Why China’s Top Women Prefer Pool to Snooker as England’s Reanne Evans Strengthens Her Status as the Best Player Ever

England’s Reanne Evans strengthened her status as the greatest women’s player ever, even as a posse of world-class Chinese billiards stars stay away from snooker because they are making more money on the global pool circuit.

Evans, 33, beat Thailand’s 19-year-old star Nutcharut Wongharuthai 6-3 in the women’s world championship final in Bangkok on Sunday for her 12th title, with Hong Kong’s defending three-time champion Ng On-yee losing to the Thai in the quarter-finals.

While Evans, Ng and “Mink” continue to dominate the women’s series, a host of top Chinese players – many of them former snooker players – are getting rich playing pool.

“There are plenty of very good Chinese women’s players,” said Hong Kong coach Wayne Griffiths. “But they are all playing pool because there is more money in that sport.

“If they were to switch to snooker, they would be competitive enough to win.”

Chinese players occupy the top three positions on the women’s pool-billiards world tour and four of the top five. Han Yu is at the top ahead of Xiao Fangfu and 2010 Asian Games six-red gold medallist Chen Siming, with Britain’s Kelly Fisher – another former snooker player – fourth. The top five is rounded out by another Chinese, Liu Shasha.

Last December’s women’s world nine-ball championship, in Sanya, China, offered total prize money of US$175,000 with Han winning the first prize of US$44,000.

Evans earned £6,000 (HK$60,000) for her victory in Bangkok over the weekend.

Chen won the singles gold medal for six-red snooker at the 2010 Asian Games, the same year Ng and her Hong Kong teammates won gold in the team competition. Chen, however, has moved on to the riches of the global pool tour.

The women’s nine-ball tour also offers more events, including several that are combined with the men’s events. The women’s snooker world tour has six events this year.

Jason Ferguson, president of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said his sport will always be fighting to hang on to its best players because of the lure of nine-ball.

“There are women playing snooker in China and they are playing to a very high standard. Why we are not seeing them playing snooker is actually down to the fact that they are playing pool.

“This is an inherent problem with women’s snooker. We tend to lose our players to the nine-ball tour because it’s probably an easier sport for them to interact with. There are more women’s events, there are more opportunities for women and they are making more money.”

He said the skills acquired playing snooker give many women an advantage when they make the switch to nine-ball, where the tables are smaller and pockets bigger.

However, he is confident that Chinese women will one day embrace the snooker world circuit and make a major impact.

“The snooker technical skill translate very well into pool,” he said. “So we have got players reaching a certain standard, making century breaks and then drifting into pool because they are making more money.

“This is a problem. So we are developing our women’s snooker, we are seeing more women competing and it is inevitable that China will become a major nation in women’s snooker.”

Evans, meanwhile, was delighted to pick up her 12th world title, having waited three years since her last crown.

“It has been a long time coming after my 11th and it does mean more after losing during the past two years,” she said.

“I had such a good run [winning the title 10 years in a row from 2005-2014] but it obviously has been frustrating and gutting for that to end and to have lost a bit of confidence.

“The final was really tight all the way through – I was a little bit edgy at the start but I still felt good and towards the end I felt even better, I wasn’t letting it go this year.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: china aces seek more riches on pool table