Ian Williamson

Ian Williamson (born 1 December 1958) is an English former professional snooker and English billiards player.

Ian Williamson
Born (1958-12-01) 1 December 1958
Sport country England
Professional1982–1996
Highest ranking47

Biography

Ian Williamson was born on 1 December 1958.[1] His father was Jim Williamson, founding proprietor of the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.[2]

Williamson was runner up in the English Under 19 English billiards Championships in 1975 and 1976. He lost the 1975 final to Eugene Hughes and the 1976 final to Steve Davis.[3] In 1976, he beat Davis in the semi-final of the Under-19 Snooker championship before losing to him later the same day in the billiards final.[4] Williamson won the Under-19 billiards title in 1977 and 1978, beating John Barnes in the final both years.[3] He was also a semi-finalist in the 1978 English Amateur Championship, beaten 8-4 by Joe Johnson[5]

His application to become a professional snooker player in 1980 was refused, along with that of Eugene Hughes, whilst Tony Knowles was the only one of three applicants at the time to be accepted.[6] The following year, Williamson lost 7–5 to Bill Oliver in the final of the 1981 Pontins Autumn Open.[7]

Williamson became a professional player in 1982[1] but never reached the quarter-finals of a major tournament.[8] He reached the last 16 of the 1984 Grand Prix where he was beaten 5-2 by Tony Knowles.[1]

He was more successful as a billiards player, winning the 1988 UK Championship.[9] The final was played as best-of-13 150-up, and it took Williamson nine hours to beat Robby Foldvari 7–3 in a match where both players were warned by the referee for slow play.[10]: 174  and was runner up 7–5 to Norman Dagley at the 1991 British Open.[10]: 178  In a 2005 article, former billiards world champion Geet Sethi described Williamson as "justifiably accused as one of the slowest players on the circuit."[11]

Williamson and Robby Foldvari set a record for the longest best-of-nine frame snooker match when they took seven hours and fourteen minutes to finish their match in the seventh qualifying round of the 1994 British Open in August 1993.[12] The match included two consecutive 80-minute-long frames.[13]

Williamson's first inclusion on the professional snooker ranking list saw him listed at 47th, in the Snooker world rankings 1985/1986. He then dropped in the rankings each year[14] and last competed on the professional snooker circuit in the 1995-96 season,[8] when he was ranked 283rd,[14] before going on to focus on coaching.[2] He qualified as a coach with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association in 2015.[15] In the Billiards world rankings, Williamson was ranked third in both 1989/90 and 1990/91.[16]

References
  1. Hale, Janice (1991). Rothmans Snooker Yearbook 1991–92. Aylesbury: Queen Anne Press. pp. 280–282. ISBN 0356197476.
  2. Everton, Clive (21 October 2009). "Jim Williamson obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  3. "English Under-19 Champions". eaba.co.uk. English Amateur Billiards Association. 18 October 2013. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  4. Steve Davis (9 April 2015). Interesting: My Autobiography. Ebury Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-4735-0248-2.
  5. "On This Day". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. 12 March 2003 – via NewsBank. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  6. Sharrock, Gordon (5 February 2015). "Memories". The Bolton News – via NewsBank. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  7. "Brief History of the Pontins Open and Professional". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  8. Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. pp. 1027–1028. ISBN 0-9548549-0-X.
  9. "UK Championship History". wpbsa.com. World Billiards. 19 August 2015. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  10. Everton, Clive (2012). A History of Billiards: (the English three-ball game). Malmesbury: englishbilliards.org. ISBN 9780956405456.
  11. Sethi, Geet (9 March 2005). "Mike Russell registers victory". The Hindu. Chennai, India – via NewsBank. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  12. "Long game – Snooker". The Times. London. 28 August 1993. p. 31 – via NewsBank. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  13. "Canada block Irish path". The Irish Times. Dublin. 6 November 1996 – via NewsBank. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  14. Kobylecky, John. The Complete International Directory of Snooker Players – 1927 to 2018. Kobyhadrian BooksPublishing. p. 372. ISBN 978-0993143311.
  15. "Pros Lead The Way on Coaching Course". wpbsa.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  16. "Here endeth 1990–91". Snooker Scene. No. January 1992. Everton's News Agency. p. 25.
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