Born | [1] England | 5 September 1969
---|---|
Sport country | ![]() |
Professional | 1991–1995 |
Highest ranking | 1 (Women's) [2] 276 (WPBSA) [3] |
Stacey Hillyard (born 5 September 1969) is an English former professional snooker player, who won the 1984 amateur World Women's Snooker Championship at the age of 15, making her the youngest winner of the tournament. She reached the final of the competition on five further occasions.
Hillyard started playing snooker on a full size table at the YMCA club in Winton, aged 12. She played her first competitive women's snooker event in 1982, and lost on the final black to the reigning world champion Sue Foster. [4]
Hillyard won the 1984 Amateur World Women's Snooker Championship [5] aged 15, [6] defeating Canadian player Natalie Stelmach 4–1 in the final. Although Hillyard reached the final five additional times, she did not win the event again. Three of the finals were lost to Allison Fisher, the dominant player of the era. [7]
In 1985 in Bournemouth, Hillyard, still 15, became the first woman to compile a century break (114) in a competitive snooker match. [8]
When the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) opened membership for events to anyone over the age of 16 in 1990, Hillyard was one of six women to join, along with Allison Fisher, Ann-Marie Farren, Georgina Aplin, Karen Corr, and Maureen McCarthy, whilst 443 men joined at the same time. [9] At the 1991 Dubai Classic, Hillyard started in the second qualifying round, and defeated Dermot McGlinchey, Paul Hefford, Chris Carpenter, to progress to the 5th round, in which she lost 1–5 to Alex Higgins. Her last year on the WPBSA circuit was the 1994–95 snooker season, concluding with a 0–5 loss to Andrew Duff in the first qualifying round for the 1995 British Open. [3]
On 23 February 1992, Hillyard recorded a new highest break in competitive women's snooker, making 137 during the General Portfolio Women's Classic held in Aylesbury. [10]
Away from snooker, she served as a police officer. [11]
Doubles and team events
Related Research ArticlesJames Warren White is an English professional snooker player who has won four seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, swift and attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 Six-red World champion, a record four-time World Seniors Champion, 2019 Seniors 6-Red World Champion and 1984 World Doubles champion with Alex Higgins. Joe Johnson is an English former professional snooker player and snooker commentator for Eurosport. He became the British under-19 champion in 1971 as an amateur, defeating Tony Knowles in the final. After reaching the finals of the 1978 English Amateur Championship and the 1978 World Amateur Championship, Johnson turned professional in 1979. He reached his first ranking final at the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, and reached the semi-finals of the 1985 Classic. ![]() Reanne Evans is an English snooker player who competes on the main professional World Snooker Tour and the World Women's Snooker Tour; she also works as a pundit for televised snooker coverage. A record 12-time winner of the World Women's Snooker Championship, she is also the reigning World Mixed Doubles champion, and is widely recognised as the most successful female player in the sport's history. She received an MBE in the 2020 Birthday Honours for her services to women's snooker. ![]() Patrick Einsle is a former German professional snooker player. ![]() Ng On-yee is a Hong Kong snooker player who has won three IBSF World Snooker Championships and three World Women's Snooker world championships. She held the number one position in the World Women's Snooker world ranking list from February 2018 to April 2019. Ken Owers is an English former professional snooker player. Mick Fisher is an English former professional snooker player. He appeared once at the main stage of the World Snooker Championship during his career, and attained a highest professional ranking of 37th, in the Snooker world rankings 1983/1984. The World Women's Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament on the World Women's Snooker Tour. Staged 41 times since the inaugural edition in 1976, it has produced 15 different champions, six of whom have won the title more than once. Jon Wright is an English former professional snooker player. ![]() Joe O'Connor is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He was the 2018 English Amateur Champion and a ranking event finalist at the 2022 Scottish Open. Ann-Marie Farren is an English former snooker player. She won the World Ladies Snooker Championship in 1987, at the age of 16, and was runner-up in 1988 and 1989. Sue LeMaich is a Canadian snooker player. She was runner-up in the 1986 World Women's Snooker Championship. Kim Shaw is an English snooker and pool player. She was runner-up in the 1995 World Women's Snooker Championship, and was the first player to compile a century break in a World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association tournament. The 1997 World Women's Snooker Championship was a women's snooker tournament held in 1997. ![]() Tessa Davidson is an English former professional snooker player from Banbury, Oxfordshire. She competed on the women's tour from 1988–95 and again from 1998–99, during which time she won three UK Women's Championships and achieved a highest ranking of fourth in the women's rankings. She competed on the main professional tour during the 1992–93 snooker season. The 1987 Women's World Championship was a snooker tournament that took place in Puckpool on the Isle of Wight. It was the 1987 edition of the World Women's Snooker Championship, which had been first held in 1976. The 1994 Women's World Snooker Championship was a women's snooker tournament played in the United Kingdom and India in 1994 and was that year's edition of the Women's World Snooker Championship first held in 1976. The early rounds were played at the Cue Sports Snooker Club in Raunds, Northamptonshire and the quarter-finals onwards were played at the Meridien Hotel, New Delhi. Defending champion Allison Fisher beat Stacey Hillyard 7–3 in the final to take the title, her seventh and last Women's World Snooker Championship win. The 1984 Women's World Amateur Snooker Championship was a 1984 edition of the World Women's Snooker Championship, first held in 1976, and was played at the Breaks Snooker Sporting Club, Coventry, from 6 to 7 October. The tournament was won by Stacey Hillyard, aged 15, who defeated Natalie Stelmach 4–1 in the final. Georgina Aplin is an English former professional snooker player. Douglas French is an English former professional snooker player. References
|