Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

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 The World Pool Masters is an annual international nine-ball tournament. Formerly, it was called the European Pool Masters (until 1995) until players from other parts of the globe were invited. History Throughout much of its history, the tournament ...

beating Hsia Hui-kai 8–6 and the 2008 Predator International 10-ball Championship beating

snooker world rankings The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. The ranking lists are maintained by the sport's governing body, ...

position was number ten (in 1998). He has reached two major finals – the 1991 World Masters (losing to

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 ...

), and the 1997 International Open (beaten by

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, 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 A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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 Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

in three successive years – 8–13 in the last 16 in 1999, 2–10 in the 2000 first round, and 1–10 in the 2001 first round. After he failed to qualify for the 2004 World Championship, Drago's snooker form slumped badly. He dropped out of the top 32 of the rankings a year later, and, after losing to Issara Kachaiwong in his opening qualifier for the 2008 World Championship, he dropped off the tour. In 2009, Drago won the EBSA International Open, which gave him the chance to return for the 2009–10 season. He reached the third qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters,

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

, and

2009 UK Championship The 2009 UK Championship, Pukka Pies UK Championship was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament that took place between 5–13 December 2009 at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England. This was the first ti ...

. He then qualified for the Welsh Open, by defeating Simon Bedford (5–3),

Peter Lines Peter Lines (born 11 December 1969) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the father ...

(5–2), Jimmy Michie (5–2), and Gerard Greene (5–2), where he played against Ryan Day in the first round, but he lost 4–5. In the China Open qualifying, Drago defeated

Lee Page Lee Page (born 6 November 1987) is an English former professional snooker player from Kidderminster. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. I ...

(5–2),

John Parrott John Stephen Parrott, (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player and television personality. He was a familiar face on the professional snooker circuit during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and remained within ...

(5–2), Anthony Hamilton (5–4), and Stephen Lee (5–2), to qualify for the televised stages of the China Open. As a result of such a solid season, he got a place in the top 64 and finished 54th. Tony Drago PHC 2012-2

2010/2011 was again a good season for Drago, as he climbed 8 places to finish 46th in the rankings. However, the 2011/12 season was much worse, with only four qualifying wins to his name. His best results were reaching the last 32 of several of the PTC events. After unexpectedly losing 7–10 to amateur

Justin Astley Justin Astley (born 20 May 1983) is an English former professional snooker player. He played on Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with ...

in the

2012 World Snooker Championship The 2012 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2012 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 21 April to 7 May 2012 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 36th co ...

qualifiers, Drago finished the season ranked 65th, not making it into the top 64 guaranteeing their place for the next season; however, he was given a wildcard for the next season as a European nomination, along with young Luca Brecel. Drago could not qualify for any of the ranking events during the 2012–13 season. He made headlines in his qualifying match against

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 Du ...

for the

German Masters The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, ...

, when, upon being told he would be fined £250 for conceding the match early, he slapped himself in the face a number of times. Drago finished the year ranked world number 82. His first match of the season was against

Adam Duffy Adam Duffy (born 30 March 1989) is an English professional snooker player. Duffy qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the third and final Q School event. Career Debut season As a new player on ...

in the qualifying round for the 2013 Wuxi Classic; Drago lost the match 2–5. In the qualifying rounds for the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open, Drago defeated

Christopher Keogan Christopher Keogan (born 26 August 1992) is an English former professional snooker player. Career From the town of Doncaster, Yorkshire in England, Keogan started playing snooker at the age of 6. In his early years he was coached by Steve Pre ...

5–2 and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5–4, making a crucial 75 break in the deciding frame. In the third qualifying round, Drago was trailing

Tian Pengfei Tian Pengfei (, born 16 August 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He began his career by playing the Challenge Tour in 2004, at the time the second-level professional tour. Tian played on the Main Tour in 2006 and competed on the ...

1–3, before winning four consecutive frames, including a 111 break, to win the match 5–3; however, he lost in the final qualifying round 3–5 to Ryan Day, despite leading 2–0 and 3–2. Drago lost his place on the tour at the end of the 2015/16 season and he failed to qualify for the main tour in that season's Q School. In 2020 Drago was once again selected for the Seniors World Championship. However, on the counsel of his personal doctor, he refused the offer due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...

ongoing at the time.

Pool career

Drago's first major pool win was the 2003

, which came just a few weeks after a run to the semi-finals of that year's World Pool Championship. Drago was member of the winning European team at the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

and

2008 Mosconi Cup The 2008 Mosconi Cup, the 15th edition of the annual nine-ball pool competition between teams representing Europe and the United States, took place 11–14 December 2008 at the Hilton Conference Center in Portomaso, Malta. Team Europe won the ...

. At 2007 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, Drago won all of his single matches which earned him the ''Most Valuable Player Award''. In 2008, Drago won the Predator International 10-ball Championship, beating

Francisco Bustamante Francisco Bustamante (born December 29, 1963) is a Filipino professional pool player from Tarlac, Central Luzon and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion, nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the 1966 film of the same name,Sean Lanigan Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name '' Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan ( Ulster variant; anglic ...

in just thirty-four minutes at the 2nd leg of the Strachan Challenge. He also holds the record for the fastest best-of-17 match, beating Joe O'Boye 9–0 in 81 minutes at the

1990 UK Championship The 1990 UK Championship (also known as the 1990 StormSeal UK Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 16 November and 2 December 1990 at the Guild Hall in Preston, Engl ...

. Conversely, he lost 4–13 against

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

in the second round of the 1996 World Championship in just 167 minutes and 33 seconds, an all-time Crucible record and less than 9 minutes per frame. In the 1996 UK Championship he made a

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

in just three minutes and thirty-one seconds against John Higgins. In the third round of the 1988 Fidelity Unit Trusts International he won the fifth frame 62–0 in just 3 minutes. In 1995, he made a break of 149 in practice against Nick Manning in a snooker club in West Norwood, London. Drago was left snookered after a foul and potted the brown as a free ball and again as the colour, before potting the fifteen reds with thirteen blacks, a pink and a blue, and all the colours.

Playing style

His combination of exceptionally fast play and emotional

temperament In psychology, temperament broadly refers to consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes. Some researchers point to association of temperam ...

has made him a popular character in snooker, although he was famously criticised by

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

for hurling his cue at the table and storming out of the arena following his 1–5 quarterfinal defeat to Mark Bennett in the 1996 Grand Prix, with Drago later accusing his opponent of bad

sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport, or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake. This is with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A "sore loser" refers to o ...

, because the latter had twice in the match suggested that Drago missed the object ball deliberately while snookered. Similarly, he became visibly angry with

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 addit ...

during their second round match in the 2003 World Championship, in which Ebdon repeatedly left the arena between frames. Drago took this as an attempt to disrupt the flow of his game, but apologised publicly when he later found out that Ebdon had been ill during the match. His style has earned him the nickname "the Tornado".

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Minor-ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

Non-ranking finals: 8 (1 title)

Team finals: 1

Pro-am finals: 6 (3 titles)

Amateur finals: 3 (2 titles)

Pool tournament wins

* 2003

* 2007

Mosconi Cup The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1994 between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf and the Weber ...

* 2007 Mosconi Cup (MVP) * 2008

Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool events set around Europe, founded in 1992, and created by the European Pocket Billiard Federation The European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) is the European governing body for pocket billiar ...

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

* 2008

* 2008 Predator International 10-ball Championship

References

External links

*
Tony Drago
at ''worldsnooker.com''
Profile on Global SnookerProfile on World Pool Masters
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drago, Tony 1965 births Living people Maltese snooker players Maltese pool players People from Valletta Competitors at the 2005 World Games