Former champ Doherty blocking Evans’ path to snooker history
LEADING female snooker player Reanne Evans has been handed a tough route to a possible World Championships debut after being drawn to meet former winner Ken Doherty in qualifying.
The Englishwoman, 29, who has won the World Ladies Snooker Championship 10 years in a row, is bidding to become the first woman to appear in the main draw of the sport’s top tournament.
Evans is due to meet Doherty, who won the title in 1997, on Thursday. She would then need to win two more qualifying matches to secure a place at the competition proper at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre later this month.
Amateur Evans stands to make at least £6,000 just from reaching the second round of qualifying – four times as much as she banked for winning the World Ladies title. If she is one of 16 to progress to the main draw, where they are drawn against the 16 seeds, she would be guaranteed a £12,000 payday.
This is not Evans’ first mixed tournament. The Dudley player became the first woman since Alison Fisher in 1994-95 to play on the main professional tour in 2010-11 but lost all of her 18 matches.