Snooker

Legends of Welsh Sport - Doug Mountjoy: The Comeback Man
Pleasant half-hour which might conceivably be on iPlayer or somewhere. The ex-miner whose world championship dreams were crushed by Steve Davis, but did rebound to thwart a teenage Stephen Hendry at the UK Championship. All the players involved had fond views, even Hendry. In his latter years, it seems he spent 2 hours a day playing snooker at Mark Williams' club, regular as clockwork.

^ Just watched it on iPlayer.
Got me right in the gut .
He truly was a lovely man and a stylish cueist.
Achieved far more in the sport than a lot of folk might think.
So sad he is no longer with us anymore.

My dad's nickname used to be Mountjoy because of his sideburns. Those were the days, when sideburns were in fashion.

I remember the (edit) 1981 World Championship and my whole family were willing Mountjoy come back against Davis, and he got within a couple of frames a couple of times but didn't quite manage it. I also remember when Mountjoy won the UK Championship and my family and I were expecting Stephen Hendry to go up a gear at anytime and surge to victory. But the comeback never came and Mountjoy surged to victory. I think if he didn't suffer from pleurisy he would have won a lot more titles than he did.

When I was starting to follow Snooker in the late 80s, Doug Mountjoy was a player I took to. I certainly wouldn't have bestowed an unflattering nickname upon him

Nor did we bestow an unflattering nickname on Doug Mountjoy, we bestowed a very flattering nickname to my dad though

Despite losing the final of the Women's British Open 4-1 to Ng On-Yee, Mink Nutcharut did enough to finish no.1 in the Women's rankings and have her 2 year tour card renewed.

Ng On-Yee also beat Baipat Siripaporn and Reanne Evans on her way to the final and it seems criminal that she doesn't have a tour card. Earlier in the week she hedged her bets by entering the Asian Q School, and she won her first match, but lost in the 2nd round. She did better than Tony Knowles, who entered the European Q School but got knocked out in the first round.

The first qualifying competition in the European Q School in Leicester is over and there is a new Latvian professional snooker player. Artemijs Zizins defeated Kayden Brierly 4-2 to win a 2 year tour card and make Latvia proud.

In the Asian Q School Sunny Akani regained his professional status after defeating Ali Gharagozlou 4-2. Akani lost his professional status 2 years ago after his long battle with covid prevented him from participating in tournaments and earning ranking points.

The second qualifying competition in each is under way and Tony Knowles and Ng On-Yee have both won their first match. There may still be a chance for both to regain professional status.

Akani been off for 2 years? Blimey, that must have flown by (not for him, though).

Q School is over.

In the European one, Poland's leading amateur Antoni Kowalski gained professional status for the first time. Mitchell Mann and Farakh Ajaib both fell off the tour in 2023, but after a 1 year absence they've regained their professional status. Tony Knowles and Ng On-Yee both went out in round 2.

List of players who won a 2 year tour card at the European Q School:
Allan Taylor (Eng)
Haydon Pinhey (Eng)
Wang Yuchen (Hong Kong)
Artemijs Zizins (Latvia)
Farakh Ajaib (Pakistan)
Antoni Kowalski (Poland)
Mitchell Mann (Eng)
Chris Totten (Scotland)

In the Asian one Gao Yang was within a frame of regaining his tour card, but ultimately got beaten 4-3 by Malaysian player Lim Kok Leong.

List of players who won a 2 year tour card at the Asian Q School:
Sunny Akani (Thailand)
Lim Kok Leong (Malaysia)
Haris Tahir (Pakistan)
Kreishh Gurbaxani (India)

Stephen Hendry turned down the chance of another 2 year exemption because he's too busy/crap these days. Ken Doherty, though, very much clinging on for another 2 years.