Superb Brecel Thrashes McCulloch

Luca Brecel beat former Crucible semi-finalist Ian McCulloch 10-2 to reach the second qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

Belgian teenager Brecel, playing his first season on the pro tour, has scored some excellent results in recent weeks and dominated against Preston's McCulloch. Brecel knocked in breaks of 95, 61, 62, 59 and 68 to set up a match with Barry Pinches, with three more wins needed to reach the Crucible.

Brazil's Igor Figueiredo scored his second win in the event, beating Andrew Norman 10-8. Figueiredo came from 6-4 down to lead 8-6 and held his nerve in the closing stages to earn a meeting with Liu Song.

Sheffield's Adam Duffy stormed to a 10-2 win over Lucky Vatnani, aided by runs of 50, 68, 58, 91, 52, 81 and 97.

Justin Astley, who started in the section for WPBSA members not on the tour, edged out Sam Craigie 10-9, winning a 64-minute decider by potting blue and pink.

David Grace won the last two frames to beat Sam Baird 10-8 while David Gilbert made a 135 in beating Stuart Carrington 10-7.

Rod Lawler saw off Dechewat Poomjaeng 10-8 in a match lasting eight hours 21 minutes. Lawler saw his 6-1 lead gone at 8-8, but recovered to win the last two frames.

Read More

Indian Express Denies Pagett

India's top player Aditya Mehta came from 8-6 down to beat Andrew Pagett 10-8 and reach the second qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

Welshman Pagett went all the way to the Crucible last year, but fell at the first hurdle this time as Mehta came good in the closing stages.

Pagett led 5-4 after the first session, making a break of 102 in frame three while Mehta knocked in a 103 in the ninth. Pagett extended his lead to 8-6, only for his opponent to win the last four frames with a top break of 69. Mehta now plays Xiao Guodong and needs three more wins to get to the Crucible. Former Crucible quarter-finalist Patrick Wallace was edged out 10-9 by China's Yu Delu in a seven hour 49 minute tussle. Wallace came from 7-4 down to lead 8-7 and 9-8, but Yu won the last two frames with 63 and 60. Daniel Wells beat two-time Crucible semi-finalist Joe Swail 10-5 in a match between two players who have struggled for form all season. Wells, who came within a frame of qualifying for the Crucible in 2009 but lost 10-9 to Barry Hawkins in the final round, went 7-1 up on Swail with top breaks of 55 and 52 and was able to nurse his lead through the second session. China's Li Yan continued his impressive debut season with a 10-4 defeat of Paul Davison, his top breaks 51 and 61.  Stoke's Liam Highfield made a 101 in beating Matthew Couch 10-5, while Adam Wicheard saw off Tian Pengfei by the same scoreline with a best effort of 87.

Read More

Hossein Set For Pro Tour

Hossein Vafaei Ayouri will make history next season as the first professional snooker player from Iran.

The talented 17-year-old from Abadan won the IBSF World Amateur Championship last December, which has earned him a place on the professional tour for the next two years. He will be eligible to compete in all ranking events, starting with the Wuxi Classic qualifiers in early June.

Hossein, who beat Welshman Lee Walker 10-9 in the World Amateur final, said: "It was the best feeling of my life. My father passed away last year and it was his dream for me to become a professional and world champion, which I achieved for him. Hossein, who will soon move to a practice base in the UK, added: "I am very proud to be the first Iranian pro and I hope I can do well to make my people happy. My Federation has supported me enormously and I hope I can do well to make them proud.

Hossein, who names John Higgins and Jimmy White as his snooker idols, first played snooker at the age of seven. "There was a club opposite my house and I was curious to see what it looked like inside," he said. "One day I asked my father about the club and he held my hand and took me inside. From then on I fell in love snooker. I used to go to the club after school and even finished my homework there."

WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: "We're absolutely delighted to see an Iranian player on the professional tour for the first time. Snooker is growing globally like never before and we are keen to see the sport develop in every country and for gifted players to come through. Hossein played extremely well to win the World Amateur title against a very strong field and he deserves his place on the tour.

Read More

Davis Considers The Long Run

Steve Davis believes that running the Sheffield Half Marathon this May will help him prolong his snooker career.

The 54-year-old snooker legend is joining other green baize stars such as Shaun Murphy, Peter Ebdon and Michael Holt for the 13-mile run in Sheffield on May 27, to raise money for the Paul Hunter Foundation.

And six-times World Champion Davis, now playing his 34th consecutive season on the main tour, hopes he's still got plenty of time on the professional circuit.


Next Wednesday, Davis competes in the Betfred.com World Championship qualifiers at the English Institute of Sport - Sheffield. He'll face either Joe Swail, Daniel Wells or Ben Woollaston in his first match, and if he wins that he'll face Dominic Dale for a place at the Crucible.




Davis also had some words of encouragement for his son Greg, who will attempt to qualify for the pro circuit when he plays in Q School in Sheffield in May. He added: "It will be fascinating to see how he gets on. I know he is practising his head off to be ready and I just hope he enjoys it. He'll have more eyes on him than most of the other players, but hopefully he'll be able to relax and play well.

Read More

Reg Davies Turns 80

Renowned coach Reg Davies, currently studying on the WPBSA Coaching course at the South West Snooker Academy, is celebrating his 80th Birthday today.  Davies recently won a coaching award in recognition of his work with young players in Manchester. Paul Mount, Chairman of South West Snooker Academy and Terry Griffiths, Director of Coaching at SWSA, presented Reg with a cake.

Read More

Tabb to referee World final

Scot to take charge of biggest match for second time

Michaela Tabb will take charge of the Betfred.com World Championship final for the second time next month.

The 44-year-old, snooker's top female official, will referee the final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on May 6 and 7.

Tabb has refereed professional snooker since 2001, and officiated the world final for the first time in 2009 when John Higgins beat Shaun Murphy 18-9.

"I was absolutely elated when I found out I was doing it again this year," she said. "I loved it when I did the final in 2009. It went really well for me without any mistakes so I just hope it will be the same this time.

"It's such a huge tournament with a lot of history and potentially hundreds of millions of people watching on television. And there's no venue like the Crucible in terms of the atmosphere. When it falls silent it is so intense.

Read More

Maguire books final spot

Scot will face revitalised Ebdon in Sunday's final

Stephen Maguire is through to the final of the China Open after streaking clear of in-form Stephen Lee to triumph 6-2 in their Beijing semi-final.

Maguire won four frames in a row to seal the win after his opponent had battled back from 2-0 down to level the scores. But the Scot, who edged past Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last eight on a respotted black in the final frame, had six breaks over 50 as he set up a meeting against former world champion Peter Ebdon. Maguire won this tournament in 2008 and started strongly here, taking the first frame with a 76 break and then edging a scrappy second as he punished Lee for not taking his chances.

Lee beat reigning champion Judd Trump in the last eight and the 37-year-old battled back to level after four frames. He won the third frame on the back of a 67 and then drew level, breaks of 47 and 39 enough to get over the line. But he simply had no answer to Maguire after the mid-session interval as the 31-year-old raced away with the match. The Scot knocked in a 51 and a 53 to restore his lead and improved from there. He rattled in breaks of 66 and 71 to take the match away from Lee before saving the best till last, a run of 91 handing him victory in emphatic fashion.

Read More