Snooker legend Tony Knowles still striving for professional tour return


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.
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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.
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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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