Like football (soccer) and cricket, snooker too is an English sport. Snooker was invented and first played by the British army officers in the sub-continent. Historians believe that snooker was originated in the later half of the
nineteenth century.
It was not until mid 20th century that snooker was introduced and played commercially; gradually snooker emerged as one of the popular sports.
Snooker is a genre of its own ‘the cue sport’; billiard is another famous cue sport which is labeled as the American version of snooker. Billiard or pool is famous and played worldwide. Unlike Billiards, snooker is a career-oriented
and professional sport.
Over the number of years snooker has produced many renowned and legendary cueists, i.e. Ray Reardon, John Pulman, Paul Hunter, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and many more. Unfortunately
snooker has been constricted with-in the United Kingdom and most of the snooker players are from England.
Snooker in Asia – Some renowned players from Asia and Middle East have also surfaced on the snooker scene over the number of years. Snooker somehow has survived and flourished languidly in these parts of the world.
World professional snooker and billiards association (WPBSA) the governing body of the world snooker, has taken several measures to introduce the sport in different corners of the world.
China is now officially second largest snooker playing nation after England, with some of the prestigious and highly ranked tournaments taking place inside china. There are number of Chinese players, who are well known for their
distinctive snooker skills.
Ding Junhui: Winner of China Open 2005, UK champion 2005 and 2009, and Northern Ireland trophy 2006. Ding is nick named as ‘Dragon’ and ‘Star of the east’.
Marco Fu: World number 18, Fu is from Hong Kong. Fu has won one ranking tournament, the Grand Prix in 2007.
Liang Wenbo: Another Chinese cueist who has made it to the world snooker scene. Liang is number 24 on the world rankings.
Liu Song, Liu Chuang, Zhang Anda, and Li Hang are amateur yet fine cueists from china.
China’s love for snooker is at large and seems everlasting. Despite producing some of the finest cue players of today, china hosts some ranking and invitational events too.
Rundili world snooker wuxi classic is an invitational event held every year in china.
Shanghai Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament, held in china.
China open is by far the most prestigious, professional ranking tournament being played in Asia.
Other than china, snooker playing Asian countries includes Pakistan, India, Sri-Lanka, Thailand and Hong Kong. Many players from these countries have come forth to the international snooker scene. Some notable players from these
countries are;
Muhammad Yusuf (Pakistan) Yasin Merchant (India) Khurram Agha (Pakistan) Pankaj Advani (India) Dechawat Poomjaeng (Thailand) Ryan Somaratne (Srilanka)
Snooker is doubtlessly considered as one of the favorite sports in Asia. A little effort and concentration from the WPBSA, on upbringing snooker in this part of the world can prove to be very fruitful for the sport in general.
Snooker in Middle-East – Middle East and Gulf region has not been able to produce any renowned snooker player yet snooker is being liked and played by many in the region. IBSF world snooker championship, which
is also known as World amateur/non-professional snooker championship is underway in Damascus, Syria.
Numbers of players from the Middle East and Gulf region are participating in the event. Cueists from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Syria are taking part in the championship; participation from the Arab countries in a snooker championship
signifies that languidly snooker is flourishing as a sport in almost all parts of the world.
Snooker is now at large in Australia and New Zealand. Neil Robertson former world number 1 and current world champion is from Australia, Neil is the first Australian cueist who has been able to win major ranking championships.
European nations other than England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, have started to take snooker as a global sport. Countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Czech Republic are producing fine snooker players. Germany is believed
to be the next China of snooker, and hosting a professional ranking tournament “German Masters”.
As the sun of snooker rises in distant corners of the world, the ice seems to melt. The sport of snooker which was glaciated within United Kingdom is now seemed to be spreading and developing.
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