Igor Figueiredo wins Pan American Snooker Championship and regains professional tour card

As is the case with other continental championships, Figueiredo's title triumph earns him a two-year card for the World Snooker Tour that will start from the 2026/27 season.

South America's greatest-ever snooker player, Figueiredo - a former IBSF World Amateur Championship runner-up - has spent several short spells on the sport's top flight.

He last competed on it full-time in 2021, but did not play the whole season amidst reports of homesickness being away from his family and children, and financial difficulties he faced as an overseas, lower-ranked player.

Since then, though, the financial burden for such players has been eased somewhat, with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) guaranteeing each tour card holder £20,000 per season which is offset through their tournament earnings.

In recent times, 47-year-old Figueiredo has enjoyed success on the seniors circuit, winning the 2024 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, and a 900 event in Hull.

How Figueiredo won the Pan American seniors and open championship double

Organised by the Pan American Billiards and Snooker Association (PABSA), this year’s championships - which consist of a seniors event followed by an open-age one - took place at the Aryan Snooker Club in Sacramento, California for the first time.

In the seniors championship, Figueiredo reclaimed the title he first won in 2023. He finished top of his round robin group without losing a frame to qualify for the knockout phase where he defeated Steven Wong (USA), Daren Mark Taylor (USA), and former professional player Itaro Santos (Brazil) before denying compatriot Noel Rodrigues Moreira 4-1 in the final.

This accolade for Figueiredo - who compiled the tournament’s highest break of 141 on the opening day - means he books a spot in the draw for the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible where he will be trying to win back that crown.

The main continental competition followed at the same venue, with 64 players split into 16 round robin groups of four.

Figueiredo won all three of his group fixtures 3-0 to reach the knockouts. There, he eliminated Saif Ibrahim (USA) 3-0, Zia Sheik (USA) 4-1, Jason Williams (Canada) 4-1, and then ex-pro tour card holder Victor Sarkis (Brazil) 4-0 in the semi-finals.

Emerging from the other side of the draw was Luersen, who defeated Moreira in the other last four tie. Just like the seniors event, the final four was exclusively made up of Brazilian cueists.

Luersen won the Pan American seniors in Canada last year, a victory that qualified him for the World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible earlier this year. Playing in the iconic arena for the first time, Luersen acquitted himself well, compiling a 74 break in a 4-2 defeat to two-time ranking event winner Joe Perry.

The opening frame of the final went to Figueiredo; he then doubled his lead with the help of a 58 break in frame two. Luersen claimed the next two frames to level up at 2-2, but Figueiredo strung together the following three frames (57 break, frame six) to become Pan American champion for the second time following his initial success in 2019.

Defeat for Luersen means he has been runner-up in this Championship in each of the last three years. In 2024 he lost to Sahil Nayyar, and in 2023 he was pipped by Jonas Luz, 5-4.

It will be interesting to see what sort of impact Figueiredo can make on the professional scene if he comes back to it next year. He is due to turn 48 in October, but he has probably received more big stage exposure and television limelight over the last few years than he has ever done before due to his success on the World Seniors Snooker Tour.

'The Senna of Snooker' has three times reached the last 16 of a world ranking event, and twice he has made the final qualifying round of the World Professional Snooker Championship.