Women's Wytech Masters & UK Championship

[snookerdad]

THREE women world champions from three different cue sports will be in action in Derbyshire this weekend.

The World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association’s 2008/09 season kicks off with two snooker tournaments, the invitation-only Wytech Masters and the UK Championships.

Midlands IT company Wytech are sponsoring Saturday’s event at the North East Derbyshire Snooker Centre, Clay Cross.

Four-time world snooker champion Reanne Evans, world 8-ball pool champion Lynette Horsburgh, from Blackpool, and world billiards champion Emma Bonney will be among 16 players competing for more than £1,400 prize money.

The UK Championship, the first ranking event, takes place at the same venue on Sunday.

Tim Dunkley

[Monique]

No chance I suppose to have any streaming or television coverage. And 1400£ prize money ...
There is no way the women's game will ever develop properly under those conditions. They can't make a living out of it, so they can't probably devote as much time and effort to it as the guys do, they don't attract interest because they are almost never shown, they are most probably struggling for any sort of support or sponsoring ... what future does that yield? And who as a parent would encourage their daughter to follow that path?

(going through a pessimistic patch )

[wyt147]

No chance I suppose to have any streaming or television coverage. And 1400£ prize money ...
There is no way the women's game will ever develop properly under those conditions. They can't make a living out of it, so they can't probably devote as much time and effort to it as the guys do, they don't attract interest because they are almost never shown, they are most probably struggling for any sort of support or sponsoring ... what future does that yield? And who as a parent would encourage their daughter to follow that path?

(going through a pessimistic patch )

Monique,

The Wytech Masters coverage will hopefully be internet streaming. 4 tables will be played and all tables filmed so that we can post it to the internet after editing, a single live stream will be available from the match table (all depends on the internet connection though).

The prize money is a small part of the overall package and what you have to realise is that the event is a 1 dayer, invitation event where the players do not pay to play but are paid to play even if they go out in the first round. It is their event and for their benefit.

There is a prize for the high break in each round and a pound a point for the highest break as well as mementos for all of the players and officials. The event itself is an attempt to attract more players and to establish a more solid base of players within the WLBSA because players are invited into the Masters on merit from the previous season. In essence there is over £3K worth of sponsorship going into the event.

I wish it were more but I am the only person supporting the ladies game apart from the ladies themselves, Mandy Fisher, referees and a few other people like Janie Watkins and Tim Dunkley who tirelessly promotes the game.

I can understand the pessimism and I am not challenging it just explaining but I personally have to be optimistic. My daughter plays (and loves playing) the game (and billiards and pool) and I am trying to help her in developing a game for her to play in the future. I have succeeded in bringing in 5 regular players from Derbyshire and with another couple in the wings and the coverage from Tim, you never know, the idea may spread across the country.

Hopefully future events will be covered on Cuesport.tv which is currently showing the World Ladies Snooker Championship from this year which Reanne Evans won.

More players means more money to play for. Better players means more interest in the sport from potential sponsors. Perhaps a simplistic view but alternatively I could do nothing and the WLBSA would only have 8-10 regular players instead of the 20 odd regular players at each tournament. Then it wouldn't be worth attending the events.

Yours in optimism.

Markj

[Monique]

Thanks!

Thanks Mark ,Janie, Mandy and Tim, and all the anonymous others ... you are doing a great job really and with very limited resources. Be assured I really appreciate what you do and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Would it be possible to advertise such events much more in advance? I for one would be interested to come and watch it life ... and take pictures (I'm not bad at that ). but living in Belgium, working full time and having a family ... I can't do it at such short notice.



PS: When in Athens I play pool in the "Champions Club" owned by John Vassalos father in Nea Smirni and ... on week days ladies get a 50% discount. They're trying the little bit of contribution also there ...

[wyt147]

Thanks Mark ,Janie, Mandy and Tim, and all the anonymous others ... you are doing a great job really and with very limited resources. Be assured I really appreciate what you do and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Would it be possible to advertise such events much more in advance? I for one would be interested to come and watch it life ... and take pictures (I'm not bad at that ). but living in Belgium, working full time and having a family ... I can't do it at such short notice.



PS: When in Athens I play pool in the "Champions Club" owned by John Vassalos father in Nea Smirni and ... on week days ladies get a 50% discount. They're trying the little bit of contribution also there ...

Thank Monique.

It certainly can be frustrating with very little information.

I agree that it would be better to advertise the events earlier and in the case of the Masters that is down to me, Tim pushes the event through a load of different channels. I have received the ladies calendar for 2008-2009 and will post up the dates and venues on TSF as well as a few other sites. The ladies section of GCS hasn't been updated yet because they are updating their website however it has recently been suggested to go ahead and update the pages anyway and these updates will form part of the upgrade, so at least I wont be entering the information for nothing.

The World Ladies Snooker website is woefully out of date and that again is down to the small amount of time the volunteers have to update it while trying to work and run familys also, however I hope that it will be updated after the UK Championships for the benefit of all and in a format that makes it easier to update.

The ladies game (snooker) will always struggle to be as good as the past where 120+ players vied for the World title but then we all hark back to the past with regards to snooker and the boom times. We need to look forward and try other ways to build up the ladies game such as Internet streaming and bombarding the news and forums with up to date information in order to build up a community of lady players of all ages.

Watch this space...

[poolqjunkie]

Thanks for the update and all the work that has been put into promoting women snooker.
Saw Lynette play American 9 ball before. Petite lady with jet black hair, very lovely player to watch. Glad to hear that she is still playing.

[wyt147]

Thanks for the update and all the work that has been put into promoting women snooker.
Saw Lynette play American 9 ball before. Petite lady with jet black hair, very lovely player to watch. Glad to hear that she is still playing.

Yes I am excited to see her play at the event. There will be cameras on every table and if the footage is ok I shall get it onto the Internet as soon as it is edited. I'll link it here.

[wyt147]

Masters streaming

The Wytech Ladies Masters Stream will start at 10am today 13th September

You can access the stream from the GCS site, Ladies link, or directly from Selfcast.

The links are below:

http://globalcuesportscentre.com/fil...ladieshome.htm

http://www.selfcast.com/GCSWorldLadiesSnooker

The room is a bit dark and we shall try and keep the image as good as we can throughout the day. Every match of the event will be filmed and uploaded at a later date in a better format anyway.

[snookerdad]

WOMEN’S snooker star Reanne Evans admitted she was “drained” after retaining the Wytech Masters trophy in a dramatic late-night battle with Katie Henrick.

Three women world champions from three different cue sports appeared at the invitation-only event, sanctioned by the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association, at the North East Derbyshire SC, Clay Cross, on Saturday, September 13.

Kent-based world number three Henrick twice took the lead in the best-of-five final but Evans twice levelled with breaks of 59.

At a quarter-to-one in the morning, Evans, the four-time world champion from Dudley, fluked the brown in the decider and cleared up.

“We were drained,” said the 22-year-old mother-of-one who pocketed £529. “I think we both played quite well, considering how late it was. Everybody seems to have improved a bit.

“They must be fed up of me winning now.” she laughed. “I feel confident; I’m playing quite well – for the time being, anyway.”

Evans heads to Austria next month to defend her IBSF world title.

Tournament sponsor Mark Jones, MD of Midlands IT company Wytech, said: “It was a very long day but it was fantastic. There was a lot of appreciation from the players. It went on too long but that’s something we can look at next year.”

World 8-ball pool champion Lynette Horsburgh, from Blackpool, and world billiards champion Emma Bonney, from Portsmouth, both went out 3-2 to Henrick.

Newcastle’s Pam Wood was taken ill minutes after clearing the colours to lead Maureen Logan 2-0 in the first round.

She was rushed to hospital where a scan revealed a two millimetre kidney stone and she was discharged later that day.

The 39-year-old legal secretary picked up a £10 bonus for the highest break of the round.

Matches were streamed live by Wytech on globalsnookercentre.co.uk. Prize money totalled £1,419.

Wytech Masters results (breaks):

ROUND 1 (£20): Sarah Smith bt Joanne Davies 3-0, Gaye Jones bt Marianne Williams 3-1, Maureen Logan w/o Pam Wood, Lynette Horsburgh bt Eva Palmius 3-0.

ROUND 2 (£30): Smith (45, 45, 30) bt Vicky Ashby 3-0, Chris Sharpe bt G Jones 3-1, Hannah Jones bt Logan 3-0, Horsburgh bt Suzie Opacic (31) 3-2.

QUARTER-FINALS (£65): Reanne Evans (38, 32, 33) bt Smith 3-1, Maria Catalano (46) bt Sharpe 3-1, Emma Bonney bt H Jones 3-0, Katie Henrick (31) bt Horsburgh 3-2.

SEMI-FINALS (£100): Evans (43) bt Catalano (40) 3-1, Henrick bt Bonney (36) 3-2.

FINAL (£450/£200): Evans (59, 59) bt Henrick 3-2.

£10 high break awards:

Round 1: Pam Wood (27), round 2: Sarah Smith (45), quarter-finals: Maria Catalano (46), semi-finals: Reanne Evans (43), final: Evans (59).

Pound-a-point overall highest break:

Evans (59).

REANNE Evans continued her dominance of women’s snooker by clinching a fourth straight UK Championship title and the Wytech Masters trophy on the same day.

The four-time world champion defeated Katie Henrick 3-2 in the Masters final which ended at a quarter-to-one in the morning on Sunday, September 14.

A few hours later Evans returned to the North East Derbyshire SC, Clay Cross, to defend her UK title.

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 26-year-old cousin Maria Catalano took a 1-0 lead in the final, the first frame that Evans had dropped in the tournament.

“I didn’t realise, otherwise I would’ve tried harder,” laughed the 22-year-old mother-of-one from Dudley after running out a 3-1 winner. “I felt comfortable and I’ve been cueing all right.”

“She practises too much,” laughed Catalano.

World number four Catalano may have played a last snooker tournament before the world championships. She heads to the U.S. later this month to compete on the 9-ball pool circuit.

Three women world champions from three different cue sports appeared in the first ranking event of the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association season.

World billiards champion Emma Bonney and world 8-ball pool champion Lynette Horsburgh both went out 3-0 to Evans.

Newcastle’s Pam Wood was back in action after being rushed to hospital the previous day and diagnosed with a kidney stone.

The 39-year-old lost on a fluked pink to World Ladies Junior champion Hannah Jones in the Plate semi-final.

The WLBSA is hosting six ranking events this season culminating in the World Championships in April.


UK Championship results (breaks):

ROUND 1: Hannah Jones bt Joanne Davies 3-1.

LAST 16: Reanne Evans (78) bt H Jones 3-0, Lynette Horsburgh (45) bt Maureen Logan 3-0, Sarah Smith bt Chris Sharpe 3-1, Emma Bonney (49) bt
Vicky Ashby 3-0, Maria Catalano (42) bt Suzie Opacic 3-0, Eva Palmius bt Marianne Williams 3-1, Gaye Jones bt Laura Alves 3-0, Katie Henrick bt Pam Wood 3-0.

QUARTER-FINALS: Evans (41,42) bt Horsburgh 3-0, Bonney bt Smith 3-0, Catalano (32) bt Palmius 3-0, Henrick (32) bt G Jones 3-0.

SEMI-FINALS: Evans (48) bt Bonney 3-0, Catalano bt Henrick (51) 3-1.

FINAL: Evans (52, 46) bt Catalano 3-1.

UK Championship Plate results:

LAST 16: Pam Wood bt Joanne Davies 2-0.

QUARTER-FINALS: Wood bt Laura Alves 2-0, Hannah Jones bt Maureen Logan 2-1, Suzie Opacic bt Vicky Ashby 2-0, Chris Sharpe bt Marianne Williams 2-1.

SEMI-FINALS: Jones bt Wood 2-1, Opacic bt Sharpe 2-1.

FINAL: Opacic bt Jones 2-1.

UK Championship Seniors results:

QUARTER-FINALS: Chris Sharpe bt Maureen Logan 1-0.

SEMI-FINALS: Eva Palmius bt Sharpe 1-0, Gaye Jones bt Laura Alves 1-0.

FINAL: Jones bt Palmius 1-0.

Tim Dunkley

[Monique]

It has been appreciated ... look:
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sp...the.4495049.jp

Lynette is back at the head of the table

WORLD 8-ball pool champion Lynette Horsburgh from Blackpool made a guest appearance on the snooker circuit.
Horsburgh lost 3-2 to world no2 Katie Henrick in the quarter-final of the Wytech Masters at the North East Derbyshire Snooker Club in Clay Cross.
"I'm quite pleased because I didn't have any high expectations," said the 34-year-old radio web producer.
"It's been a really good tournament. Maybe I wouldn't have stopped playing if it had been this kind of set-up. They really looked after us."
Horsburgh, a former world no.1 and two-time world championship finalist, beat Eva Palmius from Ely 3-0 and Suzie Opacic from Hampshire 3-2 on the black.
The following day in the UK Championship, the first ranking event of the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker season, Horsburgh posted a 45 break to beat Maureen Logan from Wallsend 3-0 but lost by the same score to four-time world champion Reanne Evans in the semi-finals.

NB: blue set by me.

[wyt147]

It has been appreciated ... look:
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sp...the.4495049.jp


NB: blue set by me.

Thanks for the post Monique.

It was a great weeked over both days. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the pampering (I am sure there is never too much though..) and I enjoyed the matches- all played in the true competitive, and dare I say it professional, spirit.

All matches were videoed which means 9 months of editing now... to get it onto a DVD. The live stream worked fairly well most of the time and we had a lot of viewers including Theo from Germany who stuck by me over the 2 days and relayed the matches and scores on to a German forum.

I'm shattered now. We each put in around 42 hours over the three days but it paid off and I learnt alot along the way.

Hannah made it to the plate final and her attitude and ability belied her 12 years of age. If Hannah continues playing she will be making bigger waves in a couple of years time. Her performance completed the weekend for me.

I can't wait until next year now...

[Snookeraddict147]

Ladies Snooker

And how to get in circuit? Or if I wanna get pro,should I play there or Pontins? (If I`ll be ready...in fact I am searching a room for the table...hope 4help!!):snooker::snooker::snooker:

[snookerdad]

I've sent you some contact information by PM.

Tim Dunkley (WLBSA press officer)

[Snookeraddict147]

Thx snookerdad! If I`m ready I tell you!

Thx again!