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2003 European Open (snooker)
The 2003 European Open was a professional snooker tournament and the fifth of eight WPBSA ranking events in the 2002/2003 season, following the Welsh Open. It was held from 11 to 16 March 2003 at the Palace Hotel in Torquay, England. This marked the first and only time when any of the editions of this tournament was not held outside the British Isles. Ronnie O'Sullivan won his 12th ranking title by defeating Stephen Hendry 9–6 in the final. O'Sullivan went on to win back-to-back ranking titles – his next coming at the 2003 Irish Masters, just two weeks later, where he triumphed over John Higgins in a deciding frame. Tournament summary Defending champion Stephen Hendry was the number 1 seed with World Champion Peter Ebdon seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings. Main draw Final References {{Snooker season 2002/2003 2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 peris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Open (snooker)
The European Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament that has been staged periodically since 1989 as the European Open. Between 2005 and 2008 it was known as the Malta Cup and was the sole ranking tournament in Europe outside the British Isles, before being discontinued. In 2016, the event was resurrected and rebranded the European Masters. History Before the 1988/89 season, there were no ranking events outside the United Kingdom. There were, however, many successful invitation events, so the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association decided to extend the tour with some overseas events. The first two were held in Canada and mainland Europe. The first European event was the European Open in 1988 in Deauville, France, with the sponsorship of ICI. The event then was held at the Palais des Sports in Lyon, France, for 1992 and at the Imax Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands with the sponsorship of Tulip Computers. The event was then moved to Belgium. It was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ebdon
Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English former snooker player. The winner of the 2002 World Snooker Championship, Ebdon won nine world ranking events, placing twelfth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. In addition to his world snooker championship, Ebdon won a second Triple Crown event at the 2006 UK Championship. After winning the 1990 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship, Ebdon turned professional, making his debut at the World Snooker Championship the following year. He won his first professional event at the 1993 Grand Prix and reached the elite top 16 players in the world rankings in 1995. He reached his first World Championship final in 1996, where he lost to Stephen Hendry, however, he reached the final again in 2002 World Snooker Championship, defeating Hendry 18–17. He reached a third World Championship final in 2006, losing to Graeme Dott. Ebdon continued in the top 16 until 2011, reaching the last of his 18 ranking event fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bjorn Haneveer
Bjorn Haneveer (born 4 September 1976 in) is a Belgian snooker player and commentator. Haneveer, formerly a professional competitor, now plays at semi-professional level and also commentates on snooker matches for Dutch Eurosport. Career A six-time Belgian snooker champion (last title won in May 2007 vs Patrick Delsemme), Haneveer lost in the final of the European Championship in Scotland in June, 2000. He was European Champion at Enschede, Netherlands and at Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ..., Latvia in June, 2001. Haneveer won the snooker gold medal at the sixth World Games held in Akita, Japan, in August, 2001. He made a 147 break during the 2003 European Championship at Bad Wildungen in Germany and another during the Belgian Championships, 2007. He won ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan McManus
Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Dubai Classic and the 1996 Thailand Open, and competed in the World Championship semi-finals in 1992, 1993 and 2016. He also won the 1994 Masters, ending Stephen Hendry's five-year, 23-match unbeaten streak at the tournament with a 9–8 victory in the final. McManus announced his retirement on 9 April 2021 after losing 6–3 to Bai Langning in the second qualifying round of the 2021 World Snooker Championship. Career Top 16 career and Masters winner McManus has long been considered a consistently good player, having a record of fourteen consecutive seasons in the Top 16, but never managed to achieve the success of his contemporaries Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams. He was ranked in the Top 16 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Hull
Robin Hull (born 16 August 1974) is a Finnish former professional snooker player. For some time, he was the sole Nordic player on the game's main tour. He is known as a solid -builder, having compiled over 150 competitive during his career, among the highest for a player who has never featured in the top 16 in the world rankings. Hull is one of six players to have missed the final black in attempting a maximum break, alongside Ken Doherty, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (twice), Barry Pinches, Mark Selby and Liang Wenbo. Career A professional since 1992, Hull came to prominence during the 2001–02 season, as he reached the last 16 of the 2001 UK Championship, and later qualified for the 2002 World Championship, knocking out Steve Davis in the final qualifying round; in the first round proper, he lost 6–10 to Graeme Dott. These results allowed Hull to get into the world top 32 at the end of the next season. A potentially fatal viral infection kept Hull out of much of the 200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters champion, winning the event in 2001, 2002, and 2004, recovering from a deficit in the final to win 10–9 on all three occasions. He also won three ranking events: the Welsh Open in 1998 and 2002, and the British Open in 2002. During the 2004–05 snooker season, he attained a career-high ranking of number four in the world. In March 2005, Hunter was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumours, but continued to play for several months afterwards. He died shortly before his 28th birthday in October 2006. In his memory, a tournament in Fürth, Germany, was renamed the Paul Hunter Classic and, in April 2016, the Masters trophy was renamed the Paul Hunter Trophy. A prolific break-builder, he made 114 century breaks, the highest being a 146 in the 2004 Premier League. Early life Hunter was born on 14 October 1978 in Leeds, England, and was educated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Gray (snooker Player)
David Gray (born 9 February 1979) is an English former professional snooker player from London. Gray turned professional in 1996 after becoming the youngest ever winner of the prestigious English Amateur Championship. He went on to win the 2003 Scottish Open, break into the top 16 in the world rankings and reach the final of the 2004 UK Championship (where he made his first of two competitive maximums) - despite these successes early in his career, his form declined until he eventually dropped off the tour in 2010 aged just 31. Career Gray turned professional in 1996, after becoming the youngest winner of the English amateur title in 1995. Gray first qualified for the World Championship aged 19 in 1998 where he narrowly lost in round one to future World Champion John Higgins, who went on to win the tournament that year. He first demonstrated his potential by beating future seven-time World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–9 in the first round of the 2000 World Championship, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Doherty
Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur Championship. Since turning professional in 1990, Doherty has won six ranking tournaments, including the 1997 World Snooker Championship in which he defeated Stephen Hendry, inflicting Hendry's first loss in a world final. He came very close to breaking the Crucible curse, reaching the 1998 final where he lost out to John Higgins. He reached a third final in 2003, in which he was defeated by Mark Williams. In other triple crown events, he has been runner-up three times in the UK Championship and twice in the Masters. An intelligent tactician, Doherty has compiled more than 350 century breaks in professional competition. Since 2009, he has combined his playing career with commentating and punditry work. Career Doherty appeared in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Pinches
Barry Pinches (born 13 July 1970 in Catton, Norwich) is an English professional snooker player, recognisable for his bright and flamboyant waistcoats, which usually feature the yellow and green colours of Norwich City F.C. He is a former top 32 player and ranking-event quarter-finalist. He has compiled over 100 century breaks in his career, becoming the 33rd player to have done so. He has also made one maximum break. Career Pinches won the English Amateur Championship in 1988, enabling him to turn professional in 1989. He is coached by Stephen Feeney. After a largely unsuccessful start to his career, he hit good form for a while in the 2000s. He defeated Jimmy White 10–8 in the 2004 World Championship, in a match which overran and had to be completed after other matches, then led Stephen Hendry 11–9 before losing 12–13 and has lost in the first round twice more – the 13-year gap between his first two Crucible appearances (1991–2004) is an all-time record. In his fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerard Greene
Gerard Eamonn Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Chatham, Kent) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. He represents Northern Ireland in international events, as his parents are from Belfast. Greene has enjoyed moderate success in his career, reaching his highest ranking, 26th, for the 2004–05 season, and has reached one ranking final, at the 2014 Players Championship Grand Final, where he lost 4–0 to Barry Hawkins. Alongside this, Greene reached a ranking semi-final, at the 2007 Grand Prix, losing to the eventual champion Marco Fu, and five quarter-finals. Representing Northern Ireland with teammate Mark Allen, he reached the final of the 2011 World Cup, where they lost to China. Greene has qualified for the World Championship five times without winning a match at the Crucible Theatre, although he twice drew the defending champion – John Higgins in 1999, and Peter Ebdon in 2003. He was ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1997 until he fell off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy White
James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 Six-red World champion, 3 time World Seniors Champion ( 2010, 2019, 2020), 2019 Seniors 6-Red World Champion and 1984 World Doubles champion with Alex Higgins. White has won two of snooker's three majors: the UK Championship (in 1992) and the Masters (in 1984) and a total of ten ranking events. He is currently tenth on the all-time list of ranking event winners. He reached six World Championship finals but never won the event; the closest he came was in 1994 when he lost in a final frame decider against Stephen Hendry. He spent 21 seasons ranked in snooker's elite top 16. In team events, he won the Nations Cup and the World Cup with England. He is one of a select number of players to have made over 300 century breaks in professio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Drago
Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 Guangzhou Masters. He later switched his focus to pool and won the 2003 World Pool Masters beating Hsia Hui-kai 8–6 and the 2008 Predator International 10-ball Championship beating Francisco Bustamante 13–10. Snooker career Drago's highest snooker world rankings position was number ten (in 1998). He has reached two major finals – the 1991 World Masters (losing to Jimmy White), and the 1997 International Open (beaten by Stephen Hendry—Drago's only ranking event final, and his first run past the quarter-finals of any ranking event). He reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 1988. He has appeared in the tournament 11 further times, most recently in 2004/2005, with five further last-sixteen runs. He lost to Matthew St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
