Christopher Melling (born 27 January 1979) is an English professional

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

and

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 Ind ...

player and former world number 1 at World Rules British

Eight-Ball Eight-ball (also spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes or rarely highs and lows) is a discipline of pool played on a billiard table with six pockets, cue sticks, and sixteen billiard balls ...

. He won the

WEPF World Eightball Championship The WEPF World Eightball Pool Championship is a pool world championship organised by the World Eightball Pool Federation using World Rules. The competition has taken place annually since 1993. The most successful player in the men's singles is th ...

twice, in 2001 and 2003. He was ranked #1 in 2003 by the

World Eightball Pool Federation The World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) is an international pool governing body overseeing international tournaments and rankings in the British-originating variant of eight-ball pool played with red and yellow unnumbered balls instead of the ...

. Melling has also twice won the International Pool Masters (2001 and 2002) and the European Professional title (2002). He was the first player to win two International Tour events back to back. His entrance by walk-on music is from the song “

Wannabe "Wannabe" is the debut single by English girl group the Spice Girls. Written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produc ...

” by

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vi ...

. Melling is also the only cue sports player to hold professional status in English 8 ball, American pool and snooker.

Career

In 2001, Melling reached the last 16 of the

2001 WPA World Nine-ball Championship The 2001 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was the 12th edition of the WPA World Championship for 9-Ball Pool. It took place from July 14 to 22, 2001 in Cardiff, Wales. Mika Immonen won the event, defeating German Ralf Souquet in the final, wi ...

in Cardiff, beating

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 ...

along the way. Melling tours worldwide to pursue his

9-ball pool Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of ...

career. In October 2010 he won his first European 9-Ball event - the Portugal Open. On 12 June 2011 Melling was crowned China Open champion and received $40,000. This was his first major 9-Ball Pool tournament victory. In December 2011, Melling participated in the 18th annual

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 ...

, and won four of his six matches. A year later he won the Most Valuable Player Award in the

2012 Mosconi Cup The 2012 Mosconi Cup, the 19th edition of the annual nine-ball pool competition between teams representing Europe and the United States, took place 10–13 December 2012 at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, England. Team Europe won the ...

. In January 2013, he reached the final of the Chinese 8-Ball Masters, losing to

Gareth Potts Gareth David Potts (born 30 June 1983) is an English three-time world champion eight-ball pool player, winning the WEPF World Eightball Championship in 2005, 2007 and 2008.2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, the World Masters, World Cup of Pool and finished 5th in the US Open 9-Ball Championship. In May 2014, Melling entered snooker Q School in an attempt to regain his professional status and defeated the likes of former professionals Daniel Wells and Chen Zhe 4–3 and 4–1 respectively, before winning his quarter-final match against

Duane Jones Duane L. Jones (April 11, 1937July 22, 1988) was an American actor and theatre director, best known for his lead role as Ben in the 1968 horror film ''Night of the Living Dead''. He was later director of the Maguire Theater at the State Universi ...

4–3 to earn a two-year tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. This saw him become the first person to have been a professional in 8-Ball Pool, 9-Ball Pool and Snooker at the same time. His first match as a professional saw him beat 2003 UK Championship winner

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 ...

5–4 to qualify for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, but he lost 5–1 to Zhao Xintong in the first round. Melling also played in the first round of the

International Championship The International Championship is a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Judd Trump. History The event was introduced in the 2012–13 snooker season, 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "f ...

by defeating

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made hi ...

6–5 and was knocked out 6–1 by

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 20 ...

. His first victory at the venue stage of a ranking event came at the Welsh Open after he edged out

Nigel Bond Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English former professional snooker player. Bond competed on the main tour from 1989 to 2022, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 s ...

4–3, before being whitewashed 4–0 by home favourite Michael White in the second round. The 2015–16 season proved harder for Melling as he could only win four matches all year. He dropped off the tour at the end of the season and could not win enough matches at Q School to win his place back.

Pool titles

* 2019 IPT Ultimate Pool Series - Event 2 * 2018

Derby City Classic The Derby City Classic is an annual pool convention and tournament held every January at the Caesars Southern Indiana casino in Elizabeth, Indiana, near Louisville, Kentucky. It is eight days long and offers various disciplines of competition fo ...

9-Ball * 2018 World Pool Series 8-Ball Classic * 2017

14.1 Challenge * 2012 Mosconi Cup (MVP) * 2012

* 2011

* 2011 China Open 9-Ball Championship * 2010

Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool (billiards), pool events set around Europe, founded in 1992, and created by the European Pocket Billiard Federation. The Tour's first event was the ''Belgium Open'', held on May 29 – 31, 1992. The ...

Portugal Open The Portugal Open (formerly named Estoril Open) was an ATP and WTA clay court tennis tournament in Portugal. The event took place at the sports complex of Jamor in Oeiras, of which Estoril Court Central is the most prominent show court. In 201 ...

* 2005 Snooker PIOS - Event 5 * 2003

* 2002 Q School Snooker Challenge Tour - Event 1 * 2001

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melling, Chris English pool players Living people 1979 births World champions in pool English snooker players Sportspeople from London