Evans on top of the world

REANNE Evans issued a transatlantic challenge minutes after being crowned women’s world snooker champion for a record fifth successive year (on April 8).

The 23-year-old overcame good friend and England team-mate Maria Catalano 5-2 in the final at Cambridge Snooker Centre.

 

“Obviously I’m really happy I’ve won,” said Evans. “But it wasn’t the best performance. I haven’t played my best all tournament but I’ve done enough.”

 

Wearing her favourite pink-backed waistcoat, Evans took the first frame with a 51 and nicked the second on the black.

 

Catalano, 27, appearing in a first world final, pulled one back with breaks of 43, 30 and 39. A run of 34 squared the match.

 

Evans won the next two before a dramatic seventh.

 

Catalano, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s cousin, jawed a frame-ball red following a 43 break. Evans, needing a 43 clearance, missed the final black off its spot. However, the world number four’s attempted pot into the middle hit the knuckle and left an easy shot into the green pocket.

 

Evans said: “I started off really well and then Mal (Catalano) played well in the next two frames. I think I did two shots wrong. Fair play to her.”

 

Players, referees and officials at the WLBSA 2009 World Championships at Cambridge Snooker Centre

 

The undisputed queen of the green baize insisted she’s hungry for more success and urged former World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association (WLBSA) stars - Kelly Fisher, Allison Fisher, Kim Shaw and Karen Corr - to compete in next year’s event.

 

The quartet is currently competing on the women’s US 9-ball pool circuit.

 

“I’d love to play them,” she said. “I played Kelly when I first started playing but it isn’t the same. They were all brilliant players. It would be good to play them all again.

 

And the Wolves fan added: “I don’t like losing. I aim to win every tournament and I’m trying to go for records.”

 

It was the fourth time the Dudley duo has met in a ranking final this season. Evans, known as “champion” by two-year-old daughter Lauren, won them all.

 

Evans, who was breaking in a new tip and ferrule, did not drop a frame until the semi-finals.

 

Emma Bonney, from Portsmouth, took the first with a 51. Evans won the next four and made an 89 in the fourth.

 

In the second semi, Catalano fought back from 3-1 down to overcame Katie Henrick 4-3 in an epic four-and-three-quarter-hour battle.

 

Two weeks ago, the finalists, representing England, returned from St Petersburg, Russia, with the European Ladies Team Championship trophy.

 

After collecting 17 WLBSA ranking events, Evans is keen to become the first woman to qualify for the Main Tour.

 

Ranked 27th on the English Association of Snooker & Billiards Pro-Ticket Tour, and in the last-32 of the English Amateur Championship, she is heading for a one-tournament shot at turning professional via the play-off.

 

“I’m capable,” she insisted. “I just maybe need that extra year to get a bit of experience. But I don’t see why I can’t do it.”

 

Evans is being assisted by top coach Del Hill. “He helps me when I need it; he’s there for me,” she said.

 

The world champion received an £380 SR World Stars’ cue No 1 from SR Cues Ltd and a Multirest from Fine Arch Cues. The facilities and hospitality were provided by Cambridge Snooker Centre.

 

Round-robin breaks:

 

Maria Catalano: 94, 71, 62, 49, 48, 46, 40

So Man Yan: 73

Suzie Opacic: 65

Reanne Evans: 53, 50, 40

Emma Bonney: 53, 40, 40

Hannah Jones: 52, 49

Jenny Poulter: 51

Katie Henrick: 49, 40

Jaique Ip Wan In: 49

 

KNOCKOUT (breaks)

 

QUARTER-FINALS (£100): Reanne Evans (49, 68, 45) bt Tina Owen-Sevilton 4-0, Emma Bonney (43, 48) bt June Banks 4-0, Katie Henrick bt Jaique Ip Wan In (63) 4-1, Maria Catalano bt Yu Ching Ching 4-2.

 

SEMI-FINALS (£200): Evans (89) bt Bonney (51) 4-1, Catalano (40, 63) bt Henrick 4-3.

 

FINAL (£800/£400): Evans (56, 48) bt Catalano (43, 43) 5-2.  

 

BILLIARDS

 

DEFENDING champion Emma Bonney admitted to not practising enough despite claiming a fourth world billiards title.

 

The 32-year-old from Portsmouth denied India’s Chitra Magimairaj a third title on her 36th birthday with an emphatic 272-118 victory.

 

Bonney, who scored at an average of 13.6 in the one-hour match, compiled runs of 35 and 43 while Magimairaj kept breaking down in the teens.

 

Over the last couple of months, Bonney has been working on her cue-action with dad Steve.

 

“To be VERY good you have to put in a lot of hours and I struggle to find time to practise,” she said.

 

Eva Palmius, a finalist last year, went out to Bonney 197-147 in the quarter-finals.

 

The tournament was officiated by Clive Scott, head of referees at the English Amateur Billiards Association (EABA), and assisted by referees Gary Norman, Peter Cooper and Michael Wright. The EABA supplied the trophies.

 

RESULTS (breaks)

 

PRELIM: Eva Palmius bt Jan Hughes 142-90, Hannah Jones bt Maureen Logan 136-89.

 

QUARTER-FINALS: Emma Bonney bt Palmius 197-147, Vidya Pillai bt Gaye Jones 144-94, Tina Owen-Sevilton (64, 38) bt Chris Sharpe 249-80, Chitra Magimairaj (39, 33) bt H Jones 229-151.

 

SEMI-FINALS: Bonney (30) bt Pillai (45) 184-128, Magimairaj bt Owen-Sevilton 197-120.

 

FINAL (£200/£100): Bonney (35, 43) bt Magimairaj 272-118.

 

PLATE

 

HONG Kong’s So Man Yan admitted she was “very happy” after claiming the Plate trophy on her world championship debut.

 

She defeated junior champion Hannah Jones, 12, in the final after battling back from one frame down to Suzie Opacic in the last four.

 

RESULTS (breaks):

 

PRELIM: Natascha Niermann bt Vicky Ashby 2-0, Eva Palmius w/o Chitra Magimairaj.

 

LAST 16: Niermann bt Palmius 2-0, Jodie Symes bt Jan Hughes 2-0, Hannah Jones bt Maureen Logan 2-0, Martina Lumsden bt Joanne Davies 2-0, Marianne Williams (42) bt Chris Sharpe 2-1, So Man Yan bt Jenny Poulter 2-0, Suzie Opacic bt Gaye Jones 2-1, Vidya Pillai bt Stacey Hancock 2-0.

 

QUARTER-FINALS: Niermann bt Symes 2-0, H Jones bt Lumsden 2-0, So bt Williams 2-0, Opacic bt Pillai 2-1.

 

SEMI-FINALS: H Jones bt Niermann 2-1, So bt Opacic 2-1.

 

FINAL: So bt H Jones 2-0.

 

JUNIORS

 

DERBY schoolgirl Hannah Jones has retained the world ladies junior title – and won herself a gerbil!

 

The 12-year-old England international overcame Joanne Davies, 16, 2-1 in the final.

 

However, it was a first ever half-century break - scored in the senior event - that heralded the patter of tiny feet.

 

Mum Theresa and dad Mark had vowed to buy their daughter a gerbil when she chalked up a first 50.

 

Jones missed a red on 49 in a round-robin group match with Indian national champion Vidya Pillai.

 

But the next day she cut a pink into the black pocket for a 52 against former world number one Emma Bonney (Portsmouth).

 

RESULTS

 

ROUND-ROBIN: Hannah Jones bt Joanne Davies 53-51, Jones bt Jodie Symes 54-33, Davies bt Symes 56-46.

 

FINAL: Jones bt Davies 2-1.

 

SENIORS (aged 40 and over)

 

WORLD number five June Banks made a winning debut in the Seniors.

 

The 40-year-old from Orpington, Kent, wrapped up a 3-0 victory over good friend Jenny Poulter in the final with a cocked-hat pink into the middle - and landed perfectly on the black.

 

Poulter, who had gone in off the final black in the first frame, said: “I played a safety thinking she wouldn’t play a cocked hat!”

 

The pair used to work together at the Savoy Snooker Club, Snodland.

 

“It’s hard playing Jenny,” said Banks. “We practise together. You don’t want to beat your mates.”

 

RESULTS

 

QUARTER-FINALS: Martina Lumsden bt Chris Sharpe 3-1, Jenny Poulter bt Gaye Jones 3-0, June Banks bt Marianne Williams 3-1, Eva Palmius bt Maureen Logan 3-0.

 

SEMI-FINALS: Banks bt Palmius 3-0, Poulter bt Lumsden 3-1.

 

FINAL (£100/£50): Banks bt Poulter 3-0.

 

DOUBLES

 

HONG Kong’s Jaique Ip Wan In teamed up with junior champion Hannah Jones to claim the doubles title.

 

Ip Wan In and Jones fought back from 1-0 down to overcome Chris Sharpe and So Man Yan 2-1 in the final.

 

RESULTS

 

PRELIM: Jaique Ip Wan in & Hannah Jones bt Maureen Logan & Yu Ching Ching 2-0.

 

FINAL: Ip Wan in & Jones bt Chris Sharpe & So Man Yan 2-1

 

CAMBRIDGE SNAPS

 

Mandy Fisher

 

WLBSA chairman Mandy Fisher missed the epic four-and-three-quarter-hour semi-final between Maria Catalano and Katie Henrick.

 

Dubbed ‘Pocket Venus’ by the Daily Star in 1982, Fisher, who was has run the women’s game since 1981, left early to celebrate her 47th birthday.   

 

Dan Lewis

 

ON the morning of the final, a red Vauxhall bumped into referee Dan Lewis’ right knee in a Cambridge health centre car park.

 

Thankfully, there was no damage to the car.

 

Lauren Evans

 

REANNE Evans’ next main challenger could be her two-year-old daughter.

 

Lauren, three in May, already has her own cue and small table.

 

“She can actually hit the ball really well,” said Evans. “She’s a leftie.”

 

Picture by Glenn Stanley (www.yourdigitalmemories.co.uk)