Snooker is a cue sport that was first played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. The game is played with twenty-two balls, comprising a cue ball, fifteen red balls, and six other balls — a yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black — collectively called the colours. Using a cue stick, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the white cue ball to pot other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful pot and for each time the opposing player or team commits a foul. An individual frame of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points. A snooker match ends when a player reaches a predetermined number of frames.
Steve Davis is an English retired professional snooker player. He is best known for dominating the sport during the 1980s, when he reached eight World Snooker Championship finals in nine years, won six world titles, and held the world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons. The first player to make an officially recognised maximum break in professional competition, and the first to earn £1 million in career prize money, he famously was runner-up to Dennis Taylor in one of the sport's most memorable matches, the 1985 World Snooker Championship final. Its dramatic black-ball conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK records for any broadcast after midnight and any broadcast on BBC Two that still stand to this day. Named the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year in 1988, he remains the only snooker player to win the award.
Stephen Gordon Hendry is a Scottish professional snooker player and a commentator for the BBC and ITV. One of the sport's most accomplished players, he dominated professional snooker during the 1990s, when he won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a record in the modern era, surpassing the six world titles previously achieved by both Ray Reardon and Steve Davis. He is snooker's youngest world champion, having won his first world title in 1990, aged 21.
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan is an English professional snooker player, who is the current world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the history of the sport, he holds the record for the most ranking titles in professional snooker, with 38. As a six-time world champion, a seven-time Masters champion and a seven-time UK champion, he has won a record 20 Triple Crown titles. He has been ranked world number one on multiple occasions.
Terence Martin Griffiths is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. In his second professional tournament, he became world champion when he won the 1979 World Snooker Championship. He was the second qualifier to win the title after Alex Higgins achieved the feat in 1972; only Shaun Murphy has done it since, winning the title in 2005. Griffiths defeated Dennis Taylor by 24 frames to 16 in the final. Nine years later, in 1988, Griffiths reached the final of the competition again. He was tied with Steve Davis at 8–8, but lost the match 11–18.
Clifford Charles DevlinThorburn is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Higgins 18–16 in the final to become the first world champion in the sport's modern era from outside the United Kingdom.
Doug Mountjoy was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 11 consecutive years. He began his professional snooker career by taking the 1977 Masters, which he entered as a reserve player. He won both the 1978 UK Championship and the 1979 Irish Masters. Mountjoy reached the final of the 1981 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by Steve Davis. He was also runner-up at the 1985 Masters losing to Cliff Thorburn, but by 1988 he had dropped out of the top 16.
The Scottish Open is a ranking professional snooker tournament held in the United Kingdom. The tournament had many name changes in its history, as the tournament was formerly called International Open, Matchroom Trophy and Players Championship. Apart from a hiatus in the 1990/1991 and 1991/1992 seasons, the tournament remained a ranking event until 2003/2004. In the 2012/2013 season the tournament was added back to the calendar as part of the Players Tour Championship minor-ranking series. The most recent champion is Luca Brecel.
Anthony Knowles is an English former professional snooker player. He won the 1982 International Open and the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, and was a three times semi-finalist in the World Professional Snooker Championship in the 1980s. His highest world ranking was second, in the 1984/85 season.
Gary Wilkinson is an English former professional snooker player.
Jordan Brown is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. After winning back-to-back Northern Ireland Amateur Championships in 2008 and 2009, he made his debut on the professional tour in 2009–10 but lost his tour card after one season. He rejoined the tour in 2018 after qualifying via Q School.
The 2010–11 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 20 May 2010 and 2 May 2011. The German Masters was the first ranking tournament in Germany since the 1997/1998 season. The Grand Prix was renamed to World Open, and the format of the tournament was change with 32 amateurs joining the Main Tour professionals. The Players Tour Championship minor-ranking series was introduced to the calendar. These events were open to amateurs and professional with a separate Order of Merit. The top 24 in the Order of Merit qualified to the Finals, which was a ranking event. The Premier League was for the first time part of the Main Tour. The Jiangsu Classic was renamed to the Wuxi Classic, and other events were introduced to the calendar: the new cue sport Power Snooker, the World Seniors Championship, and Snooker Shoot Out. The Scottish Professional Championship was held for the first time since 1989.
The 1987–88 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1987 and May 1988. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and invitational events.
Henry Paul Stokes was a Scottish professional snooker and billiards player from Glasgow. He was Scottish Professional Snooker Champion in 1949, 1952 and 1953. He remained the Scottish Professional Champion until the event was restarted in 1980.
The 2017–18 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 4 May 2017 and 7 May 2018. The season began with the pro–am Vienna Snooker Open in May 2017 and ended with the 2018 World Snooker Championship in April the following year. Ronnie O'Sullivan earned a joint-record five ranking titles in the season. He joined Stephen Hendry (1990/1991), Ding Junhui (2013/2014), and Mark Selby (2016/2017) in winning five ranking titles in the same season.
The 1983 Scottish Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, which took place in August 1983 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 1985 Scottish Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, which took place in February 1985 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The 1986 Canada Dry Scottish Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, which took place in March 1986 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The 1988 Swish Scottish Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, which took place in February 1988 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The 1987 Matchroom Welsh Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, which took place in February 1987.
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