Ray Reardon

Ray Reardon, MBE (8 October 1932) is a retired Welsh snooker player. He dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning six World Championships in that decade. A genial figure, his darkwidow's peak and sharp-toothed grin nonetheless earned him the nickname Dracula.


Reardon also became popular because he added a touch of humour and entertainment to his game. A deadly long potter and tactician in his prime, he played seventeen World Championship matches without defeat and won the title four years in succession. He won his second in1973 in Manchester when he beat Eddie Charlton 38-32, but the match of the championship was the semi-final between Reardon and Spencer, which Reardon won 23-22.
He beat Graham Miles the following year, and in 1975, when it was held in Melbourne, Australia, he had a tough quarter-final with Spencer which he won 19-17. He then beat Alex Higgins 19-14 before meeting local hero Eddie Charlton in the final. Reardon initially trailed by 23 frames to 29, putting Charlton two frames away from the title, but Reardon then won seven consecutive frames to lead 30-29. Charlton took the sixtieth frame to tie the match but Reardon took the vital sixty-first and won his fourth title.
Reardon won his fifth the next year in Manchester, beating Alex Higgins 27-16. Earlier that year, he had won the Benson and Hedges Masters in London, his second snooker title after the World Championship. His unbeaten run at the World Championship ended at the first Crucible championship in 1977, when he lost to John Spencer in the quarter-finals 6-13, his first defeat since Rex Williams in 1972.
He regained the title in 1978 winning it for the sixth time by beating Perrie Mans 25-18. Reardon remains the oldest winner of the World Championship at the age of 45 years and 6 months. He then regained his Pot Black title in 1979.
When the snooker world rankings were introduced in 1976, Reardon was the first number one, retaining that position until 1981/1982.[1] His win in the 1982 Professional Players Tournament at the age of 50 led to him recapturing the world number one position in the first set of rankings to be calculated on tournaments other than the World Championship.
Reardon remains the oldest player, at 45, ever to win a ranking tournament. He has also won the State Express World Team Classic forWales during the first two years of the tournament in 1979 and 1980 with Mountjoy and Terry Griffiths. He also won the Welsh Professional Championship in 1981 and 1983. His last final was the 1985 World Doubles when he partnered Tony Jones and lost to Steve Davis and Tony Meo 5-12. He was awarded the MBE in the same year.
Reardon began to struggle in 1982 when his father died. He also developed poor sight and started wearing 'Dennis Taylor-style glasses' later on in his career. He went out of the top 16 in 1987 but surprisingly whitewashed Steve Davis 5-0 in the 1988 British Open. He retired in 1992, but maintains an active interest in the game. He also advised Ronnie O'Sullivan on his way to his 2004 World Championship victory, giving him psychological and technical help.He is currently the president of the golf club in Churston, Devon.He now lives in Torquay, Devon.

Ken Doherty

Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player. He is the only player ever to have been world amateur (1989) and world professional champion (1997). He was also World Under-21 champion in 1989.

After two semi-finals in the 1991/92 season (his second as a professional), Doherty reached the final of the 1992 Grand Prix, narrowly losing 10–9 to Jimmy White. In the same event a year later, he lost 6–9 to Peter Ebdon. His first ranking title was the 1993 Welsh Open, enough to take him into the top 16 in the world, where he remained until the 2007/08 season. In the 1994 World Championship he reached the quarter-finals, his only run past the first round before 1997.

Doherty became only the third player from outside the United Kingdom (After Australian Horace Lindrum in 1952 and Canadian Cliff Thorburn in 1980) to win the World Championship when he beat Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the 1997 final. Ken also reached the World Championship final in 1998 (losing to John Higgins) and in 2003, losing narrowly to Mark Williams. The latter run was noted for some outstanding comebacks, including final-frame wins over Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy, a 13–8 win over John Higgins in a match where Doherty raced ahead 10–0 but Higgins fought back to 10–7, and a semi-final fightback from 9–15 to beat Paul Hunter 17–16. In that championship he played more frames than anyone before or since. In the final, Williams led 11–4 but Doherty fought back to 12–12 and 16–16. In frame 33, Doherty missed the final red with a clearance there for the taking. Williams won that crucial frame and the next to prevail 18–16.

He is one of the few players to win back-to-back ranking events – the Welsh Open and Thailand Masters in 2001, also reaching the final of the following Regal Scottish Open.

In 2000, he narrowly failed to achieve a maximum break when he missed a routine final black off its spot in the 15th frame of the Benson & Hedges Masters final against Matthew Stevens, which he eventually lost 10–8. This one pot would have seen him win an £80,000 sports car. However, at 140 he did at least have the consolation of the £19,000 highest break prize.

In the 2005 World Championship, Doherty beat Barry Pinches in the first round 10–5, winning the last 8 frames, but was knocked out in the second round by Alan McManus 13–11.

Following an average start to the 2005/06 season, Doherty won the Malta Cup in February 2006, beating John Higgins in the final. Doherty had trailed 8–5 at one stage but managed a stirring comeback, winning four frames in a row. Doherty called the victory, which bridged a five-year gap, his "most important tournament win since the World Championship".

In the 2006 World Championship, Doherty started brightly winning his first match and defeated Barry Hawkins 10–1 and then he beatMatthew Stevens 13–8, playing superbly to win the last 5 frames. He was favourite in his quarter-final match against Marco Fu but lost 13–10. It was 8–8 as the final session started, but Doherty struggled despite winning a frame in which he required 3 snookers. Although he led 7–6, 8–7, 9–8 and 10–9, he could never quite take a decisive advantage to win the match. Doherty admitted afterwards that he "blew it"" but that he still had "a couple more years" to come back and win the title.He ended the 2005/06 season as the world Number 2, his highest ranking ever.

He made a solid start to the 2006/07 snooker season by reaching the quarter-final at what is the closest thing to a home tournament for him, the Northern Ireland Trophy at Belfast's Waterfront Hall. He followed this up with a last-16 defeats at the Grand Prix in Aberdeen and the UK Championship in York. He reached the quarter-finals of the next two tournaments, the Masters and the Malta Cup. He lost in the first round of the World Championship and, although clearly disappointed, the Dubliner vowed to continue. He was provisional world Number 1 for most of 2006/07 but finished the season at Number 4.

In October 2006, he won the Irish Professional Snooker Championships for a second time (having previously captured the title in 1993), an invitational event, beating Michael Judge 9–4 in the final. A year later he defended his title with a resounding 9–2 victory over Fergal O'Brien. He followed this up a week later by becoming the first Irishman to win the Pot Black invitational tournament, beating Shaun Murphy 76–31 in the one-frame final.

Doherty did not start the 2007–08 season well, winning only one match during the first four ranking tournaments. However, he did reach the semi-finals of the Masters with victories over Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy, before losing to eventual champion Mark Selby. He then reached the final of the Malta Cup for a record fifth time, defeating John Higgins in the semi-finals, before losing to Murphy in the final. Unfortunately for Doherty, neither of these events are ranking events, meaning his performances did nothing to keep him in the Top 16 for 2008/09. Defeat to Liang Wenbo in the first round of the World Championship ensured that he dropped out of the Top 16 after 15 years, and he started the new season 32nd on the provisional (one-year) list. A run of qualifying defeats saw him drop as low as 38th before the UK Championship.

Doherty's poor run of form continued during the 2008–09 season during which he won only two matches. For the first time since 1993, he failed to qualify for the World Championship having been beaten in the final qualifying round by Gerard Greene.

Doherty's form saw an upturn in the 2009/2010 season with a rise back into the top 32 (at 30) in the rankings up from 44th. This is thanks to a quarter final appearance in the 2009 Shanghai Masters, and a last 16 appearance in the 2009 Grand Prix. Doherty defeated 6 times World Championship finalist Jimmy White 10–3, and two time Crucible semi-finalist Joe Swail 10–1 to mark his return to the World Championships for the first time since 2008. In an amusing moment, Doherty got down on his knees and kissed the carpet upon his return to the venue. However, he lost his first round match 10–4 to reigning Masters champion Mark Selby.

The 2010/2011 season proved to be a mixed campaign for Doherty, who made the last 32 of the 2010 World Open, yet missed out on qualifying for the 2011 German Masters, 2011 Welsh Open and crucially, blowing a 6–3, losing 10–6 Jimmy Robertson in the final stage of qualifying for the 2011 World Snooker Championship, meaning Ken has only reached The Crucible in 1 of his last 3 attempts.

The 2011/2012 started well for Ken. As he reached the Semi-Final of the Australian Open. He lost this match against Mark Williams 2-6.

Nigel Bond

Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965, Darley Dale, Derbyshire) is an English professional snooker player. He was ranked within the top 16 from 1992 to 1999. After a season outside the top 32, he regained his place there. At 43 years old, he was the second-oldest player (behind Steve Davis) in the 2008/2009 rankings top 32. He is a former British Open champion, and World Championship finalist; in 2009 he won the World Games title. He is noted as one of the best users of the swan neck rest. A solid breakbuilder, Bond has compiled 95 centuries so far in his career.

After a strong amateur career, Bond turned professional for the 1989–1990 season. He reached his first ranking semi-final in his first season, and his first final in his second season, but his career peaked in the mid-1990s. In the 1994 World Championships, Bond pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in the event's history, rallying from 9–2 to defeat Cliff Thorburn 10–9 in what would be Thorburn's final appearance at the Crucible. A year later, Bond reached the final, but lost to Stephen Hendry 18–9. This was his only semi-final run of the season. As a consequence of reaching the final, he climbed to number 5 in the world rankings for 1996/97, and in that same season he acquired his only ranking tournament victory (after three previous losing finals), the British Open, beating John Higgins 9–8 after needing a snooker in the final frame, winning the World Snooker Association Performance of the Year award for this achievement. He has failed to maintain this level of performance, partly due to his son Daniel having a heart condition.

He reached at least the quarter finals at the Crucible Theatre every year from 1993 to 1996, losing to Stephen Hendry every time, which added extra spice to their first round match in 2006. After leading comfortably throughout the match Bond was pegged back to 7–7, and the match went to a final frame. With only the black remaining, and 7 points up, Bond clipped it into the left corner pocket, only for the cue ball to go in-off in the right middle pocket, resulting in a respotted black (the first one ever to decide the final frame of a World Championship match), which Bond potted to take frame and match. Final score 10–9, Bond's first win at the Crucible since 1999, and his only last-16 run of that season.

By the end of the 1990s, Bond was out of the top 16, and dropped out of the top 32 for the 2004–2005 season. However, he reclaimed his place a year later, and he has remained there ever since as of 2009. In the 2007 World Championship he lost in the first round, 10–7 to Peter Ebdon.

A run to the last 16 of the 2007 UK Championships, in which he came from 5–7 to win 9–7 against Ken Doherty in the last 32 before losing 9–6 to Ding Junhui in the last 16, was a precursor to his first quarter-final run for 5 years, at the China Open. Victories over David Roe,Stephen Lee and Barry Pinches took him to a meeting with Stephen Maguire, which he lost 5–0.

He opened the 2008/09 season with first-round defeats in the first five tournaments, but victory over Ebdon in the first round of the World Championship ensured that he didn't lose his top 32 status.

On the 30th January 2011, Bond won the non-ranking 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out event. This involved the top 64 players in the world of snooker. Bond was successful, winning only 6 frames to win the competition. He picked up the £32,000 prize money as well as the Snooker Shoot-Out trophy. He beat Robert Milkins 58–24 in the final.