Snooker is a cue sport played on a rectangular billiards 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 white 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 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.
Ken Doherty is an Irish professional snooker player who was World Snooker Champion in 1997. In addition to his ongoing playing career, he works as a regular commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. A director since 2012 of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, he also served from 2021 to 2024 as inaugural chairman of the WPBSA Players organisation.
Ryan Day is a Welsh professional snooker player. He is a prolific break-builder, having compiled over 450 century breaks during his career, including four maximum breaks. He is a three-time World Championship quarter-finalist, has been ranked at no. 6 in the world and has won four ranking tournaments.
Judd Trump is an English professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently tied for fourth place on the list of all-time ranking event winners with 28 ranking titles. He has also won four Triple Crown titles.
In snooker, a century break is a break of 100 points or more, compiled in one visit to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a mark of the highest skill in snooker. Ronnie O'Sullivan has described a player's first century break as the "ultimate milestone for any snooker player".
Kyren James Wilson is an English professional snooker player from Kettering. He is a six-time ranking event winner and the current world champion, having won the 2024 World Snooker Championship. He has also been runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, reaching the final at the 2018 Masters and the 2020 World Snooker Championship. A prolific break-builder, Wilson has compiled more than 450 century breaks including five maximum breaks. He attained his highest world ranking of third in 2024.
The World Seniors Championship is an invitational seniors snooker tournament which has been played under different formats. As of 2020 the minimum age is 40, but it was 45 in 2011 and 2012.
The Snooker Legends was created in 2009 by Jason Francis at Premier Stage Productions to stage events for retired and current snooker players to play exhibition matches once again in some of snooker's most iconic venues. In 2017, Snooker Legends promoted and held its first professional event the 2017 World Seniors Championship. Later in 2017 they created the World Seniors Tour for players aged 40 and above. This tour consisted of four non-ranking events in the 2017/2018 season. They introduced an invitational event in the 2021/2022 season. In early 2022 The 'Merseyside Masters' was staged in Liverpool.
Zhao Xintong is a Chinese former professional snooker player who is currently serving a 20-month ban from professional competition after committing offences relating to betting on snooker.
Yan Bingtao is a Chinese former professional snooker player who is currently serving a five-year ban from professional competition after committing a range of match-fixing offences. He rose to prominence by winning the ISBF World Snooker Championship, the sport's world amateur title, in 2014 at age 14, which made him the tournament's youngest ever winner. He turned professional in 2016.
Jackson Page is a Welsh professional snooker player. He is a former European U-21 champion and the former Under-18 World Snooker Champion and in 2017 also became the Under-18 European Snooker Champion.
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 2018–19 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 10 May 2018 and 23 June 2019. The season was made up of ranking tournaments, non-ranking tournaments and variant tournaments. In total, 54 events were competed in the 2018–19 season, beginning with the pro–am 2018 Vienna Open, and ending with the 2019 World Snooker Championship.
Luo Honghao is a Chinese former professional snooker player.
The UK Seniors Championship is a snooker tournament, part of the World Seniors Tour.
The 2019 World Seniors Championship was a snooker tournament, that took place from 15 to 18 August 2019 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the first event of the 2019–20 World Seniors Tour. It was the tenth World Seniors Championship, first held in 1991. The event had a total prize fund of £63,500 up from £18,000 the previous year, with £15,000 more for the winner, at £25,000.
The 2019 UK Seniors Championship was a snooker tournament, that took place at the Bonus Arena in Kingston upon Hull, England, from 24 to 25 October 2019. It was the second event of the 2019–20 World Seniors Tour, following the 2019 and preceding the 2020 editions of the World Seniors Championship. The event featured a total prize fund of £24,500 with the winner receiving £10,000.
The 2020 World Seniors Championship was a snooker tournament that took place from 19 to 22 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The last event of the 2019–20 World Seniors Tour, it was the 11th edition of the World Seniors Championship, first held in 1991. The event was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was broadcast by the BBC. The event featured sixteen players in a single-elimination tournament.
The 2021–22 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played from July 2021 to May 2022, including the professional World Snooker Tour but also featuring events for female, senior, and Q School players. The season saw a record five players claim their first professional ranking titles: David Gilbert, Zhao Xintong, Hossein Vafaei, Fan Zhengyi, and Robert Milkins. Nutcharut Wongharuthai won her first World Women's Snooker Championship, becoming the only player besides Reanne Evans and Ng On-yee to win the women's world title in 19 years. Ronnie O'Sullivan won the World Snooker Championship, equalling Stephen Hendry's modern era record of seven world titles and becoming the oldest world champion in snooker history at the age of 46 years and 148 days. Lee Walker won his first World Seniors Championship.
The 2023 World Seniors Championship was a snooker tournament that took place from 3 to 7 May 2023 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the fifth consecutive year that the tournament was held at the venue. Open to all players over 40 who were ranked outside the top 64 in the snooker world rankings, the event was the 14th edition of the World Seniors Championship, first held in 1991. Organised by the World Seniors Tour, the event was broadcast domestically by the BBC and internationally by other broadcasters.
