I could do with a break from professional snooker, don’t you think? While the elite are sparring in the Welsh Open, Snooker Shoot-Out and the Indian Open, a consistently overlooked event is being very busy indeed. Welcome to the EBSA Championships in Eilat, Israel! Since 17th February, a number of European amateurs are battling it out to win a piece or more of prestigious silverware. Since the Under-18 event was created in 2016, every winner was Welsh until Ireland’s Aaron Hill put a stop to that. Hill won the final by defeating Welshman Dylan Emery 4-3. This means Aaron Hill should gain a place to play in the World Championship Qualifiers.
Welsh hotshot Jackson Page followed the steps of current professionals Oliver Lines, Alexander Ursenbacher and Simon Lichtenberg by winning the Under-21 category and turned professional. Highly rated by World Champion Mark Williams, Page beat Ireland’s Ross Bulman 5-1. Watching the match, Page looked very good, especially in the first frame, where he won the first frame by making a 63 break to clear to the black to steal. So Page not only qualifies for the World Championship Qualifiers, he receives a two-year card as well. This is exciting times for snooker in general, as everyone tipped Jackson Page to be Britain’s hottest prospect rivalling China’s Zhao Xintong and we are all excited to see what he can do in the professional ranks.
However, those are just events for kids! Starting on the 23rd February, we have the Men’s event. Alright, the youngest is 12 year-old Albanian Kledio KaÇi but this tournament holds the biggest prize: a brand new two-year professional contract to be a snooker player. There are a number of illustrious names to have won the title who gone on to make successful careers. Robin Hull (1997 & 2013), Mark Allen (2004), Luca Brecel (2010), Daniel Wells (2011) and Scott Donaldson (2012) come to mind. Last year’s champion Harvey Chandler reached the fourth round of Paul Hunter Classic. You can find our interview by clicking here.
The Men’s list has been released and you can find out who is competing here. Let’s skim through them!
United Kingdom Titans
The United Kingdom is well represented in the EBSA Championships with sixteen players. They should be feeling confident, as no-one from outside of the UK has lifted the trophy since 2013! The Welsh in particular always bring a strong group. Jackson Page, Dylan Emery and Tyler Rees are joined by Ben Fortey former professional and 2016 World Amateur runner-up Andrew Pagett.
I didn’t expect to be talking about Leo Fernandez as an Englishman as I alway thought he represents Irish but anyway. He will be joined by George Pragnall, Matthew Glasby and 1995 EBSA Champion David Lilley, who is arguably the most impressive amateur this season. He actually won a warm-up called the Israel Open very recently. And guess what? You can see an interview with David Lilley by clicking here!
There aren’t too many Scottish faces, with the most well-known being Fraser Patrick, who was a professional between 2013-2017. Four Northern Irish players will take inspiration that compatriot Jordan Brown reached the final last year. One of them is Raymond Fry, who featured in the Northern Ireland Open as a wildcard, but lost 4-1 to Luca Brecel.
Europeans To Watch Out For
It is quite interesting to see the broad range of of nationalities too. We have Albania, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Russia in the mix.
Among the list, we have former EBSA champions and runners-up in our midst. 2017 EBSA European Men’s runner-up Andreas Petrov and 2015 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Champion Darryl Hill are competing, for example. Petrov did beat Brown, Brendan O’Donoghue, John Farrell and Pagett on his way to the final, so he clearly knows what it takes to get there.
We also see Israeli Shachar Ruberg, who back in June 2018 became the European 6 Reds Champion. Maltese veteran Alex Borg is also competing, having been professional for a total of 16 seasons. We see Heikki Niva, who partnered Hull in the 2017 World Cup. There are French Brian Ochoiski 13-year-old Ukranian Iulian Boiko who despite his young age, reached the professional stages of the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. Ireland decided to take seven players to the tourney. Interestingly, one of those players include John Sutton, who was given a six-year ban for match-fixing in 2015.
There are an incredible 125 players in this event. 25 groups of five players. The event starts on 23rd February and will finish on 2nd March. Yet only one will take the crown and the two-year card. Who will it be?
