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Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby SnookerFan

WPBSA and WST are delighted to announce a historic agreement which will see leading World Women’s Snooker (WWS) stars Reanne Evans and Ng On Yee offered the chance to turn professional from the start of the 2021/22 season with two-year tour cards.

The announcement forms part of a wider commitment which today reinforces the role of the WPBSA’s World Women’s Snooker Tour as a major development tour within our sport’s elite pathway. In addition to the two tour cards, it has also been confirmed that places at professional tournaments such as the Betfred World Championship and Champion of Champions will continue to be offered each season.

England’s Reanne Evans and Ng On Yee of Hong Kong have been the flagbearers for women’s snooker for over 15 years, having between them dominated the sport’s major competitions.

Evans is the most successful women’s snooker player ever, having won the World Championship on a record 12 occasions since 2005. In 2020 she was awarded an MBE for her services to our sport and previously spent one season on the professional tour in 2010/2011.

For Ng, the Asian star is set to enjoy her first spell on the professional tour, having emerged as the greatest threat to Evans’ dominance during the past decade. A three-time winner of the World Championship since 2015 and a former world number one, Ng is also a two-time winner of the prestigious ‘Best of the Best’ award at the Samsung Sports Awards in Hong Kong and has been widely celebrated in her home country.

A Sport for All

Since becoming a subsidiary development tour of the WPBSA in December 2015, the World Women’s Snooker Tour has seen significant growth, with player participation having more than doubled during that time with over 150 ranked players from 29 countries currently represented.

Historically based within the UK, WWS has since staged prestigious ranking events in countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Malta, Germany and Belgium, having become a truly international sport for all.

Alongside the World Women’s Snooker Tour itself, the WPBSA has also remained committed to providing opportunities for women to compete alongside the best professional players in the world, including at the World Championship, Champion of Champions and Shoot Out competitions.

Snooker is a rare example of a sport that can place men and women on the same field of play to compete equally and both the WPBSA and WWS are delighted that today’s announcement marks another significant milestone in helping elite female talent to compete at the very highest level of our sport.

“A Huge Moment for Women’s Snooker”

Mandy Fisher, WWS President, said: “I am thrilled that from next season two of our leading women’s snooker stars will be able to take their place on the professional circuit.


Evans is a regular analyst for broadcasters including BBC and Eurosport

“World Women’s Snooker celebrates its 40th anniversary later this year and I can honestly say that today’s announcement marks one of the most significant days in our history so far. With the support of Jason Ferguson and the WPBSA, we have taken significant strides in recent seasons and for our tour and most importantly our players to be recognised in this way represents a huge moment for women in snooker.”

Jason Ferguson, WPBSA Chairman, said: “For many years we have championed the role of women in our sport, from offering opportunities for our women to compete at major professional events, to our development of the WPBSA’s World Women’s Snooker Tour.

“We firmly believe that there is no reason why a woman cannot compete equally with a man and today’s announcement underlines our commitment to women’s snooker both now and in the future.

“Through seeing our leading female players compete on television on a regular basis, we are confident that more women and girls from across the club will be inspired to pick up a cue and look to emulate their achievements in the future.”

https://wst.tv/world-womens-snooker-awa ... ur-places/

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby cupotee

i don't mind this at all as its only a logical step to making the game more popular , my only reservation is that i'm not sure On Yee's game is good enough to respectably compete on the pro tour , i'm not worried about Evans i'm sure she'll compete in loads of frames but perhaps with On Yee it might have been more advisable to stick to one place and wait til she becomes a stronger player .

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby SnookerFan

cupotee wrote:i don't mind this at all as its only a logical step to making the game more popular , my only reservation is that i'm not sure On Yee's game is good enough to respectably compete on the pro tour , i'm not worried about Evans i'm sure she'll compete in loads of frames but perhaps with On Yee it might have been more advisable to stick to one place and wait til she becomes a stronger player .


I wondered about this, but admittedly without knowing much about the women's game.

Didn't Ng On Yee lose 10-1 when she tried to qualify for tlThe Crucible?

The flip side is, that her game can only improve for continually playing against better opponents. Judging her on one result is hardly fair.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby HappyCamper

SnookerFan wrote:
cupotee wrote:i don't mind this at all as its only a logical step to making the game more popular , my only reservation is that i'm not sure On Yee's game is good enough to respectably compete on the pro tour , i'm not worried about Evans i'm sure she'll compete in loads of frames but perhaps with On Yee it might have been more advisable to stick to one place and wait til she becomes a stronger player .


I wondered about this, but admittedly without knowing much about the women's game.

Didn't Ng On Yee lose 10-1 when she tried to qualify for tlThe Crucible?

The flip side is, that her game can only improve for continually playing against better opponents. Judging her on one result is hardly fair.


most recent was 10-6 to mcmanus. had a couple of 10-1s in years before.

evans got one win against rob hull one year.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby motorhead

Very questionable choice imho. Aside from the fact that we'll likely see these two torn apart left and right for two years, I don't understand how this is a step forward in having men and women competing equally when 'normal' player have to go through Q-school.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby chengdufan

It's not just q school though. Tour cards go to the winners of the African and Australian continental champions, the European u-21 champion... Giving cards to the Women's champions is the same.

It's not a 'wildcard' based on historical greatness. It's a place earned on merit.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby SnookerFan

HappyCamper wrote:
SnookerFan wrote:
cupotee wrote:i don't mind this at all as its only a logical step to making the game more popular , my only reservation is that i'm not sure On Yee's game is good enough to respectably compete on the pro tour , i'm not worried about Evans i'm sure she'll compete in loads of frames but perhaps with On Yee it might have been more advisable to stick to one place and wait til she becomes a stronger player .


I wondered about this, but admittedly without knowing much about the women's game.

Didn't Ng On Yee lose 10-1 when she tried to qualify for tlThe Crucible?

The flip side is, that her game can only improve for continually playing against better opponents. Judging her on one result is hardly fair.


most recent was 10-6 to mcmanus. had a couple of 10-1s in years before.

evans got one win against rob hull one year.



Well, there you go.

More access to the main tour can only help their game.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby motorhead

chengdufan wrote:It's not just q school though. Tour cards go to the winners of the African and Australian continental champions, the European u-21 champion... Giving cards to the Women's champions is the same.

It's not a 'wildcard' based on historical greatness. It's a place earned on merit.

They are totally different things; why not give out WCs to winners of my local club tournaments too tho?

Are you really comparing the standard of European u-21 with the women's WC?

I'm not even too keen of continental champions WCs for that matter.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby motorhead

Am I getting this right that there could be 4 women in the WC qualies next year? if Reanne and Ng are automatically entered there's going to be 2 more spots available via WWS rankings....

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby SnookerFan

motorhead wrote:
chengdufan wrote:It's not just q school though. Tour cards go to the winners of the African and Australian continental champions, the European u-21 champion... Giving cards to the Women's champions is the same.

It's not a 'wildcard' based on historical greatness. It's a place earned on merit.

They are totally different things; why not give out WCs to winners of my local club tournaments too tho?

Are you really comparing the standard of European u-21 with the women's WC?

I'm not even too keen of continental champions WCs for that matter.


Isn't part of it though to give Wildcards to countries where the game isn't fully evolved? If you're the only decent player from your country, getting quality practice time / quality matches can be difficult. It's in World Snooker's interest to promote the game around the world, so giving a foreign player a Wildcard gives them some incentive to come to the UK to make a go of it and at the same time, it might create an interest in that player's home country.

Wildcards shouldn't be awarded to any player indefinitely, but you could argue that players like Reanne are far too good for the women's game, which at present isn't massively developed. Playing on the tour might help her game, and possibly even get her into the spotlight enough to encourage more young girls to take up the game. Possibly helping snooker long-term. In that sense, it is the same as awarding them based on nationality. As said, Reanne has won games on tour. She qualified for the Australian Open a few years back too. And Ng On Yee though has lost, has become more competitive than when she first started competing against the men.

I'd prefer something like that, then just continually giving Jimmy White a geriatric card every time he drops off the tour.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby Iranu

motorhead wrote:Very questionable choice imho. Aside from the fact that we'll likely see these two torn apart left and right for two years, I don't understand how this is a step forward in having men and women competing equally when 'normal' player have to go through Q-school.

Seeing women playing snooker on TV will boost awareness of the women’s game and give young girls something to aspire to when they might not have otherwise considered snooker. And the more they play on the pro tour the more competitive they’ll become.

It’s a good thing long-term.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby Reg Varney

Although I'm unsure on just handing Reanne and Ng automatic cards, especially as Reanne has herself failed to get through Q-School (I don't know about Ng), agree rather them do something like this than keep dolling them out to old pro's like White and Doherty (and before that Wattana), every time they drop off the tour.

The plus is that although they are likely to be on the receiving end of some tonkings, their game should improve, see Lisa Ashton and how her game has come on playing on the Pro Tour in Darts.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby cupotee

motorhead wrote:
chengdufan wrote:It's not just q school though. Tour cards go to the winners of the African and Australian continental champions, the European u-21 champion... Giving cards to the Women's champions is the same.

It's not a 'wildcard' based on historical greatness. It's a place earned on merit.

They are totally different things; why not give out WCs to winners of my local club tournaments too tho?

Are you really comparing the standard of European u-21 with the women's WC?

I'm not even too keen of continental champions WCs for that matter.


the only reason kacper filipiak would be a strong player in the ebsa snooker championship or the world snooker federation open is his experience on the main tour , likewise iulian boiko , o sullivan in 2011 tipped filipiak as a future world champion , everyone has to be a salesman at some point , correct me if i'm wrong but outside of these recent pro series best of 3's filipiak has never beaten a tour player in ten years , how exactly do you sell that to poles , that be's been unlucky for ten years ? the tweaking of places to promote the popularity of the game surely is the overriding factor , i see no mention of depriving places to ebsa winners or world snooker federation finalists so it seems fine to me .

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby motorhead

SnookerFan wrote:cut

I'd have bet 1 milion Jimmy would have been mentioned in this thread, the irony of it coming after him schooling Bingham <laugh>

An idea is to have continental winners put in good positions in q schools through Byes, why are you making it sound like I'm against developing snooker in other countries.

Again, playing on the tour would possibly help my game too, what does that have to do with an equal field?

Reanne never qualified for the men's Australian Open, you are probably referring to '13 Wuxi classic where she reached the final stage beating Un-Nooh.

She was also already been given a WC for the '10-'11, went on to post a 0-18 record, that's matches not frames.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby motorhead

Iranu wrote:Seeing women playing snooker on TV will boost awareness of the women’s game and give young girls something to aspire to when they might not have otherwise considered snooker. And the more they play on the pro tour the more competitive they’ll become.

It’s a good thing long-term.

These are all assumptions imho, how many aussies do we have on the tour at the moment? They had a 'dedicated' tournament and you can just as easily translate this argument.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby Iranu

motorhead wrote:
Iranu wrote:Seeing women playing snooker on TV will boost awareness of the women’s game and give young girls something to aspire to when they might not have otherwise considered snooker. And the more they play on the pro tour the more competitive they’ll become.

It’s a good thing long-term.

These are all assumptions imho, how many aussies do we have on the tour at the moment? They had a 'dedicated' tournament and you can just as easily translate this argument.

It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years and decades to see noticeable effects from these things. Having a tournament for five years isn’t enough.

It’s also a completely different circumstance anyway and not really comparable.

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby motorhead

Reg Varney wrote: (I don't know about Ng)

Regularly entered q school these past years, has wins over: Miah (reached last 32), Collumb, Swail (reached last 32)

Re: Reanne and Ng On Yee offered tour cards

Postby SnookerEd25

Reg Varney wrote:Although I'm unsure on just handing Reanne and Ng automatic cards, especially as Reanne has herself failed to get through Q-School (I don't know about Ng)


Ng On Yee has made several attempts to qualify through Q-school. Here are her results :

2016:
Event 1 -
R1 Chris Jones W 4-2
L128 Hassan Miah W 4-0
L64 Clayton Humphries W 4-3
L32 Daniel Womersley L 3-4

Event 2 -
R1 James Silverwood W 4-1
L128 Christopher Keogan w/o (Keogan had already qualified through Event 1)
L64 John J. Astley L 0-4

2017 :
Event 1 -
R1 Josh Mulholland W 4-3
L128 Dessie Sheehan W 4-0
L64 Joe Swail W 4-3
L32 Ma Tingpeng L 3-4

Event 2 -
R1 Jeff Cundy L 2-4

2018 :
Event 1 -
R1 Daniel Womersley L 3-4

Event 2 -
R1 Darryl Hill L 2-4

Event 3 -
L128 Ning Kang W 4-2
L64 Dechawat Poomjaeng L 1-4

2019 :
Event 1 -
R1 Shehzad Iqbal W 4-1
L128 Michael Collumb W 4-1
L64 Louis Heathcote L 0-4

Event 2 -
R1 Heikki Niva W 4-2
L128 Aman Goel W 4-2
L64 Peter Lines L 1-4

Event 3 -
R1 Matheus Baranowski L 2-4