Snooker (British English pronunciation:  /ˈsnuːkər/) is a cue sport that is played on a green or other coloured baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. The (baize) cloth on a snooker table has a directional nap running from the balk end of the table towards the end with the (black ball) spot. This affects how a ball rolls depending on which direction it is hit or shot. A regular (full-size) table is 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m). It is played using a cue and 22 snooker balls: one white cue ball, 15 red balls worth one point each, and six balls of different colours: yellow (2 points), green (3), brown (4), blue (5), pink (6) and black (7). A player (or team) wins a frame (individual game) of snooker by scoring more points than the opponent(s), using the cue ball to pot the red and coloured balls. A player wins a match when a certain number of frames have been won.

Snooker, generally regarded as having been invented in India by British Army officers, is popular in many of the English-speaking and Commonwealth countries, with top professional players attaining multi-million pound career earnings from the game. The sport is now increasingly popular in China.

A season is a subdivision of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution. In temperate and polar regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface, variations of which may cause animals to go into hibernation or to migrate, and plants to be dormant.

During May, June and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to more direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the southern hemisphere in November, December and January. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the summer months which increases the solar flux. However, due to seasonal lag, June, July and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January and February are the hottest months in the southern hemisphere.

In temperate and subpolar regions, generally four calendar-based seasons (with their adjectives) are recognized: spring (vernal), summer (estival), autumn (autumnal) and winter (hibernal). However, ecologists mostly use a six season model for temperate climate regions that includes pre-spring (prevernal) and late summer (serotinal) as distinct seasons along with the traditional four (See Ecological Seasons).

2007 (MMVII) was a common year that started on a Monday (dominical letter G) in the Gregorian calendar. It was the 2007th year of Anno Domini or Common Era designation, the 7th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century, and the 8th of the 2000s decade.

2007 was designated as:

UNESCO has recognized fifteen anniversaries for 2007.

Ronald Antonio "Ronnie" O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player known for his rapid playing style, and is nicknamed "The Rocket". He has been World Champion on four occasions (2001, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and, with career earnings of over £6 million is second after Stephen Hendry on snooker's all-time prize-money list. O'Sullivan has been the world's no. 1 player on five occasions, and has won a total of 24 ranking titles. He is second, again behind Hendry, on the list of players making the most competitive century breaks, with a total of 678. O'Sullivan has compiled 11 maximum breaks in professional competition, a record which he shares with Hendry. He also holds the record for the fastest maximum break, at 5 minutes 20 seconds.

O'Sullivan is considered by many fans, critics and professionals, including fellow multiple-World Championship winners Hendry and Steve Davis, as the most naturally talented player in the history of the game. He has, however, been involved in a number of controversial incidents during his career.

Marco Fu Ka-chun (Chinese: 傅家俊; pinyin: Fù Jiājùn; Yale: Fu6 Ka1 Chun3; born 8 January 1978 in Hong Kong), commonly known as Marco Fu, is a professional snooker player from Hong Kong. He is best known for winning the 2007 Grand Prix, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final, and for being runner-up in the 2008 UK Championship and the 2011 Masters. He also reached the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championship. He currently resides in Happy Valley.

Fu started playing snooker at the age of nine, but did not start playing regularly until he was 15. Fu was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his parents at the age of 12. After his high school graduation at age 18, Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council Co. Ltd President Joseph Lo invited him to return to Hong Kong to begin his career as a professional snooker player. Before turning professional, Fu won the World Amateur and World Under-21 Championships, both in 1997.

In 1998, the year he turned professional, Fu reached the final of the Grand Prix, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan (5–2) and then Peter Ebdon (5–3) in the process. An in-form Stephen Lee proved too strong for Fu in the final, defeating him 9–2, but Fu nevertheless rose dramatically through the rankings, reaching number 15 in the world for the 2000/01 season. When he first turned professional, he was ranked 377th in the world. During the rest of the 1998/99 season, Fu qualifed for four more ranking tournaments, including the World Championship, winning four qualifying matches before losing to James Wattana 8–10 in the first round of the main draw.