Snooker is a cue sport 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. First played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century, 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.
Pankaj Arjan Advani is an Indian billiards and former professional snooker player. He is a 23-time International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) world champion. He has won 16 billiards world titles, the IBSF World Billiards Championship on 15 occasions and the World Team Billiards Championship once. In snooker, he won the IBSF World Snooker Championship three times, IBSF World six-red championship twice and the IBSF World Team Cup and IBSF World Team Championship one time each. He has the record number of IBSF world championships. He became a snooker professional in 2012/2013.
Geet Siriram Sethi of India is a professional player of English billiards who dominated the sport throughout much of the 1990s. He is also a notable amateur (ex-pro) snooker player. He is a five-time winner of the professional-level and a three-time winner of the amateur world championships, and holder of two world records, in English billiards. Along with Prakash Padukone, Sethi has co-founded Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation for the promotion of sports in India.
Clive Harold Everton is a sports commentator, journalist, author and former professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded Snooker Scene magazine, which was first published in 1971, and continues as editor as of September 2021. He has authored over twenty books about cue sports since 1972.
Mike Russell, is a twelve-time WPBSA World Champion in the game of English billiards. He also has six IBSF World Billiards Championship titles standing to his name.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotional activities. The Professional Billiard Players Association (PBPA) was founded in 1946, and, after some years of inactivity, was revived in 1968 and renamed the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association in 1970.
The World Billiards Championship is an international cue sports tournament in the discipline of English billiards, organised by World Billiards, a subsidiary of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). In its various forms, and usually as a single competition, the title is one of the oldest sporting world championships, having been contested since 1870.
The 2008 World Professional Billiards Championship, the top international professional competition in English billiards, was held between 23 and 27 July 2008 at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England. The 16 players were divided into four groups of four, with the top two in each group advancing into the knock-out round.
The Six-red World Championship is a six-red snooker tournament, played with the six colour balls and six reds. Stephen Maguire is the reigning champion.
The 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship, the top international professional competition in English billiards, was held between 2 and 6 September 2009 at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England. The 17 players were divided into three groups of four, and one group of five, with the top two in each group advancing into the knock-out round.
The 2009–10 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 16 May 2009 and 8 May 2010. There were six ranking events, two less than in the previous season. The Bahrain Championship was not held again, and the Northern Ireland Trophy was removed from the calendar too. The Jiangsu Classic was held for the first time.
The IBSF World Snooker Championship is the premier non-professional snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation. A number of IBSF champions have gone on to successful careers in the Pro ranks, notably Jimmy White (1980), James Wattana (1988), Ken Doherty (1989), Stuart Bingham (1996), Marco Fu (1997), Stephen Maguire (2000) and Mark Allen (2004). Both Ken Doherty and Stuart Bingham have gone on to win the professional World Snooker Championship.
The 2011 Shoot Out was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 28 and 30 January 2011 at the Circus Arena in Blackpool, England. It was played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker.
The 2010 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was the professional nine-ball pocket billiards (pool) championship, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). It was held from 29 June through 5 July in Doha, Qatar, hosted by the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation. Qualifying tournaments were held from 25 through 29 June in the same city.
The 2007 World Professional Billiards Championship, the top international professional competition in English billiards, was held between 18 and 22 July 2007 at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England. The 16 players were divided into four groups of four, with the top two in each group advancing into the knock-out round.
The 2011–12 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 1 June 2011 and 7 May 2012. The Brazil Masters became the first professional event held in South America, and the Australian Goldfields Open the first ranking event in Australia. The World Cup was held again after 1996. At the end of the season Ronnie O'Sullivan was named the World Snooker Player of the Year and the Snooker Writers Player of the Year, Judd Trump the Fans Player of the Year and Luca Brecel the Rookie of the Year. Stuart Bingham received the "Performance of the Year" for winning his first ranking event, the Australian Goldfields Open. Stephen Hendry's maximum break at the World Championship received "The Magic Moment" award. Walter Donaldson, Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The 2011 World Billiards Championship, the top international competition in English billiards, was held between 24 and 31 October 2011 at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England. The 34 players were divided six groups of four and two of five in first group stage, with the top two in each group advancing into the second group stage. The 16 players in the second group stage were divided into four groups of 4, with the top 2 reaching the knock-out round.
Hossein Vafaei is an Iranian professional snooker player. He is the first professional player from Iran. His attempts to travel to the United Kingdom to qualify for the major tournaments on the snooker calendar were denied due to visa problems, but he gained a UK visa in February 2015. He won his first professional title at the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out, beating Mark Williams. He dedicated this victory to his grandmother who died a few days before the tournament.
Rupesh Shah is an Indian player of English billiards. He was world professional champion in 2012.
The 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championship for women took place from 15 to 25 November 2009 at the Hyderabad International Convention Center Hall, Hyderabad. Ng On-yee won the tournament by defeating Kathy Parashis 5–2 in the final.
Pankaj Advani 
Martin Goodwill 
Mike Russell 
Peter Gilchrist