WLBSA - Evans Aiming For Seventh World Title

Green baize queens from around the globe descend on Bury St Edmunds this week for the Greene King World Ladies Snooker Championship. Red-hot favourite Reanne Evans is bidding for a record seventh straight world title.

It’s the first time the Suffolk market town has hosted the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association’s season finale.

Main Tour professionals Joe Perry, Michael Holt and Martin Gould make guest appearances on Friday (April 8) in the World Mixed Pairs, which kicks off six days of top-quality action at the Pot Black Sports Bar. The round-robin stage of the main competition starts at 10am on Saturday (April 9) with the final scheduled for noon on Wednesday (April 13).

The eventual champion will pocket £1,000 and the runner-up £500. Prize money will also be paid down to the last-16. Attempting to de-throne the undisputed world number one Reanne Evans are world number two Maria Catalano, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 29-year-old cousin; Portsmouth’s Emma Bonney, who is also seeking a fourth successive billiards title; and Kent’s Katie Henrick, who is ranked fourth.

Leading the overseas threat is Hong Kong ’s impressive 20-year-old Ng On Yee, the 2009 and 2010 IBSF Women’s World Champion.Also flying in from Hong Kong are Jaique Ip Wan In, who lost to Ng in the 2010 IBSF final, Yu Ching Ching and So Man Yan.Two-time world billiards champion Chitra Magimairaj, who jets in from India , said her biggest motivation was seeing her home country winning cricket’s world cup. Magimairaj is joined in Bury St Edmunds by her compatriot Revanna Umadevi.

Spearheading the European challenge is Latvian number one Tatjana Vasiljeva and eight-time German national champion Natascha Niermann, now based in Cambridge .From the world of pool comes England international Fran Calvert and two-time European champion Kim O’Brien. Favourite to clinch a fourth straight junior title is the phenomenal 14-year-old Derby schoolgirl Hannah Jones, the world number six.

Ron Agnew is sponsoring the billiards to the tune of £600. The eventual champion will also receive a year’s free subscription to all English-Billiards Open Series (EBOS) tournaments, a package worth £200. Website englishBilliards.orgis offering £100 for the highest break.

Greene King World Ladies Snooker Championship

Friday, April 8, to Wednesday, April 13

Pot Black Sports Bar (manager: Phil Mumford)

Bury St Edmunds

Eastgate Street

Bury St Edmunds

Suffolk

IP33 1YQ

Tel: 01284 704231

PROGRAMME

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Reanne Evans

MIXED PAIRS: Tatjana Vasiljeva & Joe Perry

WORLD DOUBLES: Tatjana Vasiljeva & Maureen Rowland

WORLD SENIORS: June Banks

WORLD JUNIOR: Hannah Jones

WORLD BILLIARDS: Emma Bonney

2011 WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIPS ENTRIES

Top eight seeds

Reanne Evans (Dudley, West Mids )

Maria Catalano (Dudley, West Mids )

Emma Bonney ( Portsmouth )

Katie Henrick ( Bickley , Kent )

Eva Palmius (Isleham, Cambs)

Jenny Poulter ( Maidstone )

Chris Sharpe ( Chelmsford )

Hannah Jones ( Derby )

Marianne Williams (Smallfield, Surrey )

June Banks ( Orpington , Kent )

Gaye Jones (Melksham, Wilts)

Tina Owen-Sevilton ( Taunton )

Natascha Niermann ( Cambridge )

Pam Wood ( Newcastle )

Naomi Clare (Ripley, Derbys )

Maureen Rowland (Wallsend, Tyne & Wear)

Jasmine Bolsover ( Woking )

Jan Hughes (St Neots, Cambs)

Tatjana Vasiljeva ( Latvia )

Chitra Magimairaj ( India )

Revanna Umadevi ( India )

Yu Ching Ching ( Hong Kong )

Jaique Ip Wan In ( Hong Kong )

So Man Yan ( Hong Kong )

Ng On Yee ( Hong Kong )

Kim O’Brien (Bury St Edmunds)

Fran Calvert ( Lowestoft )

Vicky Carter ( Hemel Hempstead )

2011 WORLD BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRIES

Emma Bonney ( Portsmouth )

Chitra Magimairaj ( India )

Eva Palmius (Isleham, Cambs)

Tina Owen-Sevilton ( Taunton )

Jan Hughes (St Neots, Cambs)

Hannah Jones ( Derby )

Gaye Jones (Melksham, Wilts)

Maureen Rowland (Wallsend, Tyne & Wear)

Revanna Umadevi ( India )

WLBSA PROVISIONAL SNOOKER RANKINGS

WLBSA ROLL OF HONOUR 2010/11

Pictures by Monique Limbos:

Six-time world champion Reanne Evans at the 2010 World Championships

Reanne Evans

Three-time world junior champion Hannah Jones at the 2010 Connie Gough National Championship.