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World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association press release - 8 Mar2010 - Tim Dunkley
Evans clinches Connie Gough
REANNE Evans’ bid for a clean sweep this season on the women’s snooker circuit moved a step closer after the Paul Wood-sponsored £1,000 Connie Gough National Championship (on Saturday, March 6).
The 24-year-old five-time world champion from Dudley defeated Maria Catalano 3-1 in the final at the Stadium Snooker Club, Hall Green, Birmingham.
Victory over world number two Catalano, also from Dudley, extended Evans’ impressive winning run on the WLBSA tour to 57 matches.
She secured her 22nd WLBSA ranking title with breaks of 41 and 45 after world number two Catalano, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 28-year-old cousin, had squared the match at 1-1.
Evans compiled runs of 104 and 64 in a 3-0 quarter-final win over Marianne Williams, from Surrey.
Cambridge hosts the world championship, the season finale, next month.
“It’d be good to do the clean sweep,” said Evans. “That’s what keeps me concentrating.
“I’m always confident; it’s on the day, really. You have to be confident to win.”
Losing semi-finalists Emma Bonney, the world number three from Portsmouth, and world number four Katie Henrick, from Bickley, Kent, both survived fifth-frame deciders in the last 16.
Bonney, 33, edged out Gaye Jones while Henrick, 29, accounted for Tina Owen-Sevilton.
Derby schoolgirl Hannah Jones, 13, collected her third Plate trophy and her eighth junior title. Gaye Jones, from Melksham, Wiltshire, clinched the Seniors’ title.
The Connie Gough National Championship was the fifth of six WLBSA ranking events this season.
Paul Wood is also sponsoring the WLBSA’s world snooker championship, in Cambridge on April 3-7, and the WLBSA’s world billiards championship, in Birmingham on April 8, to the tune of £1,000 each.
The 49-year-old from Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, who has suffered from cerebral palsy all his life and is confined to a wheelchair, said: “I’m so proud to have sponsored the tournament. It was wonderful. The ladies were absolutely marvellous.”
RESULTS (breaks)
PRELIM: Jasmine Bolsover beat Naomi Clare 3-0, Hannah Jones beat Joanne Davies 3-1.
LAST 16: Reanne Evans beat Bolsover 3-0, Marianne Williams beat Martina Lumsden 3-0, Katie Henrick (44) beat Tina Owen-Sevilton 3-2, Vicky Ashby beat Suzie Opacic 3-1, Emma Bonney (53) beat Gaye Jones 3-2, Jenny Poulter beat Jodie Symes 3-1, Eva Palmius beat Maureen Logan 3-0, Maria Catalano (58, 53) beat H Jones 3-1.
QUARTER-FINALS (£50): Evans (104, 64) beat Williams 3-0, Henrick beat Ashby 3-0, Bonney beat Poulter 3-0, Catalano (71) beat Palmius 3-0.
SEMI-FINALS (£100): Evans beat Henrick 3-0, Catalano (48) beat Bonney 3-1
FINAL (£400/£200): Evans (45, 41) beat Catalano 3-1.
PLATE
QUARTER-FINALS: Naomi Clare beat Maureen Logan 2-0, Jodie Symes beat Joanne Davies 2-1, Gaye Jones beat Tina Owen-Sevilton 2-1, Hannah Jones beat Jasmine Bolsover 2-0.
SEMI-FINALS: Clare beat Symes 2-0, H Jones beat G Jones 2-0.
FINAL: H Jones beat Clare 2-0.
SENIORS
PRELIM: Eva Palmius beat Martina Lumsden 1-0,
SEMI-FINALS: Marianne Williams beat Palmius 1-0, Gaye Jones beat Jenny Poulter 1-0.
FINAL: Jones beat Williams 2-0.
JUNIORS
PRELIM: Jodie Symes beat Naomi Clare 1-0.
SEMI-FINALS: Symes beat Jasmine Bolsover 1-0, Hannah Jones (31) beat Joanne Davies 1-0.
FINAL: Jones beat Symes 2-0.
Next WLBSA snooker ranking event:
World Championship
Saturday April 3 to Wednesday April 7, 2010
Cambridge Snooker Centre
Coldhams Road
Cambridge
CB1 3EW
Tel: 01223 249661
World Championships consist of:
World Ladies Snooker Championship
World Mixed Pairs
World Ladies Seniors (40 & over)
World Ladies Doubles
World Ladies Junior Championship
World Ladies Plate Competition
Next WLBSA billiards ranking event:
World Championship
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Stadium Snooker Club
Hall Green Stadium
York Road
Hall Green
Birmingham
B28 8LQ
Tel: 08708 407380
Tim Dunkley (WLBSA press office)
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World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association press release - 9 Feb 2010 - Tim Dunkley
Evans hits 50 in Eastbourne
REANNE Evans’ victory in the South Coast Classic took her remarkable unbeaten run on the women’s snooker circuit past the 50 mark.
The 24-year-old defeated world number two Maria Catalano 3-1 in a good-natured final at the Q-Ball Snooker Club, Eastbourne (on Saturday, February 6).
Evans, the five-time World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association (WLBSA) world champion, has now clocked up 53 straight wins.
“It was played in good spirits,” she said. “We had a little giggle.
“In the first few frames, Maria had a bit of run. We were laughing; it was that funny. It was a good match.”
Evans wrapped up her 21st WLBSA title on a re-spotted black against her good friend from Dudley, West Midlands.
She said: “In the last frame I needed two snookers. I got them and then fouled so I could only draw.”
A 3-0 last-16 victory over Gaye Jones, from Wiltshire, was Evans’ 50th win.
In the quarter-finals, she compiled the tournament’s highest break of 90 against Swindon’s Jodie Symes.
The unbeaten run stretches back to a 3-2 defeat by Catalano, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 27-year-old cousin, in the Connie Gough final in Luton on March 1, 2008.
Last December, the pair met in the second round of the West Midlands qualifier of the English Amateur Championship in Bilston. Catalano won 4-3.
Meanwhile, eight-time German national champion Natascha Niermann edged out Derby’s Hannah Jones 2-1 in the Plate final. Former England international Marianne Williams claimed the Seniors’ trophy. And Symes, 15, collected a first junior title.
Ten-year-old Jasmine Bolsover, based at Woking Snooker Centre, made an impressive WLBSA debut in Eastbourne.
She beat world No 21 Maureen Logan 2-0 in the Plate and she took frames off Williams, the world No 13, and England international Jones, 13.
Jasmine is a product of the WLBSA’s scholarship scheme which offers free membership and free tournament entry to girls aged under 16.
Her performance impressed the world number one. “She’s a good little player,” said Evans. “If she could grow a little bit, it would be a bit easier for her. She looks promising.”
The South Coast Classic, which attracted a 23-strong field, was the fourth of six WLBSA ranking events this season. Evans has won all four and is determined to complete a clean sweep.
RESULTS (breaks):
LAST-32: Gaye Jones beat Clare Heseldine 3-1, Tina Owen-Sevilton beat Naomi Clare 3-0, Wendy Jenkins beat Maureen Logan 3-1, Hannah Jones beat Maggie Hoppe 3-0, Natascha Niermann beat Sue Selby 3-0, Vicky Ashby beat Martina Lumsden 3-2, Marianne Williams beat Jasmine Bolsover 3-1.
LAST-16: Reanne Evans beat G Jones 3-0, Jodie Symes beat Eva Palmius 3-2, Owen-Sevilton beat Chris Sharpe 3-0, Katie Henrick beat Jenkins 3-0, Emma Bonney beat H Jones 3-1, Suzie Opacic beat Niermann 3-2, Ashby beat Jenny Poulter 3-1, Maria Catalano (46, 55) beat Williams 3-0.
QUARTER-FINALS: Evans (90) beat Symes 3-0, Henrick beat Owen-Sevilton 3-0, Bonney beat Opacic 3-1, Catalano (47) beat Ashby 3-1.
SEMI-FINALS: Evans beat Henrick 3-0, Catalano (52) beat Bonney 3-0.
FINAL: Evans beat Catalano (30) 3-1.
PLATE
LAST-16: Naomi Clare beat Maggie Hoppe 2-0, Sue Selby beat Clare Heseldine 2-0, Jasmine Bolsover beat Maureen Logan 2-0, Hannah Jones beat Martina Lumsden 2-1.
QUARTER-FINALS: Selby beat Clare 2-0, Jones beat Bolsover 2-1, Natascha Niermann beat Marianne Williams 2-0, Wendy Jenkins bye.
SEMI-FINALS: Jones beat Selby 2-0, Niermann beat Jenkins 2-0.
FINAL: Niermann beat Jones 2-1.
SENIORS
LAST-16: Martina Lumsden beat Maureen Logan 1-0, Maggie Hoppe w/o Wendy Jenkins, Chris Sharpe beat Gaye Jones 1-0.
QUARTER-FINALS: Marianne Williams beat Lumsden 1-0, Hoppe beat Clare Heseldine 1-0, Sharpe w/o Sue Selby, Eva Palmius beat Jenny Poulter 1-0.
SEMI-FINALS: Williams beat Hoppe 1-0, Sharpe beat Palmius 1-0.
FINAL: Williams beat Sharpe 2-1.
JUNIORS
SEMI-FINALS: Jasmine Bolsover w/o Hannah Jones (Jones scratched because she was in the Plate semi-finals), Symes beat Clare 1-0.
FINAL: Symes beat Bolsover 2-0.
Tim Dunkley (WLBSA press officer)
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World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association press release - 16 Nov 2009 - Tim Dunkley
REANNE Evans put aside her disappointment at not being in India to defend her IBSF women’s world snooker title by claiming her third British Open trophy at Newmarket Snooker & Bowl (on November 14).
A hard-fought 3-1 victory over Kent’s Katie Henrick in a late-night final extended Evans’ unbeaten run on the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association (WLBSA) circuit to 49 matches.
Henrick, 29, took the first frame and was unlucky not to force a decider. Evans clinched a 20th WLBSA title on the pink. She also won the British Open in 2004 and 2006.
Earlier, Evans compiled four half-centuries in four frames.
A break of 77 wrapped up a 3-0 quarter-final victory over Hampshire’s Suzie Opacic and she added runs of 70, 62 and 51 against Maria Catalano in the semi-finals.
Evans, the 24-year-old undisputed world number one from Dudley, West Midlands, failed to find a sponsor for the IBSF World Championships in Hyderabad (which started today, November 15).
She won the title in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
“I couldn’t get a sponsor so I couldn’t go,” she said. “It’s difficult. You want to go and defend your title but if you can’t afford it you can’t go. You’d rather be there and lose your title rather than not be there to defend it.”
And Evans vowed to continue her bid to win all seven tournaments in this season’s WLBSA calendar.
“That’s what I’ll focus on now, doing the clean sweep,” she insisted.
The British Open was the third ranking event on the WLBSA circuit. The Wytech Masters was a non-ranking tournament.
Defending champion Emma Bonney was knocked out in the last four by Henrick.
World No 15 Vicky Ashby, from Hemel Hempstead, posted a personal best break of 41 in a 3-1 first-round defeat by Marianne Williams despite suffering from badly bruised ribs after her car plunged down a six-foot bank two weeks ago.
Eva Palmius, from Isleham, Cambs, claimed the Seniors’ and the Plate titles. The 50-year-old world number five also won last month’s Seniors’ title at the East Anglian Championships.
Derby schoolgirl Hannah Jones collected her third junior title of the season. The 13-year-old, who arrived in Newmarket at 2am after being presented with the University of Derby Junior Sportswoman of the Year award the previous evening, compiled a 30 break in a 2-0 victory over Swindon’s Jodie Symes, 15, in the final.
RESULTS (breaks):
PRELIM: Jodie Symes beat Gaye Jones 3-2.
FIRST ROUND: Natascha Niermann beat Symes 3-1, Naomi Clare beat Joanne Davies 3-0, Martina Lumsden beat Hannah Jones 3-0, Marianne Williams beat Vicky Ashby (41) 3-1.
SECOND ROUND: Niermann beat Chris Sharpe 3-1, Jenny Poulter beat Clare 3-0, Lumsden beat Eva Palmius 3-2, Suzie Opacic beat Williams 3-2.
QUARTER-FINALS: Emma Bonney beat Niermann 3-1, Katie Henrick beat Poulter 3-0, Maria Catalano (61, 49) beat Martina Lumsden 3-0, Reanne Evans (77, 45) beat Suzie Opacic 3-0.
SEMI-FINALS: Henrick beat Bonney 3-1, Evans (70, 62, 51) beat Catalano 3-0.
FINAL (£200/£100): Evans (41) beat Henrick 3-1.
PLATE
QUARTER-FINALS: Hannah Jones beat Vicky Ashby 2-0, Naomi Clare beat Joanne Davies 2-1, Jodie Symes beat Marianne Williams 2-0.
SEMI-FINAL: Eva Palmius beat Symes 2-0, Jones beat Clare 2-0.
FINAL: Palmius beat Jones 2-0.
JUNIORS
ROUND ROBIN: Hannah Jones beat Naomi Clare 1-0, Symes beat Clare 1-0.
FINAL: Jones (30) beat Symes 2-0.
SENIORS
SEMI-FINALS: Eva Palmius beat Martina Lumsden 1-0, Marianne Williams beat Jenny Poulter 1-0.
FINAL: Palmius beat Williams 1-0.
Article - Tim Dunkley
Photograph - Monique Limbos
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World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association press release - 11 Nov 09 - Tim Dunkley
NEWMARKET plays host to the world’s finest women snooker stars on Saturday.
Emma Bonney travels up from Portsmouth to defend her British Open title, the third ranking event on the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association (WLBSA) circuit.
World number three Bonney, 33, the four-time WLBSA world billiards champion, defeated Kent’s June Banks 3-0 in last year’s final.
She returns to the Newmarket Snooker & Bowl (2-12 All Saints Road, Newmarket, CB8 8NL) bidding for a third WLBSA snooker title.
“I like the club and enjoyed it last year,” said Bonney. “I hope that I play well again this time. It would be nice to defend the title.”
Reanne Evans, the undisputed world number one from Dudley, West Midlands, won last month’s East Anglian Championship in Cambridge. She hopes to extend her remarkable 46-match unbeaten run on the WLBSA circuit. Victory in Newmarket would be the 24-year-old’s 20th WLBSA title. She won the British Open in 2004 and 2006.
Evans will not travel to India for the IBSF World Championships that starts on Sunday. The three-time, and defending, champion failed to find a sponsor.
She said: “At least I’ll be able to play in Newmarket. I’m looking forward to going and trying to keep my good run going.”
Bonney added: “It’s a shame that no one’s going to represent England in the IBSF but, having said that, it is good to be competing against all the top players in Newmarket.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 27-year-old cousin Maria Catalano, Kent’s Katie Henrick and Bonney are seen as Evans’ main rivals for the title.
Article - Tim Dunkley
Photograph - Monique Limbos
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