calendar year in Gloucester next month.
Away from the top two the big winner was Katrina Wan, who climbs one place above Laura Evans to a career-best equalling fifth position after she reached the final of a WLBS event for the first time. With 4,850 fewer points to defend than fourth placed Maria Catalano over the coming months, Wan will be targeting a place inside the top four for the first time if she can maintain this form for the rest of the season.
Finally, it was also another milestone event for 18-year-old Nutcharut Wongharuthai as the Thai star broke into the world’s top eight for the first time following her run to the semi-finals in Sydney.
Asian Gains
With only Reanne Evans in action from Europe the event provided a number of Asian players with the opportunity to gain ground on the ranking list and perhaps the biggest winner was Ho Yee Ki who climbs three places to a personal best 13th position following her last 16 run at the Mounties Club.
Also on the rise from Hong Kong are Fong Mei Mei (+1) and quarter-finalist Chu Ying Mini Chu (+3), while Yeeting Cheung climbs nine places to 29th as she also made a career-best break of 80 during a successful weekend in Australia.
There was also a welcome return for Jeong Min Park of South Korea who gains seven places to return to the top 30 as she competed in her first event since the 2017 Festival of Women’s Snooker in England.
Australian representation
There are now over 100 players represented on the official world women’s ranking list for the first time in several years with several newcomers competing at the inaugural tournament in Sydney, Australia.
Prior to the event Oceania was represented by just one player, Judy Dangerfield having played earlier this year at the World Women’s Championship and European Women’s Masters tournaments. She is now joined however by several Australian players who were in action at the Australian Women’s Open, including quarter-finalist Jessica Woods who is a re-entry to the ranking list in 60th position.
Of those who did not progress to the final stages to the main event, Kathy Parashis took victory against Kylie Bellinger to win the Challenge Cup competition.
The final ranking event of the 2018 will be the Eden Women’s Masters, to be held at England’s South West Snooker Academy from 24-25 November. Enter now online HERE.
On Yee On Top Down Under
Hong Kong’s Ng On Yee has captured her second ranking event title of the 2018/19 World Women’s Snooker Tour (WWST) season following a 4-2 success against compatriot Katrina Wan to win the Australian Women’s Open earlier today.
The four-day tournament was held for the first time at the Mounties Club in Sydney with the support of the Australian Billiards and Snooker Council as the women’s circuit continues to expand its global reach.
Following three days of competition with a mix of local and international tour players there was a familiar line-up on finals day as the top four seeded players were the last women standing to contest the semi-finals. World number one Ng On Yee had shown impressive form throughout the competition and progressed to the title match following a 4-2 victory against Thailand’s Nutcharut Wongharuthai, avenging her defeat to the 18-year-old at the recent European Masters in Belgium.
With 11-time world champion Reanne Evans competing in the opposite half of the draw and been in ominous form during the previous days with three century breaks scored, many were anticipating another final between the top two seeds. World number six Katrina Wan had other plans however as she stunned the English player with a brilliant 4-3 victory to reach the final of a WWST event for the first time in her career. It was a first-ever victory against Evans for an emotional Wan and set up the first all-Hong Kong final on the tour since 2012.
Wan picked up where she left off by taking a close opening frame against On Yee in the final, before the top seed dominated the following three frames with a top run of 66 to move to the brink of yet another title. Although Wan was able to respond with a break of 45 to reduce her arrears to a single frame, On Yee compiled a break of 55 in frame six to seal victory.
The success is On Yee’s third title of the calendar year (World Championship, UK Championship) and will see the world number one extend her lead over Reanne Evans at the top of the world rankings heading into next month’s Eden Masters in England.
On Yee also achieved another significant career-milestone in Sydney as her magnificent break of 139 in her semi-final victory against Nutcharut Wongharuthai was not only enough to secure the high break prize in Australia, but is also a new career-best break for On Yee in competition. It was a week of high-scoring throughout with six century breaks compiled between On Yee (139, 108), Evans (137, 110, 109) and Wongharuthai (115), with a further 19 breaks of 50 or better constructed throughout the competition.
We would like to thank all of the players and officials who have supported what has been a landmark event both for the WWST and ABSC and we look forward to visiting Australia again in the future.
The World Women’s Snooker Tour continues later this month with the Eden Women’s Masters which will be played across two days at the South West Snooker Academy on 24-25 November 2018.
Enter online now HERE.
