Reanne Evans has won the UK Women’s Snooker Championship for the 11th time

Congratulations Reanne!

Here is the report by the Women’s Tour:

Evans Wins 11th UK Crown

Reanne Evans defeated Ng On Yee 4-3 to win the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship for a record-extending 11th time at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

• View final results and standings

Victory for Evans in the season-opener represents her first ranking event triumph since the same event in September 2021 and her third consecutive success at the Tour’s second most contested title. The win is her 64th ranking event title in all, moving Evans to within four of the all-time record set by Allison Fisher.

The world number one defeated Chucky Preston (3-0), Jamie Hunter (3-1) and Rebecca Kenna (4-1) to reach her 14th UK final since her debut at the event back in 2002.

Awaiting her would be long-time rival and world number two Ng On Yee, herself a four-time UK champion from just five previous appearances in the competition and looking to claim her second ranking event title of the calendar year following success at April’s Winchester Open. She dropped just one frame from six matches on her run to the final, which most notably included a 4-0 whitewash of reigning world champion Nutcharut Wongharuthai in the semi-finals.

It was the Hong Kong player who led the match three times at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, a match-high break of 57 in frame five taking her to within a frame of victory. Back though came Evans to force a decider, during which both would have chances with England’s Evans ultimately doing enough to prevail and end her short title drought.

Victory for Evans sees her consolidate her position at the head of the world rankings ahead of Ng, with beaten semi-finalists Nutcharut Wongharuthai and Rebecca Kenna remaining third and fourth respectively.

Side-Tournaments

For the third consecutive tournament there was a title double for Ploychompoo Laokiatphong and Tessa Davidson in the Under-21 and Seniors tournaments respectively, as the pair continued their dominance in the categories.

Victory for Laokiatphong against first-time junior finalist Chloe Payne sees the Thai player become the number one ranked player in the Under-21 rankings for the first time, with former number one Steph Daughtery having turned 21 during the summer.

For Davidson, her victory against Sarah Dunn sees the former ranking event winner retain her unblemished record on the Seniors Tour since her return to the circuit in January, with four titles from four events played so far. She will retain the top Seniors ranking ahead of second placed Jenny Poulter.

Finally, there was a first side-tournament victory for Thailand’s Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan, who defeated Zoe Killington in the final of the Challenge Cup for players who did not qualify from the group stages. The 2019 World Cup winner claimed the single frame final with a fantastic break of 79.

World Women’s Snooker would like to thank title sponsors Taom Billiards and host venue the Northern Snooker Centre, without the support of whom the event would not have been possible.

The WWS Tour returns later this month with the inaugural staging of the US Women’s Open from Ox Billiards in Seattle. Entry remains open for the event HERE.

I’m sure though that many reading this will think “Bah! She’s not able to do anything on the Main Tour, what’s the value of it?”.  I can understand such reactions, but let’s have a look at some factors that are important to consider before issuing such damning judgement.

Every sport is a “number game”: the more exponents, the higher the chances to find exceptional talents. I have already written about this in the past but it’s worth saying it again: many women and girls have got bad experiences in billiards/snooker clubs. They are often made to feel unwelcome, some clubs and league still ban them altogether. They are often taunted, mocked and sexually hassled, especially the teenagers. The majority of them will give up quickly, feeling unsafe. The Women’s tour is offering them a “safe” place, “safe” events. The level isn’t as high as on the main tour and that’s an understatement. It does attract girls to the sport, which is a huge positive, but it doesn’t offer a level of competition allowing girls to succeed on the main tour, not yet anyway.

Yesterday, the “Lionesses”, England’s Women’s football team, won the UEFA Women’s EURO in a packed Wembley stadium. The match was shown by the BBC and attracted an immense audience. They got the whole nation behind them. Journalists on site praised the good spirit in which the match was played, as well as the enthousiast but friendly crowd. One of them, reflected that it had made him realise how “tribal” and “toxic” men football often is. This, IMO, is true especially at the highest level, the level where money has superseeded sport. By that I mean both the indecently high wages some get and the huge betting industry around the sport.

Women have a lot to bring to sport. They need however to be allowed to play, and to be able to start in a safe and welcoming environment. That’s the only way to “grow” the number of girls in sport, and with it the chance to see exceptional talents.

Jason Ferguson has often said that snooker isn’t a sport requiring physical strength, and, therefore, girls should be able to compete with men “on equal terms”. I’m not entirely convinced. There are men, currently on the tour, who can’t play certain shots as well as other competitors, because of their stature or relative lack of power. Women are, on average, shorter and less “powerful” than men. But there is more IMO. Just observe toddlers … “on average” boys will display better eye-hand-foot coordination, girls will be more advanced when it comes to language skills and “precise” small mouvements. Eye-hand coordination is essential in snooker. At that age, I don’t think it’s a “culturally induced feature”, more likely the result of a long but slow “genetic” evolution. Mind you, it’s been about 2 700 000 years since “Homo” started using tools,  300000 years since “Homo sapiens” is around, only 3500 years since writing was “invented”.  Civilisation and technology  have gone through an accelerated evolution path. Genetics won’t evolve that quickly. But “on average” means nothing for the individual. Very clumsy men, as well as  extremely well coordinated women exist …  if snooker can attract enough girls, if the opportunities are there, female champions will emerge.