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Ssb - brazilian goes nuts for wildcard
Igor Figueiredo will become the first Brazilian to compete on the main tour this coming season after being awarded a wildcard by the WPBSA.
Figueiredo was beaten 10-8 by Alfie Burden in the final of the IBSF World amateur championship last November.
This is a great achievement for Igor who until early last year had only ever played snooker on a ten foot table with ten reds, as is common back home in Brazil.
He has been given one of the two remaining discretionary places in the gift of the game's governing body.
The other has gone to Patrick Einsle from the snooker heartland of Germany.
Einsle failed to make much impact on his debut season on the professional circuit in 2006/07 - although he was only a teenager at the time - but his wildcard is proof of the extent to which Germany is being targeted as a market to be tapped by the new regime, though he will still have to play in the qualifiers for the new German Masters.
Reanne Evans, the women's world champion, was unveiled as a wildcard choice during the Betfred.com World Championship.
There were other deserving candidates but at least some imagination, especially with regards to snooker's global and commercial reach, has been exercised.
It's in complete contrast to last year when the wildcards were merely given to the next three players on the ranking list.
Another main tour place was filled last night when Kuldesh Johal won the English play-off with a 6-4 defeat of Robbie Williams, to the dismay of headline writers the length and breadth of Britain.
Looking ahead, the 2011/12 professional circuit will still comprise 96 players and will be made up of the following:
- The top 64 in the end of season rankings
- The top eight in the Players Tour order of merit not in the top 64 in the end of season rankings
- 12 players from the Cue School, which will take place shortly after the World Championship
- The IBSF world champion, world under 21 champion, three players from Asia, two from Europe and one from each of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
More...
Figueiredo was beaten 10-8 by Alfie Burden in the final of the IBSF World amateur championship last November.
This is a great achievement for Igor who until early last year had only ever played snooker on a ten foot table with ten reds, as is common back home in Brazil.
He has been given one of the two remaining discretionary places in the gift of the game's governing body.
The other has gone to Patrick Einsle from the snooker heartland of Germany.
Einsle failed to make much impact on his debut season on the professional circuit in 2006/07 - although he was only a teenager at the time - but his wildcard is proof of the extent to which Germany is being targeted as a market to be tapped by the new regime, though he will still have to play in the qualifiers for the new German Masters.
Reanne Evans, the women's world champion, was unveiled as a wildcard choice during the Betfred.com World Championship.
There were other deserving candidates but at least some imagination, especially with regards to snooker's global and commercial reach, has been exercised.
It's in complete contrast to last year when the wildcards were merely given to the next three players on the ranking list.
Another main tour place was filled last night when Kuldesh Johal won the English play-off with a 6-4 defeat of Robbie Williams, to the dismay of headline writers the length and breadth of Britain.
Looking ahead, the 2011/12 professional circuit will still comprise 96 players and will be made up of the following:
- The top 64 in the end of season rankings
- The top eight in the Players Tour order of merit not in the top 64 in the end of season rankings
- 12 players from the Cue School, which will take place shortly after the World Championship
- The IBSF world champion, world under 21 champion, three players from Asia, two from Europe and one from each of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
More...