The Snooker Awards Trivia Quiz

Answer: Steve Davis and Joe Johnson

In the year of 1986, Joe Johnson, an outsider, whose odds were 150-1 to win the World Championship final, came in to play against the legendary world champion, Steve Davis (he won the title six time:1 981, 1983-1984,1987-88-89). To everybody's shock, Joe Johnson went on to win the final against Davis, beating him 18-12.

Answer: Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ronnie O'Sullivan first picked up a cue at the age of 5 years old, inspired by the great legend Steve Davis! He has won a total of 25 major professionally ranked tournaments, 3 minor tournaments and a total of 23 non-ranking event titles throughout his career. These are:

25 Major Ranking Tournaments

World Championship Qualifiers: 1992
UK Championships: 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2007
British Open: 2004
Asian Classic: 1996
German Open 1996
Scottish Open: 1998, 2000
China Open: 1999,2000
World Championships: 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2013
European Open: 2003, 2005
Grand Prix: 2004
Welsh Open: 2004, 2005
Northern Ireland Trophy: 2008
Shanghai Masters: 2009
German Masters 2012

3 Minor Ranking Events

Players Tour Championship Event 1: 2011
Kay Suzanne Memorial Trophy: 2011
Paul Hunter Classic: 2013

23 Non-ranking Events

Nescafe Extra Challenge: 1993
Benson and Hedges Championships: 1993
The Masters: 1995
Charity Challenge: 1996
European League: 1997
Riley Superstar International: 1997
Scottish Masters: 1998
Champions Cup: 2000
Scottish Masters: 2000
Irish Masters: 2001
Premier League Snooker: 2001, 2002, 2005 (x2), 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010
The Masters 2005
The Masters 2007
The Kilkenny Irish Masters: 2007
The Masters: 2009

O'Sullivan is noted for his ambidextrous, flamboyantly rapid, aggressive style of Snooker playing. Upon defeating Stephen Hendry, ten frames to six, in the 1993/1994 UK Championship season finals, he also made history again by being the youngest player to win a professional ranking tournament. He was also the youngest player, at the age of 16, to qualify for the World Championships. O'Sullivan made his first century break of 117 when he was just 10 years old and then went onto compile a 142 total clearance break at the age of 12. Five years later and we now have a 15 years old Ronnie working even harder on his talents within snooker, to go on and achieve his first 147 maximum break in the Amateur Championships. He currently holds the record for the most maximum breaks in professional play, as well as what can only be called "a snooker speed record"! In the 1997 World Championships, against Mick Price, he achieved this awe inspiring 147 in an astounding 5 minutes and 20 seconds, in fact, he didn't even chalk his cue once. I'm not surprised, wasn't time for that was there!?

Answer: It was his first ranking title in eleven years.

There are several Snooker players; most in the professional realm are known to be 'right handed'. Ronnie O' Sullivan plays ambidextrous, but Jimmy White is one of the few solely 'left handed' players within the sport. This man is also unusual in having won several tournament titles without ever winning a World Championship.

He came so very close to winning one against Stephen Hendry in the 1995 World Championships. The match went to an nail biting 17-17. Then there was almost a reminder of the 1985 Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor match...just the black ball for the World Championships and, to everybody's shock in the arena, at home (myself included), he missed!

Answer: Shaun Murphy

All the players listed have won the Paul Hunter Newcomer of the Year award and rather close to one another. Ding Junhui won the Paul Hunter Newcomer of the Year award in 2005; Michael White won the award in 2006 and Jamie Cope won the award the following year, in 2007.

Answer: He won The Masters on his first attempt.

From England, Mark Selby plays both Pool and Snooker professionally. His title wins in Snooker include: The 2007 World Snooker Championship (runner up), the 2008, 2009 and 2013 UK Masters, the 2011 Shanghai Masters, the 2012 Welsh Open and the 2012 UK Championships. He was also the WEPF, World Pool Champion in 2006. Like every Professional Snooker player, Mark also has a nickname on the circuit. He's called the "jester from leciester", who also has had over 250 century breaks to his name.

Answer: 40 years professional career.

Back in 1969, there was a very popular Snooker television series that was beginning to be aired live. Within the first two series, there were eight players to play off against each other and Jackie Rae was one of them. Sadly he suffered a defeat to Douglas Mountjoy in the 1977 World Championships, but of course the legendary Steve Davis went on to beat Mountjoy four years later in 1981, beating him 18-12. For Steve Davis, this was his second consecutive World Championship title win at the time.

Answer: 2007

Andrew Higginson turned professional in 2000-2001. He won the Welsh Open final against Ali Carter, beating him five frames to one. It was also the tournament in which he achieved his first 147 maximum break professionally.

Answer: Mark Watterson

Mark Watterson is from Chesterfield in England. He has worked being a 'wages clerk' and a 'car dealer'. The interesting thing is he was a salesman for a Sheffield based Vauxell dealer company, being one of the first in the country to sell the Vauxhall Viva. This car was not put forth to the general public until 1963.

I can only imagine this is where he got his promoting skills from!

The World Championship Snooker tournament was not introduced until the year of 1927. However, when it was, the tournament took place at several venues throughout every season, over the entire country but the final always took place at 'Camkins Hall' in Birmingham, England. There was a real grave danger that the World Championships would not be held anywhere in the year of 1977 and upon seeing a play at 'the crucible, in Sheffield, Marks wife 'Carole', suggested to him that it would make the perfect setting for Snooker.
As Mark Watterson was more than aware of the grave peril of the situation at hand, he knew that he had to speak to the then-manager of 'the crucible', which was Arnold Elliman. After consultations, he rented the theater for two weeks at
a cost of £6,600, ensuring a guarantee of £17,000 from the tournament.
So this is how 'the crucible theater' became the worldly famous venue for the
Snooker World Championships. To this day it still remains to be the world famous venue for the sport, however, there have been recent reports that it could change. I surely hope not but we can only wait and see.

Answer: For winning the final after needing a snooker

Did you know that before turning into a Professional Snooker player, Nigel Bond was an accounts clerk for the Derbyshire Council?!

Answer: Neil Robertson

In the 2006 Grand Prix round robin, Neil Robertson beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-1 in the Quarter finals of the event. The following year, 2007, when he won Snooker Player of the Year Award for winning the Welsh Open, he suffered a 10-13 defeat to O'sullivan in the second round of the World Championships. He went on to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship in 2009, suffering a defeat of 14-17 against Shaun Murphy. In the next year following, 2010, he went on to become the first ever Australian to win the World Championships, beating Graheme Dott 18-13.