Gary Wilson (snooker player)

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Gary Wilson
Wilson at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born (1985-08-11) 11 August 1985 (age 39)
Wallsend, England
Sport country England
NicknameThe Tyneside Terror[1]
Professional2004–2006, 2013–present
Highest ranking10 (April 2024)
Current ranking 12 (as of 28 October 2024)
Maximum breaks5
Century breaks247 (as of 30 October 2024)
Tournament wins
Ranking3

Gary Wilson (born 11 August 1985) is an English professional snooker player from Wallsend in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear.

After showing promise from a young age, Wilson won the IBSF World U-21 Championship before turning professional in 2004. He dropped off the tour in 2006, however, and did not regain his professional status until 2013. During his second period as an amateur, Wilson won the English Amateur Championship in 2012 and reached the final of the World Amateur Championship the same year.

Noted for his cue ball control and break-building ability, Wilson has won three ranking titles, the Scottish Open in 2022 and 2023, and the 2024 Welsh Open. He was also runner-up at the 2015 China Open and the 2021 British Open, as well as reaching the semi-final of the 2019 World Championship as a qualifier.

Career

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Early career

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Wilson started playing snooker aged three and soon started showing promise.[2] At the age of 8 he had already been put into a team performing in the local league, despite some clubs refusing to allow a child to play. Aged 9, he made his first century, and appeared for the first time at the BBC1's snooker game show series Junior Big Break: Stars of the Future (he would make two more appearances on the show). He played exhibition matches with John Parrott and Willie Thorne, and defeated Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan in level matches. Wilson went on to win a number of national titles, including the UK Under-18 championship twice, and was widely regarded as one of the most promising junior players in the country.[3]

In 2003, Wilson made his international debut at the European U-19's Championship in Latvia. The same year he started his professional career by playing Challenge Tour, the second-level professional tour at the time, and won the fourth event in 2004 to finish fourth in the rankings and secure his place on the main tour for 2004–05 season.[4] Wilson's biggest achievement that year, however, was the victory at the World Under-21 Snooker Championship in Ireland. Having won all seven of his round robin matches while dropping only two frames, he went all the way to the final, defeating the likes of Pankaj Advani, Aditya Mehta and Liang Wenbo. In the final Wilson saw off Kobkit Palajin with breaks of 142 and 135 to win 11–5.

In his debut season Wilson reached the last 48 of the Irish Masters and last 64 of the China Open.[5] These results were just enough to ensure that he would remain on tour for another year. The next season, Wilson reached the last 64 stage twice, but the rest of his performances were unsuccessful, and following defeat to James Tatton in the World Championship qualifying, he fell off the tour.[6] In 2013 Wilson commented: "At the end of it, when you looked at the rankings it was only by one match and I was gutted. The thing is, at the time, and this is not an excuse, the game was nowhere near as popular as now. It was going through a really bad patch and there were only six tournaments in all compared to now when there are 20–25 tournaments per season. It meant if you had two bad tournaments and you were not doing too well you did not have much time to recover. It is so different now."[2]

Amateur years and return to main tour

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Wilson was to spend the next four years attempting to regain his tour place via the PIOS tour, having come close to finishing inside the top 8 on several occasions. He was forced to start working as a taxi driver at the time to make a living.[2]

Following the introduction of the Q School, Wilson again came close to winning a tour card, reaching the fourth round twice in 2011 and once in 2012. He also took part in the 2012 IBSF World Championship in Bulgaria, having finished top of the English amateur rankings. He reached the final but lost 8–10 to Muhammad Asif. During the 2011–12 season Wilson entered a number of PTC events, defeating the likes of Peter Ebdon and Marco Fu, and reaching the last 32 twice. The next season was even better, as he performed consistently and reached the last 16 of Scottish Open; as a result he finished third among the amateur players on the Order of Merit, and finally regained his tour place after seven years.[7] Wilson said, "I knew if I went quite far in that last event I would be able to turn professional off that, so losing the world amateur final did not end my dreams".[2]

2013–14

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Wilson had one of the strongest starts to the season among the new players on tour. In the first tournament, the Wuxi Classic, he defeated James Wattana to qualify for his second ever venue appearance; there he would lose in a deciding frame to David Morris.[8] After failing to qualify for both the Australian Open and the Shanghai Masters, Wilson had his best result to date at the inaugural Indian Open, defeating Jimmy White, Dominic Dale and Marco Fu on the way to the last 16, where he lost again in the deciding frame, this time to Michael White.[9] Following his first round defeat at the International Championship to Wattana, Wilson went on to reach the last 32 of both the UK Championship and the German Masters. During the qualifying match for the latter tournament against Ricky Walden in December, Wilson made his first maximum break in professional competition.[10] He also performed successfully at the European Tour events, winning his first round matches at every tournament. The highlight was his first ever semi-final at the Rotterdam Open where he was leading eventual tournament winner Mark Williams 3–1 but lost 4–3.[11] Thanks to these performances, Wilson finished 24th on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals, where he was whitewashed 4–0 by Fu. Wilson's season came to a disappointing end as he was beaten 10–4 by James Cahill in the opening round of World Championship qualifying.[8] However, he had made enough money during the year to give up his taxi driver job and concentrate on playing snooker full-time in the future.[12]

2014–15

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Wilson qualified for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, the opening ranking event of the season, where he lost 5–3 to Alan McManus in the first round. He couldn't regain his momentum from last year as he failed to progress beyond the last 64 stage of any tournament in the first half of the season.[13] Wilson's breakthrough came in February at the Welsh Open, as he defeated Zhang Anda, John Astley and Joe Perry. He then knocked out Neil Robertson 4–2 to reach his first major quarter-final, stating afterwards that he had proven that he could handle the big occasions.[12] Wilson took an early 2–1 lead against Ben Woollaston, but lost four frames in a row to be beaten 5–2.[14] In the opening round of the Indian Open, Wilson was edged out 4–3 by Adam Duffy.[13]

At the China Open, Wilson eliminated Liang Wenbo 5–3, Ricky Walden 5–2 and Dechawat Poomjaeng 5–1 to play in his second ranking event quarter-final in under two months.[13] Despite defeating Barry Hawkins 5–3, Wilson said that he was struggling with his game but hoped to find his form in the semi-finals against home favourite and reigning champion Ding Junhui.[15] He fell 3–1 down, but moved 5–3 ahead with four breaks of 50 or above. Ding took the match into a deciding frame in which Wilson made a 72 to set up a meeting with reigning world champion Mark Selby in the final, in which Wilson was heavily beaten 10–2.[16] Wilson said later that he didn't feel the occasion got to him, but simply missed the majority of chances that came his way and cued across the ball many times.[17] His last match of the season was a 10–7 loss to Li Hang in the second round of World Championship qualifying.[13] Wilson's successful year resulted in him increasing his ranking by 34 places in 12 months to end the season as 34th in the world.[18]

2015–16

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Wilson could not build on last year's exploits during the 2015–16 season. He lost in the qualifiers for the first three ranking events. He beat Martin O'Donnell 6–3 at the UK Championship, before being defeated 6–4 by Martin Gould in the second round. Wilson reached the same stage of the Welsh Open, but lost 4–1 to Liang Wenbo. He qualified for the China Open, but he was knocked out 5–3 by Stephen Maguire in the opening round.[19]

2016–17

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At the Indian Open, Wilson overcame Zhao Xintong 4–1 and Anthony Hamilton 4–2, but lost 4–2 to Akani Songsermsawad. His only last 16 appearance of the season came at the Northern Ireland Open, courtesy of knocking out Peter Lines 4–0, Andrew Higginson 4–3 and Sam Baird 4–3, before he was defeated 4–3 by Mark Allen. Wilson qualified for the China Open and beat Graeme Dott 5–3, but then was beaten 5–1 by Shaun Murphy.[20]

Wilson qualified for the 2017 World Championship. Making his second 147 in the fourth frame of his first round qualifier against Josh Boileau, he edged through 10–9. In the second qualifying round he defeated Peter Lines 10–7, then Michael White 10–3. In his three matches he made eight centuries, more than double that of any other player. He rated the achievement of qualifying bigger than reaching the final of the China Open in 2015.[21] On his debut in the event he played Ronnie O'Sullivan, and rallied from 5–1 to be down only 5–4 after the first session. He fell 9–5 behind, before winning two frames in a row, but O'Sullivan then got the frame he needed to progress 10–7. Wilson made two century breaks during the match.[22]

2017–18

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Wilson was a quarter-finalist at the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic, but lost 4–2 to Jamie Jones. In the second half of the season, he made it to the semi-finals of the 2018 Welsh Open,[23] where he was defeated 6–2 by John Higgins.[24]

2018–19

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Early in the season, Wilson made two quarter-final appearances, at the non-ranking Haining Open,[25] and right after that at the ranking World Open.[26] At the 2019 Snooker World Championship Wilson defeated Luca Brecel, Mark Selby and Ali Carter before losing 17–11 to eventual winner Judd Trump in the semi-finals.[27]

2019–20

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Wilson reached a quarter- and a semi-final in both the first and the second half of the season. In August, in the quarter-final stage of the 2019 International Championship he faced Mark Selby,[28] who narrowly knocked him out by the scoreline of 6–5. A month later, Wilson reached the semi-final of the 2019 Six-red World Championship, losing to Stephen Maguire 7–5.[29] At the start of the next year, Wilson suffered another 6–5 defeat, this time by Zhou Yuelong, at the 2020 European Masters semi-final.[30] Next month he exited the 2020 World Grand Prix at the quarter-finals, losing to Tom Ford 5–2.[31]

2020–21

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At the WST Pro Series, Wilson made his third career maximum break when he was playing against Liam Highfield in the group stage. This was the first maximum break in the history of the event.[32]

2021–22

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Wilson was a runner-up to Mark Williams at the 2021 British Open, losing by the scoreline of 4–6.[33] This was Wilson's second ranking final appearance. At the 2021 UK Championship, he made his fourth maximum break in his first round match against Ian Burns.[34]

2022–23: First ranking title

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Wilson secured his first ranking title at the 2022 Scottish Open, defeating Joe O'Connor 9–2 in the final.[35] He also made it to the quarter-finals of the 2023 Players Championship by beating Ding Junhui 6–3,[36] but there he suffered a 1–6 loss to Kyren Wilson.[37]

2023–24: Second and third ranking titles

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Wilson successfully defended his title at the 2023 Scottish Open, with a 9–5 victory over Noppon Saengkham in the final,[38] then went on and also won the last tournament in the Home Nations Series, the 2024 Welsh Open, beating Martin O'Donnell 9–4.[39] This made him the third player, after Mark Selby and Judd Trump, to win two Home Nations events in one season. During the Welsh Open, Wilson made his fifth maximum break in the second frame of his semi-final match against John Higgins, after attempting a maximum in the first frame already.[40] He was a quarter-finalist at the 2024 World Grand Prix as well, but lost 1–5 to Ronnie O'Sullivan,[41] the eventual winner of the tournament. Wilson's result was the same at the 2024 Players Championship, being defeated 4–6 by Mark Allen.[42] In the 2024 Tour Championship he made it to the semi-final stage, where once again he faced O'Sullivan and lost to him 7–10.[43]

Performance and rankings timeline

[edit]
Tournament 2003/
04 		2004/
05 		2005/
06 		2011/
12 		2012/
13 		2013/
14 		2014/
15 		2015/
16 		2016/
17 		2017/
18 		2018/
19 		2019/
20 		2020/
21 		2021/
22 		2022/
23 		2023/
24 		2024/
25
Ranking[44][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 3] 79 [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 68 34 42 57 40 20 18 33 33 14 11
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Not Held Non-Ranking Event RR RR 2R RR 2R
Xi'an Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 2R
Saudi Arabia Masters Tournament Not Held 6R
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R 1R 4R 4R 1R 1R 2R 1R
British Open A LQ Tournament Not Held F 2R 2R LQ
Wuhan Open Tournament Not Held LQ 1R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 4R 4R 3R 1R 1R 2R LQ 2R 1R
International Championship Tournament Not Held A 1R LQ LQ 1R 1R LQ QF Not Held 2R
UK Championship A LQ LQ A A 3R 1R 2R 1R 1R 3R 4R 1R 2R LQ LQ
Shoot Out Not Held Non-Ranking Event 1R 2R 3R 1R 1R 2R 3R 1R
Scottish Open[nb 4] A Not Held MR Not Held 2R 2R 1R 2R 1R 2R W W
German Masters Not Held A A 2R LQ A LQ 2R LQ 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ
Welsh Open A LQ LQ A A 1R QF 2R 1R SF 2R 2R 2R 1R LQ W
World Open[nb 5] A LQ 1R A A LQ Not Held 1R 1R QF LQ Not Held LQ
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ 1R QF DNQ 1R 1R QF
Players Championship[nb 6] Not Held DNQ DNQ 1R DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 1R QF QF
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ SF
World Championship LQ LQ LQ A A LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ SF LQ 1R LQ 2R 1R
Non-ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters Not Held Ranking Event A A Not Held 1R 1R
Champion of Champions Tournament Not Held A A A A A A A A A A 1R
The Masters LQ A LQ A A A A A A A A A 1R A A A
Championship League Not Held A A A A A A A A 2R 2R RR RR RR RR
Former ranking tournaments
Irish Masters A LQ Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic Not Held NR A 1R 1R Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open Not Held A A LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters Not Held A A LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R Non-Ranking Not Held Non-Ranking
Paul Hunter Classic NH Pro-am Minor-Ranking Event 2R QF 2R NR Tournament Not Held
Indian Open Tournament Not Held 3R 1R NH 3R 2R 1R Tournament Not Held
China Open NH LQ LQ A A 1R F 1R 2R 3R 1R Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 7] Tournament Not Held Minor-Rank 1R 1R LQ 3R Tournament Not Held
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ 2R LQ Tournament Not Held
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held RR Tournament Not Held
Turkish Masters Tournament Not Held LQ Not Held
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 2R 2R 4R 1R 1R 2R Not Held
WST Classic Tournament Not Held SF Not Held
European Masters[nb 8] A LQ LQ Tournament Not Held LQ LQ 2R SF WD 1R 2R LQ NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
General Cup[nb 9] NH RR NH A A A A A Tournament Not Held
Shoot Out Not Held A A A 1R 3R Ranking Event
Paul Hunter Classic NH Pro-am Minor-Ranking Event Ranking Event 1R Tournament Not Held
Six-red World Championship Tournament Not Held A 3R A A A A A SF Not Held LQ Not Held
Haining Open Tournament Not Held Minor-Rank A 1R QF A NH A NH A NH
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) 		QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi–finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Event means an event is/was a pro-am event.
  1. ^ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
  2. ^ a b c He was an amateur
  3. ^ a b New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
  4. ^ The event was called the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  5. ^ The event was called the LG Cup (2003/2004) and the Grand Prix (2004/2005–2005/2006)
  6. ^ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2011/2012–2015/2016)
  7. ^ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  8. ^ The event was called the European Open (2003/2004) and the Malta Cup (2004/2005–2005/2006)
  9. ^ The event was called the General Cup International (2004/2005–2011/2012)

Career finals

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Ranking finals: 5 (3 titles)

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Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2015 China Open England Mark Selby 2–10
Runner-up 2. 2021 British Open Wales Mark Williams 4–6
Winner 1. 2022 Scottish Open England Joe O'Connor 9–2
Winner 2. 2023 Scottish Open (2) Thailand Noppon Saengkham 9–5
Winner 3. 2024 Welsh Open England Martin O'Donnell 9–4

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

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Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2003 Challenge Tour – Event 2 Scotland Hugh Abernethy 0–6
Winner 1. 2004 Challenge Tour – Event 4 China Jin Long 6–4

Team finals: 1

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Outcome No. Year Championship Team/partner Opponent(s) in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2007 World Mixed Doubles Championship England Pam Wood England Joe Perry
England Leah Willett 		1–3[45]

Amateur finals: 6 (5 titles)

[edit]
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2002 English Under-18 Championship England Matthew Selt 8–5[46]
Winner 2. 2003 English Under-18 Championship (2) England Jamie O'Neill 8–4[46]
Winner 3. 2004 IBSF World Under-21 Championship Thailand Kobkit Palajin 11–5
Winner 4. 2012 English Amateur Championship England Martin O'Donnell 10–9
Winner 5. 2012 EBSA Qualifying Tour – Belgium England Elliot Slessor 3–0
Runner–up 1. 2012 IBSF World Snooker Championship Pakistan Muhammad Asif 8–10

References

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  1. ^ "Gary Wilson". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Wilson is hoping for a big break second time around". Chronicle Live. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  3. ^ "Snooker: Cue king Gary has world at his feet". The Journal. 31 August 2004. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Gary Wilson – Season 2003/2004". Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Gary Wilson – Season 2004/2005". Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Gary Wilson – Season 2005/2006". Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Order of Merit". WWW Snooker. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  8. ^ a b "Gary Wilson 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  9. ^ "Indian Open 2013: Results". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  10. ^ "Gary Wilson: Snooker player shoots maximum 147 break". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  11. ^ "Selby to meet Williams in Rotterdam Open final". Eurosport. 21 July 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  12. ^ a b "Robertson Joins Cardiff Casualties". World Snooker. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  13. ^ a b c d "Gary Wilson 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Welsh Open: Luca Brecel and Ben Woollaston reach semi-finals in Cardiff". Sky Sports. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  15. ^ "Ding To Face Wilson in Beijing". World Snooker. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  16. ^ "Wilson Stuns Ding To Earn Selby Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  17. ^ "Selby Storms To China Title". World Snooker. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  18. ^ "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  19. ^ "Gary Wilson 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  20. ^ "Gary Wilson 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  21. ^ "Yan Secures Crucible Debut". World Snooker. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  22. ^ "Rocket Battles Past Wilson". World Snooker. 16 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  23. ^ Caulfield, David (3 March 2018). "Welsh Open: Semi-Final Preview". SnookerHQ.
  24. ^ Caulfield, David (4 March 2018). "Welsh Open Final: John Higgins vs Barry Hawkins". SnookerHQ.
  25. ^ Caulfield, David (5 August 2018). "Mark Selby Defends Haining Open". SnookerHQ.
  26. ^ "Barry Hawkins beats Gary Wilson 5-3 at 2018 snooker World Open". XINHUANET. 10 August 2018.
  27. ^ "Trump sets up Higgins final after dismissing Wilson". Eurosport. 5 May 2019.
  28. ^ Caulfield, David (7 August 2019). "Preview: International Championship Quarter-Finals". SnookerHQ.
  29. ^ "Higgins To Face Maguire in Bangkok Final". World Snooker Tour. 6 September 2019. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020.
  30. ^ "Joy For Zhou After Late Night Thriller". World Snooker Tour. 26 January 2020. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020.
  31. ^ Caulfield, David (7 February 2020). "World Grand Prix Favourites Lose". SnookerHQ.
  32. ^ "Gary Wilson Makes 147". World Snooker. 20 January 2021. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  33. ^ "Williams Reflects On Unorthodox British Open Win". World Snooker Tour. 31 August 2022. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022.
  34. ^ "UK Championship snooker 2021 - Gary Wilson produces 147 maximum break on way to reaching second round". Eurosport. 24 November 2021.
  35. ^ "Wonderful Wilson Crushes O'Connor In Scottish Final". World Snooker Tour. 4 December 2022.
  36. ^ "Brecel Scores Crucial Win". World Snooker Tour. 22 February 2023.
  37. ^ "Warrior Set For Wolverhampton Semis". World Snooker Tour. 24 February 2023.
  38. ^ "Wilson Defends Edinburgh Crown". World Snooker Tour. 17 December 2023.
  39. ^ "Prince Of Wales Wilson Lands Third Ranking Title". World Snooker Tour. 18 February 2024.
  40. ^ "Wilson Makes Snooker's 199th Maximum". World Snooker Tour. 17 February 2024.
  41. ^ "O'Sullivan To Face Ding In Semis". World Snooker Tour. 19 January 2024.
  42. ^ "Pistol Edges Wilson in Fierce Battle". World Snooker Tour. 22 February 2024.
  43. ^ "O'Sullivan Into 64th Ranking Final". World Snooker Tour. 5 April 2024.
  44. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  45. ^ "Reanne Evans defends World Snooker Championship". billiardpulse.com. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  46. ^ a b "Country Page - England". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
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