Snooker legend Tony Knowles still striving for professional tour return

Photo credit: Andy Chubb/World Snooker Federation
Later this year, Tony Knowles turns 70, but the former world number two is showing no signs of slowing down or hanging up his cue as he continues to travel the country and beyond competing in big amateur snooker events.

Two-time ranking event winner Knowles is currently in Saidia, Morocco playing in this year's World Snooker Federation Championship. The prestigious competition - that is open to all amateur players across the globe - is affectively the modern-day world amateur championship, with the winner earning promotion to the sport's professional circuit, the World Snooker Tour.

But this trip is not a one-off for the revered Bolton cueist, who has remained regularly active on both the national and international amateur snooker circuits in recent years.

Knowles is a member of the English Partnership for Snooker and Billiards (EPSB - England's national governing body for snooker) and has played in a plethora of domestic tournaments this season, both at open-amateur and seniors level.

A few months ago, he entered the 104th edition of the historic English Amateur Snooker Championship where he won his opening two matches 4-0 before bowing out 4-2 to former finalist Anthony Parsons. Knowles played in this famous event in the 1970s.

As well as consistent appearances on the World Seniors Snooker Tour - in 2019 he won a Super Seniors event in Jersey when he defeated Mike Hallett in the final - Knowles has entered Q School every year since 2021 in a bid to regain his professional stripes.

During this period, Knowles - who last played as a professional in 2001 - has picked up several match victories, and some very notable ones at that, defeating Craig Steadman and Sean O’Sullivan - both pro tour card holders in recent seasons - in 2021.

At last year’s UK Q-School, Knowles got the better of an opponent over 50 years his junior, ousting Scottish teenager Jack Borwick, 4-3 in event two. The year before, Borwick won the European Under-16 Snooker Championship in Malta.

A return to snooker's top tier is very unlikely, but Knowles is prepared to mix it with all-comers. It’s great that he still loves competing on the baize.

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