Ding Junhui is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 15 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships, and in 2014, became the first Asian world number one. He has twice reached the final of the Masters, winning once in 2011. In 2016, he became the first Asian player to reach the final of the World Championship.
A maximum break is the highest possible break in snooker in normal circumstances and is a special type of total clearance. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 reds with 15 blacks for 120 points, followed by all six colours for a further 27 points. Compiling a maximum break is regarded as a highly significant achievement in the game of snooker, and may be compared to a nine-dart finish in darts or a 300 game in ten-pin bowling.
Judd Trump is an English professional snooker player who is a former world champion and the current world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently in fourth place on the list of all-time ranking event winners, having won 30 ranking titles. He has also won five Triple Crown titles.
Ricky Walden is an English professional snooker player from Chester.
Mark Davis is an English professional snooker player from St Leonards in Sussex. He became professional in 1991, and for many years was considered something of a journeyman; however, he vastly improved his game in the late 2000s, and as a result in 2012 made his debut in the top 16. The highlights of his career so far have been winning the Benson & Hedges Championship in 2002, and the six-red snooker world championships three times. Davis reached his first ranking event final in 2018, losing to Stuart Bingham in the final of the English Open.
Liang Wenbo is a Chinese former professional snooker player. During his playing career, he won one ranking title at the 2016 English Open, twice won the World Cup for China in 2011 and 2017 with teammate Ding Junhui, and was runner-up at the 2009 Shanghai Masters and the 2015 UK Championship. He made 292 century breaks in professional competition, including three maximum breaks, and reached a career high of 11th in the snooker world rankings.
Matthew Selt is an English professional snooker player originally from Romford, east London and now living in Chelmsford, Essex. He qualified for the professional tour by finishing seventh in the Pontin's International Open Series in 2006/2007. Selt played in his first professional final in 2014 at the minor-ranking Lisbon Open, which he lost to Stephen Maguire, and has reached five quarter-finals in full ranking events. Selt won his first ranking title when he beat Lyu Haotian in the 2019 Indian Open final.
Ben Woollaston is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. His sole professional title came at the minor-ranking third Players Tour Championship event in 2011. Woollaston's only ranking event final came at the 2015 Welsh Open, in which he lost to John Higgins.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is a Thai professional snooker player.
The Six-red World Championship is a six-red snooker tournament, played with the six colour balls and six reds. Ding Junhui is the reigning champion.
Noppon Saengkham is a Thai professional snooker player. Since turning professional in 2010, he has reached one ranking final in which he finished as runner-up to Gary Wilson.
Kyren James Wilson is an English professional snooker player from Kettering. He has won eight ranking titles and is the reigning world champion.
Akani Songsermsawad, better known as Sunny Akani, is a Thai professional snooker player.
The 2018 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament held from 21 April to 7 May 2018 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Hosted by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, it was the 20th and final ranking event of the 2017–18 snooker season and the 42nd consecutive time the World Snooker Championship had been held at the venue. The tournament was broadcast by BBC Sport and Eurosport in Europe, and sponsored by betting company Betfred.
Fan Zhengyi is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship in 2017, and turned professional in 2018. He had a breakthrough season in 2021–22 when he reached his first ranking quarter-final at the 2022 German Masters and then won his first ranking title at the 2022 European Masters, defeating then six-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–9 in the final. He became the fifth Chinese player to win a ranking title, following Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo, Yan Bingtao, and Zhao Xintong.
The 2019–20 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 9 May 2019 and 22 August 2020. In total, 47 events were held during the season: however, the ending of the season was highly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 18 world ranking tournaments were planned to take place, but only 17 were played. An event was held in Austria, the first time in any snooker season, while the 2020 China Open was cancelled. The Tour Championship and the World Snooker Championship were postponed, and the Gibraltar Open played with no audience. The season contained 128 professional tour players, 35 of which had been given new two-year places on the tour from a combination of invitations and qualifying events.
The 2019 Six-red World Championship was a six-red snooker invitational tournament held between 2 and 7 September 2019 at the Bangkok Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was the 2019 edition of the Six-red World Championship, first held in 2008. The event's final was contested by Scots Stephen Maguire and John Higgins who had won the 2019 World Cup doubles competition as a pair earlier in the season. Maguire won the event, defeating Higgins 8–6. The win was Maguire's first singles tournament victory since 2014.
The 2019 World Open was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 28 October and 3 November 2019 at the Yushan Sport Centre in Yushan, China. This was the 2019 edition of the World Open, which was first held in 1982. It was the fifth ranking event of the 2019–20 season and the third tournament of the season to be held in China. It would also be the last professional snooker tournament held in mainland China for almost four years, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event featured a prize fund of £772,000 with the winner receiving £150,000.
The 2020 European Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 22 to 26 January 2020 in Dornbirn, Austria. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), it was the ninth ranking event of the 2019–20 season, following the 2019 UK Championship, and preceding the 2020 German Masters. It was the twenty-first edition of the European Masters first held in 1989. The event was sponsored by betting company BetVictor.
The 2022 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 April to 2 May 2022 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 46th consecutive year the World Snooker Championship was held at the venue. The 16th and final ranking event of the 2021–22 snooker season, the tournament was organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by sports betting company Betfred. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, in Europe by Eurosport, and elsewhere in the world by Matchroom Sport and other broadcasters. The total prize fund was £2,395,000, of which the winner received £500,000.
Matthew Selt (ENG) (80)
Ding Junhui (CHN)
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA)
