2002–03 snooker season

The 2002–03 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 27 August 2002 and 22 May 2003. Due to a legal ban, this was the final season to have events sponsored by tobacco companies (apart from Embassy, who would continue to sponsor the World Championship for another two years). The following table outlines the results for the ranking events and the invitational events. Mark Williams won all three triple crown events (UK Championship, Masters, World Championship) - the last player to do so in a single season.

2002–03 snooker season
Details
Duration27 August 2002 – 22 May 2003 (2002-08-27 – 2003-05-22)
Tournaments19 (8 ranking events)
Triple Crown winners
UK ChampionshipWales Mark Williams
MastersWales Mark Williams
World ChampionshipWales Mark Williams

Calendar

edit

World Snooker Tour

edit
Start Finish Country Tournament name Venue City Winner Runner-up Score Ref.
24 Sep 29 Sep   SCO Scottish Masters Thistle Hotels Glasgow   Ronnie O'Sullivan   John Higgins 9–4 [1]
5 Oct 13 Oct   ENG LG Cup Guild Hall Preston   Chris Small   Alan McManus 9–5 [2]
21 Oct 31 Oct   ENG Benson & Hedges Championship Towers Snooker Club Mansfield   Mark Davis   Mehmet Husnu 9–6 [3]
9 Nov 17 Nov   ENG British Open Telford International Centre Telford   Paul Hunter   Ian McCulloch 9–4 [4]
2 Dec 15 Dec   ENG UK Championship Barbican Centre York   Mark Williams   Ken Doherty 10–9 [5]
22 Jan 26 Jan   WAL Welsh Open Cardiff International Arena Cardiff   Stephen Hendry   Mark Williams 9–5 [6]
2 Feb 9 Feb   ENG Masters Wembley Conference Centre London   Mark Williams   Stephen Hendry 10–4 [7][8]
11 Mar 16 Mar   ENG European Open Palace Hotel Torquay   Ronnie O'Sullivan   Stephen Hendry 9–6 [9][10]
25 Mar 30 Mar   IRL Irish Masters Citywest Hotel Dublin   Ronnie O'Sullivan   John Higgins 10–9 [11]
5 Apr 13 Apr   SCO Scottish Open Royal Highland Centre Edinburgh   David Gray   Mark Selby 9–7 [12][13]
19 Apr 5 May   ENG World Snooker Championship Crucible Theatre Sheffield   Mark Williams   Ken Doherty 18–16 [14]
11 Jan 11 May   ENG Premier League Crowtree Leisure Centre Sunderland   Marco Fu   Mark Williams 9–5 [15]
Ranking event
Non-ranking event

Challenge Tour

edit
Start Finish Country Tournament name Venue City Winner Runner-up Score Ref.
2 Nov 7 Nov   WAL Challenge Tour 1 Towers Snooker Club Mansfield   Chris Melling   Tom Ford 6–2 [16]
15 Feb 20 Feb   ENG Challenge Tour 2 Jesters Snooker Club Swindon   Adrian Rosa   Stuart Mann 6–5 [17]
15 Mar 20 Mar   WAL Challenge Tour 3 Jesters Snooker Club Swindon   Michael Rhodes   Luke Simmonds 6–5 [18]
16 May 22 May   WAL Challenge Tour 4 Pontin's Prestatyn   Kurt Maflin   James Leadbetter 6–2 [19]

Other events

edit
Start Finish Country Tournament name Venue City Winner Runner-up Score Ref.
1 Oct 8 Oct   KOR Asian Games Dongju College Gymnasium Busan   Ding Junhui   Supoj Saenla 3–1 [20]
20 Feb 22 Feb   NIR Irish Open Millennium Forum Derry   Joe Swail   Fergal O'Brien 10–3 [21]
19 Feb 23 Feb   THA Thailand Masters Rajamangala National Stadium Bangkok   Noppadon Noppachorn   Rom Surin 5–4 [22][23]

Official rankings

edit

The top 16 of the world rankings, these players automatically played in the final rounds of the world ranking events and were invited for the Masters.[24][25][26][27]

No. Player Points 2000/01 Points 2001/02 Total
1   Ronnie O'Sullivan 25399 24625 50024
2   Mark Williams 21735 25050 46785
3   Peter Ebdon 20777 23875 44652
4   John Higgins 22034 22300 44334
5   Ken Doherty 22079 21400 43479
6   Stephen Hendry 17478 24650 42128
7   Stephen Lee 13944 25725 39669
8   Matthew Stevens 14879 18000 32879
9   Paul Hunter 15809 15500 31309
10   Jimmy White 12009 16925 28934
11   Mark King 11895 15537 27432
12   Graeme Dott 11397 15762 27159
13   Joe Perry 9269 17700 26969
14   Quinten Hann 11395 14837 26232
15   Alan McManus 12190 13550 25740
16   Joe Swail 12117 12762 24879

Notes

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Regal Scottish Masters 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  2. ^ "LG Cup 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  3. ^ Turner, Chris. "Benson & Hedges Championship, Masters Qualifying Tournament". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  4. ^ "British Open 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  5. ^ "PowerHouse UK Championship 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  6. ^ "Regal Welsh Open 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  7. ^ "Benson & Hedges Masters 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  8. ^ Turner, Chris. "On this Week: White becomes Brown". Eurosport UK. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  9. ^ "European Open 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  10. ^ Turner, Chris. "On this Week: Birth of the Hurricane". Eurosport UK. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  11. ^ "Citywest Irish Masters 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  12. ^ "Regal Scottish Open 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  13. ^ Turner, Chris. "On this Week: First world title for Reardon". Eurosport UK. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Embassy World Championship 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  15. ^ "2002 Premier League Snooker Results". premierleaguesnooker.com. Matchroom Sport. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  16. ^ "WSA Challenge Tour 1". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006.
  17. ^ "WSA Challenge Tour 2". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006.
  18. ^ "WSA Challenge Tour 3". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006.
  19. ^ "WSA Challenge Tour 4". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006.
  20. ^ "2002 Asian Games Official Report, Page 284" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2008.
  21. ^ "Swail lifts Irish crown". BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  22. ^ Turner, Chris. "Thailand Open, Thailand Classic, Thailand Masters". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  23. ^ "Noppadon wins Masters crown, goes No. 1". thailandsnooker.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2003. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  24. ^ Turner, Chris. "World Rankings (1990/91 to 2004/05)". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  25. ^ "Embassy World Rankings 2002/2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  26. ^ Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. pp. 119–123. ISBN 0-9548549-0-X.
  27. ^ "Embassy World Rankings issued after the Embassy World Championship 2002". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 4 June 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
edit