Luca Brecel

Brecel at the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic
Born	(1995-03-08) 8 March 1995 (age 17) Dilsen-Stokkem
Sport country	Belgium
Nickname	Belgian Bullet[1]
Professional	2011–
Highest ranking	79 (May 2012)[2]
Current ranking	79
Career winnings	£17,900[3]
Highest break	116 (2012 World Snooker Championship)
Century breaks	6 [4]
Best ranking finish	Last 32 (2012 World Snooker Championship)

Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995 in Dilsen-Stokkem) is a professional Belgian snooker player, widely considered one of the most promising upcoming snooker talents.^[5]

Amateur career[link]

In April 2009, he became the youngest European under-19 champion at 14 years of age.^[6]

In May 2009, in the Grand Final of the World Series of Snooker in Portugal, he beat Jimmy White 4–3 and former World Champion Ken Doherty 5–3 on his way to the quarter-finals, where he lost 4–5 to Graeme Dott.^[7] In August 2009, he beat Joe Perry, the then world number 12, at the Paul Hunter Classic.^[8] On 8 January 2010, Brecel defeated former world champion Stephen Hendry 4–1 at an exhibition game in Bruges, Belgium.^[9]

Luca Brecel became the Belgian senior snooker champion on 24 May 2010, beating Bjorn Haneveer 7–4 in the final. He also had the highest break of the tournament with a 136.^[10]

Brecel was one of the eight players in the first ever Power Snooker event, held on 30 October 2010 at the indigO2, next to former reigning world champion Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Mark Selby, Ali Carter, Shaun Murphy, Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Brecel was defeated by O'Sullivan in the first round.^[11]

On 19 December 2010, Brecel was named the Young Belgian Sportsman of the year.^[12]

Brecel received a wild card for the Main Tour of the professional 2011/2012 season on 5 May 2011.^[13]

Professional career[link]

2011/2012 season[link]

Brecel became a professional snooker player in June 2011, beating Anthony Hamilton in his first official professional match. By August 2011, he was ranked 87 on the Snooker world rankings, as second Belgian after Bjorn Haneveer, then ranked 65. In January 2012, he made his first 147 break in an amateur tournament.^[14]

Brecel played in all 12 of the Players Tour Championship events throughout the season, with his best finishes coming in Event 2, Event 8 and Event 9, where he reached the last 32 each time. He finished 69th on the Order of Merit.^[15][16]

Brecel became the youngest ever player to qualify for the World Snooker Championship in 2012, after defeating Ian McCulloch, Barry Pinches, Michael Holt and Mark King. In doing so he broke the record of Stephen Hendry from 1986, as he was almost 2 months older than Brecel. He also became one of five players to qualify for the tournament under 18 years of age and played in his first ranking event main draw,^[17] but lost 5–10 in the first round against Stephen Maguire despite making a century break and a 96 break during the match.^[18]

Although finishing the season outside the top 64 who automatically retain their places on the snooker tour, Brecel received a two-year wildcard, along with Tony Drago. World Snooker chairman, Barry Hearn said the decision was made as it would be a "loss to the sport" if Brecel did not feature.^[19]

Performance and rankings timeline[link]

1. ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.

Tournament wins[link]

Amateur[link]

• Belgian Under 16 Championship – 2007, 2008, 2009
• Belgium Ranking Events
  • St.Martinus Gent – 2007
  • Happy Snooker Hasselt – 2009
  • Zele – 2010
  • Peer – 2011
• Malta Under 16 Open – 2007
• Flemish Under 16 Championship – 2008
• Belgian Teams Championship – 2008
• Belgian Open Under 21 – 2008
• Belgian Under 21 Championship – 2008, 2009
• European Under-19 Championship – 2009
• International Open under 21 – 2009
• Belgian Senior Championship – 2010
• European Snooker Championship – 2010

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• English Website
• Luca Brecel at CueTracker.net: Snooker Results and Statistic Database
• Global Snooker Player Profile

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (January 2010)

Peter Ebdon

Peter Ebdon at the 2010 Brugge Open
Born	(1970-08-27) 27 August 1970 (age 41) Islington, London, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	Ebbo The Ebdonator The Force Psycho
Professional	1991–
Highest ranking	3 (1996/97 & 2002/03)
Current ranking	20
Career winnings	UK£2,826,270[1]
Highest break	147 (twice)
Century breaks	300[2] (April 2012)
Tournament wins
Ranking	9
Non-ranking	3
World Champion	2002

Peter Ebdon (born 27 August 1970 in Islington, London, England) is an English professional snooker player and former world and UK champion, renowned for his remarkably focused, determined style of play.

Career[link]

Early years[link]

Ebdon turned professional in 1991, and, sporting a ponytail, made an impact by beating Steve Davis 10–4 in the first round of the 1992 World Championship; he went on to reach the quarter-finals of the event, losing 13–7 to a resurgent Terry Griffiths. However, it was a run which earned him the WPBSA Young Player of the Year award as a result. His first ranking title was the 1993 Grand Prix.^[3] He climbed the rankings rapidly to reach a career-highest position of number three in 1996; he again reached world number three status at the close of the 2002 season.

2002–2010[link]

Perhaps Ebdon's greatest achievement, thus far, was his 18–17 defeat of Stephen Hendry in the 2002 World Championship final,^[4] having started the tournament at odds of 33–1.^[3] He had previously reached the final of the tournament in 1996, which he lost 18–12 to Hendry, and was also runner-up at the 2006 event to Graeme Dott in which, at 15–7 down coming into the final session, Ebdon won six successive frames before Dott prevailed 18–14. In the semi-final before the final he led Marco Fu 15–9 before being pegged back to 16–16 before Ebdon took the decider, at the end of which he shed tears of relief.

Ebdon is a remarkably focused and determined player. Until recently, his shot times had slowed down considerably; this attracted some criticism – particularly, in his match against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2005 World Championship. Resuming at 10–6 down, Ebdon won the first six frames of the evening session, at one stage taking three minutes over a shot, and five minutes to compile a break of 12. Ebdon nevertheless won the match 13–11.^[5] Such performances, though lacking fluency, often appear to break his opponent mentally. Ebdon stated after his victory over O'Sullivan, "When I'm trying my hardest I seem to go slow. I don't do it intentionally". When The Times described his slow play as 'cheating', he attempted to sue them for libel and lost.^[6]

Among Ebdon's other career highlights was winning the UK Championship in 2006, beating Stephen Hendry 10–6 in the final ^[7] – in doing so, becoming only the ninth player to have won both the World and UK Championship. Ebdon's shot times were markedly quicker, and this fluency served him well in defeating the defending champion Ding Junhui and John Higgins en route to the final, and compiling eight century-breaks over the course of the tournament. However, he failed to reach a ranking quarter-final in 2007. His poor form continued into 2008; in the Northern Ireland Trophy he lost 0–5 to Liang Wenbo with a highest break of 32, a result which lead to an investigation of suspicious betting patterns by the Gambling Commission. The WPBSA, of which Ebdon is a board member, has yet to announce an investigation of its own.^[8][9]

In 2009, Ebdon beat John Higgins 10–8 to win the China Open. However, in the subsequent World Championship, Ebdon lost 10–5 to Nigel Bond in the first round. A year later, after a disappointing season, Ebdon once again lost 10–5 in the World Championship, this time to Graeme Dott. This result meant Ebdon dropped out of the top 16 in the world rankings after an uninterrupted 16-year stay.^[10]

2010/2011[link]

At the start of the season Ebdon issued a statement announcing that he would not be able to play to the best of his ability in the last round of the Shanghai Masters qualifiers.^[11] He reached the second round of the tournament though by winning his qualifying match by 5–1 against Michael White, and then his last 32 match against Neil Robertson 5–4 before losing against Mark King 3–5. He enjoyed a good return of form in the World Open, where he beat Steve Davis 3–1, Fergal O'Brien 3–2, Liu Song 3–2, and Martin Gould 3-1 before losing against Ronnie O'Sullivan 1–3. This was his first semi-final since the 2009 China Open and saw him retake a place in the top 16. He also reached the quarter-finals of the China Open and the last 16 of the German Masters and Welsh Open.^[12] However, he was knocked out in the first round of both the UK Championship and World Championship, but was still ranked as number 13 at the end of the season.^[13]

2011/2012[link]

Ebdon lost in the first round of the first two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, to make a low key start to the season and as a result drop out of the top 16 at the first cut-off in October, meaning he now had to win a qualifying match to reach the main draw of the ranking events.^[14] He lost his first qualifying match in an attempt to reach the UK Championship as he was defeated 3–6 by Robert Milkins. The result meant that Ebdon would not play in the tournament since his first year as a professional in 1991.^[15] He also missed the Masters for the first time since 1992 due to being ranked outside of the top 16, but did manage to qualify for the German Masters and the Welsh Open, losing in the first round upon reaching the venue in both events.^[12]

He had a disastrous run of form in the PTC series, as he played in all 12 events but could only win 4 matches all season. He finished 98th in the Order of Merit and these results contributed to Ebdon being ranked world number 28 in March.^[16][17]

Ebdon put his indifferent form behind him at the China Open where he won the ninth ranking event title of his career. He whitewashed Liang Wenbo 5–0 to qualify and once in China beat Matthew Stevens 5–3 to set up a last 16 meeting with John Higgins. He came back from 1–3 down and, despite Higgins finding a snooker he needed in the final frame, he held his nerve to take the match 5–4 and his reach his fourth successive China Open quarter-final.^[18] There he beat Neil Robertson 5–3 to play local favourite Ding Junhui in the semi-finals. Ebdon again came back from 1–3 down, this time winning five successive frames to take the match 6–3 and make it to his first ranking event final since winning the same tournament three years earlier.^[19] In the final he played Stephen Maguire and built a 5–1 lead in the first session, which was cut by three frames due to slow play. However, Maguire won seven of the next ten frames to level the match at 8 frames apiece. The final three frames were error strewn and slow, but with the clock approaching 01:00am Beijing time, Ebdon clinched the frame he required to win the eight-hour match 10–9. The result saw him rise seven places in the rankings to number 21 and during the final he recorded the 300th century break of his career.^[20][2] He made six century breaks during the tournament, the most of any player - four of which were in the final.^[21]

He continued his recent surge of form into the World Championship by recording a 10–0 whitewash over Alfie Burden in qualifying.^[22] However, his season was ended when he drew Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round and lost 4–10, meaning he has failed to beat The Rocket since their infamous 2005 quarter-final.^[23] Despite his win in China, Ebdon finished the season ranked world number 20 meaning he had dropped 7 places during the year.^[24]

Status[link]

Ebdon was only the second player to have made two competitive maximum 147 breaks in professional tournament play — these coming at the Strachan Professional and UK Championship, both in 1992. In the same year, he became the first player to make four centuries in five frames.^[25]

Ebdon is renowned for his strict fitness regime in order to condition himself for snooker; he swims one mile a day and has cut down on carbohydrates and sugars in order to maximise physical fitness and stamina.^[26] He is a devotee of Napoleon Hill's classic motivational book Think and Grow Rich.

Ebdon has been criticised in the past for his exuberant outpourings of emotion after winning important frames or matches. However, since one particular outburst after potting the match ball against Stephen Lee during their 2001 World Championship second round encounter — repeatedly punching the air and shouting "Come on!" at the top of his voice — he has toned down his celebrations significantly.

Ebdon is also colour blind. In a frame in which the brown ball is in close proximity to a red, he usually asks the referee for help on which ball is which. During a match against Simon Bedford in the 2008 Grand Prix, Ebdon inadvertently potted the brown believing it to be a red.^[27]

At the 2010 Masters, Ebdon used the Real Thing's 1980s disco track "Can You Feel the Force?" as his entrance music.

Personal life[link]

Ebdon was born in Islington, before moving to Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. He started his career while at Highbury Grove School, resulting in him not taking his O levels – a decision he now regrets.^[28] In 2005, he emigrated with his wife Deborah and four children to Dubai and lived there until 2009. On January 22, 2009, it was revealed that Ebdon had split with his wife by mutual consent.^[29] In 2010 he remarried to Nora, who comes from Budapest,^[30] and has since become a vegan.^[31]

In 1996, Ebdon recorded a version of the David Cassidy song "I Am A Clown", and it was released as a single.^[29]

Performance timeline[link]

Career finals[link]

Ranking event finals: 16 (9 titles, 7 runner-ups)[link]

Legend World Championship (1–2) UK Championship (1–1) Other (7–4) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Winner 1. 1993 Grand Prix Ken Doherty 9–6 Runner-up 1. 1994 Dubai Classic Alan McManus 6–9 Runner-up 2. 1995 UK Championship Stephen Hendry 3–10 Runner-up 3. 1996 European Open John Parrott 7–9 Runner-up 4. 1996 World Snooker Championship Stephen Hendry 12–18 Winner 2. 1997 Thailand Open Nigel Bond 9–7 Runner-up 5. 1999 British Open Stephen Hendry 5–9 Winner 3. 2000 British Open Jimmy White 9–6 Winner 4. 2001 Scottish Open Ken Doherty 9–7 Runner-up 6. 2001 LG Cup Stephen Lee 4–9 Winner 5. 2002 World Snooker Championship Stephen Hendry 18–17 Winner 6. 2004 Irish Masters Mark King 10–7 Runner-up 7. 2006 World Snooker Championship (2) Graeme Dott 14–18 Winner 7. 2006 UK Championship Stephen Hendry 10–6 Winner 8. 2009 China Open John Higgins 10–8 Winner 9. 2012 China Open (2) Stephen Maguire 10–9 Non-ranking wins[link] Irish Masters – 1995 Malta Grand Prix – 1995 Scottish Masters – 1996 Amateur wins[link] IBSF World Under-21 Championship – 1990 References[link] ^ Yahoo! Sport. 2009. Peter Ebdon. [Online] Yahoo! UK (Updated 2010) Available at: http://uk.yahoo.eurosport.com/snooker/person_prs32311.shtml [Accessed 14 February 2010]. ^ a b "Ebdon fends off Maguire magic to win thrilling China Open final". Daily Mirror. 1 April 2012. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/snooker/peter-ebdon-beat-stephen-maguire-778590. Retrieved 1 April 2012.  ^ a b BBC Sport: Ebdon's road to greatness ^ The Sunday Herald: Cue Peter; Stewart Fisher talks to the champion who believes there is ^ The Guardian: O'Sullivan ground down and out ^ Times Online: Snookered by fair comment ^ Billiard Pulse: Peter Ebdon wins UK Championship ^ Gambling Planet.org: Walker Admits Worries Over Ebdon-Liang ^ The Guardian: Probe into 5–0 Ebdon defeat ^ "Ebdon drops out of world's top 16". BBC News. 2010-04-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/8634466.stm.  ^ "Peter Ebdon plays down his Shanghai Masters chances". BBC Sport (BBC). 2010-07-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/8864082.stm. Retrieved 2010-08-04.  ^ a b "Peter Ebdon". Snooker Database. http://www.snookerdatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?PlayerKey=18&tourns=AllRank&plStat=1#PlayerResults. Retrieved 30 March 2012.  ^ "Rankings after 2011 World Championship" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/64/71/0,,13165~160100,00.pdf. Retrieved 30 March 2012.  ^ "Rankings after PTC6 (2011 Warsaw Classic)" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/dc/8f/0,,13165~167900,00.pdf. Retrieved 30 March 2012.  ^ "Ex-snooker champion Peter Ebdon to miss return to York". The Press. 11 November 2011. http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/sport/9358949.Ex_snooker_champion_Peter_Ebdon_to___miss_return_to_York/. Retrieved 30 March 2012.  ^ "Order of Merit". WWW Snooker. 8 January 2012. http://snooker.org/res/index.asp?template=10&season=2011. Retrieved 31 March 2012.  ^ "Rankings after 2012 PTC Finals" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/ef/a3/0,,13165~173039,00.pdf. Retrieved 31 March 2012.  ^ "Ebdon forces World champion Higgins into early China Open exit". Daily Mail. 29 March 2012. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2122307/John-Higgins-China-Open-exit.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. Retrieved 30 March 2012.  ^ "Ebdon sees off home favourite Ding to set up China Open final against Maguire". Daily Mail. 31 March 2012. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2123179/Peter-Ebdon-beats-Ding-Junhui-meet-Stephen-Maguire-China-Open-final.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. Retrieved 1 April 2012.  ^ "Ebdon edges Maguire in epic final". Eurosport. 1 April 2012. http://au.eurosport.com/snooker/ebdon-edges-maguire_sto3218584/story.shtml. Retrieved 1 April 2012.  ^ "China Open century breaks". Eurosport Asia. http://asia.eurosport.com/snooker/china-open-century-breaks_sto2729890/story.shtml. Retrieved 2 April 2012.  ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan to play Peter Ebdon in world championship first round". The Guardian. 16 April 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/apr/16/ronnie-osullivan-peter-ebdon-world-championship. Retrieved 16 April 2012.  ^ "Head-to-Head for Peter Ebdon vs Ronnie O'Sullivan". Cue Tracker. http://www.cuetracker.net/pages/h2h.php?ID1=8&ID2=18. Retrieved 24 April 2012.  ^ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season". http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/1d/b0/0,,13165~176157,00.pdf. Retrieved 20 May 2012.  ^ WWW Snooker Profile ^ Buzzle.com: Peter Ebdon Interview ^ BBC Sport: Rueful Ebdon mistakes brown for red ^ "Peter Ebdon". Global-Snooker.com. http://www.global-snooker.com/Peter-Ebdon.asp. Retrieved July 29, 2010.  ^ a b "Peter Ebdon statement". Snooker Scene Blog. http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2009/01/peter-ebdon-statement.html. Retrieved 2008-02-07.  ^ Marshall, Bill (27 October 2010). "Fate plays a large hand for happy Ebdon". Telegraph & Argus. http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportother/8479174.Fate_plays_a_large_hand_for_happy_Ebdon/. Retrieved 30 March 2012.  ^ "O’Sullivan Comes Good To Deny Campbell". World Snooker (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association). 28 March 2010. http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0,,13165~2698889,00.html. Retrieved 30 March 2012.  External links[link] Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter Ebdon "Peter Ebdon". WorldSnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 2007–2010 [copyright date]. "Players Alphabetical" section. http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/PlayersAlphabeticalArticle/0,,13165~2233712,00.html.  Official WPBSA player profile. Peter Ebdon at CueTracker.net: Snooker Results and Statistic Database Player Profile on Pro Snooker Player Profile on BBC Sport v t e World Snooker Champions 1927 Joe Davis 1928 Joe Davis 1929 Joe Davis 1930 Joe Davis 1931 Joe Davis 1932 Joe Davis 1933 Joe Davis 1934 Joe Davis 1935 Joe Davis 1936 Joe Davis 1937 Joe Davis 1938 Joe Davis 1939 Joe Davis 1940 Joe Davis 1946 Joe Davis 1947 Walter Donaldson 1948 Fred Davis 1949 Fred Davis 1950 Walter Donaldson 1951 Fred Davis 1952 Horace Lindrum 1952 Fred Davis 1953 Fred Davis 1954 Fred Davis 1955 Fred Davis 1956 Fred Davis 1957 John Pulman 1964 John Pulman 1965 John Pulman 1966 John Pulman 1967 John Pulman 1968 John Pulman 1969 John Spencer 1970 Ray Reardon 1971 John Spencer 1972 Alex Higgins 1973 Ray Reardon 1974 Ray Reardon 1975 Ray Reardon 1976 Ray Reardon 1977 John Spencer 1978 Ray Reardon 1979 Terry Griffiths 1980 Cliff Thorburn 1981 Steve Davis 1982 Alex Higgins 1983 Steve Davis 1984 Steve Davis 1985 Dennis Taylor 1986 Joe Johnson 1987 Steve Davis 1988 Steve Davis 1989 Steve Davis 1990 Stephen Hendry 1991 John Parrott 1992 Stephen Hendry 1993 Stephen Hendry 1994 Stephen Hendry 1995 Stephen Hendry 1996 Stephen Hendry 1997 Ken Doherty 1998 John Higgins 1999 Stephen Hendry 2000 Mark Williams 2001 Ronnie O'Sullivan 2002 Peter Ebdon 2003 Mark Williams 2004 Ronnie O'Sullivan 2005 Shaun Murphy 2006 Graeme Dott 2007 John Higgins 2008 Ronnie O'Sullivan 2009 John Higgins 2010 Neil Robertson 2011 John Higgins 2012 Ronnie O'Sullivan v t e Player of the year by the Snooker Writers Association (1983) Steve Davis (1984) Steve Davis (1985) Dennis Taylor (1986) Steve Davis/Joe Johnson (1987) Steve Davis (1988) Steve Davis (1989) Steve Davis (1990) Stephen Hendry (1991) Stephen Hendry (1992) Stephen Hendry (1993) Stephen Hendry (1994) Ronnie O'Sullivan (1995) Stephen Hendry (1996) Stephen Hendry (1997) Stephen Hendry (1998) John Higgins (1999) John Higgins (2000) Mark Williams (2001) Ronnie O'Sullivan (2002) Peter Ebdon (2003) Mark Williams (2004) Ronnie O'Sullivan (2005) Ronnie O'Sullivan (2006) John Higgins (2007) Neil Robertson (2008) Ronnie O'Sullivan Persondata Name Ebdon, Peter Alternative names Short description Date of birth 1970-08-27 Place of birth Islington, England Date of death Place of death