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World Snooker

A History Of World Snooker.
Professional snooker players can compete on the world snooker tour, amassing ranking points.

Each player who competes on the tour earns points from their performances over the last two seasons, and those points then determine that player’s current world ranking.
A player's ranking determines if they need to qualify for ranking tournaments.
The Top 16 ranked players, automatically qualify for most of the major tournaments.
 
The current top 16 ranked players are listed below.
1. Ronnie O'Sullivan
2. Stephen Maguire
3. Shaun Murphy
4. John Higgins MBE
5. Allister Carter 
6. Ryan Day 
7. Mark Selby 
8. Marco Fu 
9. Neil Robertson 
10. Stephen Hendry MBE 
11. Mark Allen 
12. Joe Perry 
13. Ding Junhui 
14. Peter Ebdon 
15. Mark Williams MBE 
16. Mark King 

 
World Snooker Championships

The world championships are the pinnacle of modern day snooker.

 
The first ever Snooker Championship was held in 1927 and it was the legendary Joe Davies who from that year until the mid 1940's was the man to beat, winning 15 titles on his way.
This could have been more of course without the interruption of the 2nd world war.
 
That record of 15 titles still stands today, Joe’s brother Fred Davies then took over, winning the competition three times in late 1940's.
 
The game changed in the forthcoming years and was run by two governing bodies.
 
Two tournaments were held the forthcoming years, and for a period after that Snooker went into a decline, the decline started in the 1950's and that period lasted for over 10 years.
During this time, challenge matches were arranged, these challenge matches were completely dominated by John Pulman who won them 7 times in a row during 1964 -1968
 
Snooker was back in 1969 that was year John Spencer won the event, but it was the legendary Welshman "Ray Reardon" who dominated the seventies winning six times.
 
1977 was a pivotal year in snooker, and  the world championship moved to Sheffield in the UK.
and the world famous "Crucible Theatre" the event was known for years as the Embassy World Championship, and was televised by the BBC.
 
"The Crucible" is footballs answer to Wembley, and although there has been much talk of the competition being moved to china, and the Far East, the world snooker governing body has agreed to extend the contract at the crucible for a further 5 years until 2014
 
From then the game grew world wide and thanks to the TV, sponsorship and some fantastic players, none other than Steve Davis or "The Nugget" as his is also known.
 
Although Steve Davis dominated the eighties winning six titles, Its was the Scotsman Stephen Hendry who then dominated the nineties winning seven titles.
 
Since those days the game has become very open, being won by six different winners of the event since the turn of the millennium.
 
History shows that the game has been dominated by the British,  but we are now seeing the game develop overseas, mainly in the Far East.
 

The World Snooker Championship, currently held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, is the climax of snooker's annual calendar and the most important snooker event of the year in terms of prestige, prize money and world ranking points.
Previous Winners

1927 Joe Davis          bt         Tom Dennis        

1928 Joe Davis          bt         Fred Lawrence
1929 Joe Davis          bt         Tom Dennis 
1930 Joe Davis          bt         Tom Dennis
1931 Joe Davis          bt         Tom Dennis
1932 Joe Davis          bt         Clark McConachy 
1933 Joe Davis          bt         Willie Smith
1934 Joe Davis          bt         Tom Newman
1935 Joe Davis          bt         Willie Smith
1936 Joe Davis          bt         Horace Lindrum
1937 Joe Davis          bt         Horace Lindrum
1938 Joe Davis          bt         Sidney Smith
1939 Joe Davis          bt         Sidney Smith             
1940 Joe Davis          bt         Fred Davis                   
 
1941-1945 no tournament was held due to the 2nd world war
 
1946 Joe Davis                bt    Horace Lindrum 
1947 Walter Donaldson bt    Fred Davis
1948 Fred Davis              bt    Walter Donaldson 
1949 Fred Davis              bt    Walter Donaldson 
1950 Walter Donaldson bt    Fred Davis
1951 Fred Davis              bt    Walter Donaldson
1952 Horace Lindrum    bt   Clark McConachy      
 
1953-1969 Snooker was in decline so challenge matches were arranged.
 
Challenge matches
1964 John Pulman     bt         Fred Davis 
1964 John Pulman     bt         Rex Williams  
1965 John Pulman     bt         Fred Davis
1965 John Pulman     bt         Rex Williams 
1965 John Pulman     bt         Fred Van Rensburg 
1966 John Pulman     bt         Fred Davis
1968 John Pulman     bt         Eddie Charlton
 
World championship
1969 John Spencer    bt         Gary Owen 
1970 Ray Reardon     bt         John Pulman
1971 John Spencer    bt         Warren Simpson
1972 Alex Higgins      bt         John Spencer 
1973 Ray Reardon     bt         Eddie Charlton
1974 Ray Reardon     bt         Graham Miles  
1975 Ray Reardon     bt         Eddie Charlton
1976 Ray Reardon     bt         Alex Higgins
1977 John Spencer    bt         Cliff Thorburn
1978 Ray Reardon      bt         Perrie Mans
1979 Terry Griffiths      bt         Dennis Taylor
1980 Cliff Thorburn     bt         Alex Higgins
1981 Steve Davis         bt         Doug Mountjoy
1982 Alex Higgins        bt         Ray Reardon
1983 Steve Davis          bt         Cliff Thorburn
1984 Steve Davis          bt         Jimmy White
1985 Dennis Taylor      bt         Steve Davis
1986 Joe Johnson        bt         Steve Davis
1987 Steve Davis           bt         Joe Johnson
1988 Steve Davis           bt         Terry Griffiths
1989 Steve Davis           bt         John Parrott
1990 Stephen Hendry    bt              Jimmy White
1991 John Parrott            bt               J immy White         
1992 Stephen Hendry     bt                Jimmy White
1993 Stephen Hendry     bt                Jimmy White
1994 Stephen Hendry     bt                Jimmy White               
1995 Stephen Hendry     bt                Nigel Bond
1996 Stephen Hendry     bt                Peter Ebdon
1997 Ken Doherty           bt                Stephen Hendry
1998 John Higgins         bt                Ken Doherty
1999 Stephen Hendry     bt                Mark Williams
2000 Mark Williams       bt                Matthew Stevens
2001 Ronnie O'Sullivan bt                John Higgins
2002 Peter Ebdon           bt               Stephen Hendry
2003 Mark Williams       bt                Ken Doherty
2004 Ronnie O'Sullivan bt                Graeme Dott
2005 Shaun Murphy        bt               Matthew Stevens
2006 Graeme Dott          bt                Peter Ebdon
2007 John Higgins           bt               Mark Selby
2008 Ronnie O'Sullivan    bt               Ali Carter
2009 John Higgins      bt           Shaun Murphy
 
Note: Mastercraft Cues accept no responsibility for the accuracy of this information.


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