BELGIAN LADIES EVENTS 2003-4

World No. 2 Wendy Jans predictably won the first Belgian Ladies event of the season, beating Valerie van Belinghen 3-0 in the final and notching the high break of 71.

However Jans didn’t have things all her own way, being pushed to 3-2 in the semi final by Belgian No. 2 Candide Binon.

Results

Quarter Finals

Caty Dehaene beat Hilde Moens 2-0

Valerie van Belinghen beat Gisela Kappes 2-0

Candide Binon beat Chanda van Goethem 2-0

Wendy Jans beat Belinda Focquaert 2-0

Semi Finals

Van Belinghen beat Dehaene 3-1

Jans beat Binon 3-2

Final

Jan beat Van Belinghen 3-0

EVENT 2

Jans was absent from the second event, which gave the chance for the other players to battle it out and it was Candide Binon, quarter finalist in the European Championships, who emerged from the pack to beat Gisela Kappes 3-1 in the final.

Results

Quarter Finals

Candide Binon beat Isabel Persoons 2-0

Naomi Wauterickx walkover Hilde Moens

Gisela Kappes beat Mia Van Rooy 2-0

Belinda Focquaert beat Vicky Plovie 2-0

Semi Finals

Binon beat Wauterickx 3-0

Kappes beat Focquaert 3-2

Final

Binon beat Kappes 3-1

WPBSA DOOM LADIES CIRCUIT TO AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

The WPBSA have officially notified the WLBSA (World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association) that they will no longer receive funding and support from World Snooker.

This move comes as no surprise to anyone, as World Snooker have been undertaking stringent cost cutting exercises, and earlier this year dropped Professional Billiards from its repertoire.

The World Ladies circuit has been under the umbrella of WPBSA since 1998 and benefited from a guaranteed budget and some enhanced media exposure through sporadic television coverage and the staging of Ladies' finals at Main Tour venues.

Quite why the WPBSA delayed their letter to the WLBSA until 3 July is not clear, as it was perfectly obvious to most observers more than a year ago that this move would come. But it has left the Ladies Association with very little time to try and put alternative plans into action before the scheduled start of the season.

The traditional curtain raiser to the ladies season has, for many years, been the Ladies Regal Masters, a popular and prestigious event held at Stirling. That event was always going to be dropped due to the tobacco sponsorship ban which would also wipe the Ladies Welsh and Scottish events off their calendar.

The bitterly disappointed chairman of the Ladies Association, Mandy Fisher, relayed the bad tidings in a letter to WLBSA members on 7 July, with a stark message saying "I know you will have been expecting a calendar of events for the forthcoming season, but I am very sorry to inform you that there isn't going to be one."

Fisher goes on to say "I am sorry to be the bearer of such bad news and at the moment I have no idea what to do for the future, so I won't pretend that everything is okay."

The WPBSA for their part, explained to the ladies "Due to the financial position of the company the WPBSA is operating on greatly reduced budgets. Coupled to this, and the loss of tobacco sponsorship, there is no existing or imminent prospect of sponsorship to subsidise a ladies prize fund."

Although the news will be disappointing to many regular competitors on the ladies circuit, it will be nothing short of catastrophic for the World No. 1 and World Champion Kelly Fisher, who derives a major proportion of her income from prize money earnings. Over the past few years there has been a regular procession of snooker players travelling to America to compete on the lucrative WPBA 9-ball circuit, among them Allison Fisher, Karen Corr and Kim Shaw. It is to be hoped that Fisher is not forced into following them.

KELLY KEEPS HER CROWN - BUT  ONLY JUST

World Champion and World No. 1 Kelly Fisher collected her seventh European Ladies title with a 5-4 win over Belgium's Wendy Jans, who for the fifth time in succession, had to settle for runners-up spot.

Fisher established a 3-1 lead, a break of 69 in the second frame proving to be the best of an uncharacteristically low scoring match.

Jans took the next but Fisher regained a two frame margin thanks to a break of 65.

Jans, the new World Ladies No. 2, fought back, winning the next two frames to send the match into a decider. An early error from the Belgian gave the World Champion the chance she needed and Fisher slotted in a match winning 54 break.

"Phew!" said Fisher after the match. "That was really hard work today, but I'm thrilled to win again. I would have liked to have produced my best form but I'll take the win."

Belgium's leading lady was philosophical in defeat commenting "I'd rather lose 5-4 than 5-0 like last year. I'm getting closer!"

NEWS - RESULTS - PHOTOS

FISHER CLINCHES HER FIFTH WORLD TITLE

Kelly Fisher overpowered Lisa Quick 4-1 in a repeat of last year's final, to retain her Embassy World title and claim the top prize of £5,500. She also took the high break prize for her break of 125 made in the last 32 round.

Carlisle based Fisher, stormed into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 32, 45 and a superb 90 in the third.

Despite Quick conceding 38 penalty points in frame four, after being trapped in a tricky snooker on the yellow, the 2001 champion held on to clinch the frame on the black.

Quick had a glimmer of hope in the fifth with a run of 34, but Fisher contributed efforts of 25 and 23, clearing from the last red to pink, to clinch her victory.

Fisher, who has won 16 out of the last 17 ranking events over the past two seasons, claimed to be nervous ahead of the final. "I was a bit nervous when I went into the arena, but once the match started and I got into it, I felt in control."

The twenty-four year old, stressed "It was so important for me to win it and I was so pleased to get over the line. Whenever I got a good chance in the balls I felt I would score well, I should have had one or two more decent breaks."

Frame Scores: 51-13, 65(45)-9, 99(90)-24, 58-63, 62-38(34).

FISHER AND QUICK REACH THE WORLD LADIES FINAL

Kelly Fisher, four times World Ladies champion and Lisa Quick, champion in 2001, go head to head again at the Crucible on Sunday morning, in a repeat of last year's final when Fisher beat Quick 4-1.

Lisa Quick beat Lynette Horsburgh 4-2 in the 2001 final, after Fisher had crashed out in the last 16 to Sharon Dickson.

The semi final line up was also a mirror of last year, with the same results. Quick beat Belgium's Wendy Jans 4-0, in a match, which by Quick's own admission, was a lot closer than the score suggested. Quick stole two frames on the black.

Fisher beat the up and coming Reanne Evans 4-0, over powering the teenager with breaks of 31, 44, 53, 60, 43. But Evans, whose first ever tournament was last year's World championship, proved yet again that she is set to be one of the stars of the future.

ANOTHER FISHER NETS ANOTHER TITLE

Mandy Fisher added the World Ladies Seniors title to her glittering trophy cabinet after defeating Caroline Walch 3-0 in the Seniors final (Over 40s).

It was a notable achievement by Fisher, who rarely plays these days, concentrating on her administrative tasks as the long standing Chairman of the World Ladies Association.

Mandy Fisher first came to prominence as long ago as 1980, winning the Pontins Ladies Bowl, and when she was runner up in the 1981 Guinness World Ladies event, she went home, packed her job in and has been involved full-time in the game, as both player and administrator ever since.

Along the way she was one of few players to inflicts defeats on her unrelated namesake Allison Fisher.

In 1984 she won the National Express Grand Prix and was twice a World championship semi finalist in 1987 and 1988.  RESULTS

FISHER ON COURSE FOR FIFTH TITLE

Kelly Fisher has reached the quarter finals of the Embassy Ladies World Snooker Championship for the loss of only one frame, but a potential banana skin lies in wait for her.

Sharon Dickson, from Newport Wales, twice a previous World semi finalist, defeated Fisher in the last 16 of the 2001 event and will face Fisher again, both players knowing full well that on the day the match could go either way.

The quarter final line up provides a blend of youth and experience with 2001 champion Lisa Quick facing World No. 2 Lynette Horsburgh in their quarter final.

Teenager Reanne Evans, who reached the semis last year in her first ever tournament, faces Dudley's Maria Catalano, who beat Fisher earlier this season to end the World No. 1's record run of 69 victories.

And Belgium are guaranteed a player in the semi finals at the Crucible as their two leading players, nineteen year old Wendy Jans and Caty Dehaene go head to head. Jans recently collected her first ranking title, winning the Ladies Regal Scottish in Edinburgh.

Dehaene produced the shock of the tournament, beating former finalist Lisa Ingall 4-3 in the last 32, before moving into the quarters with a 4-2 win over France's Angelique Vialard.

Another early casualty, failing to survive the group stages was Katy Henrick. Unaccountably, the World No. 6 won only three out of seven matches.

Kelly Fisher and Lisa Quick (pictured) have both made centuries during the knock out stage. Fisher smashed in 125 in the first frame of the day against Rebecca Corfield and Quick produced a 116 clearance and a run of 74 during her 4-1 last 16 win over Michelle Brown. - RESULTS

2003 WORLD LADIES BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

Kelly Fisher defeated Emma Bonney in a repeat of last year's final, to regain the title she won in 2001. Fisher's win puts her on course for a unique double of World Snooker and World Snooker title in the same season.

Former world ladies champion Karen Corr came close in 1999, winning the billiards but losing out in the snooker final to Kelly Fisher.

Seeded one and two, Bonney, from Portsmouth and Fisher were seeded to meet in the final and so it proved, Bonney reached the final for the fourth time in five years. But it wasn't to be a third title for her as Fisher compiled breaks of 44 and 41 during their one hour final, which at the final bell tallied 299-155 in Fisher's favour.

The 2000 finalist, Caroline Walch bowed out to Fisher in the semi final, Fisher winning 264-153, while Bonney beat Christine Sharpe from Essex 322-100, boosted by a 36 break. Fisher, who earned £350 and a £50 for the high break of 44, will now turn her full attention to retaining her snooker title and doing the double. RESULTS

2003 WORLD LADIES CHAMPIONSHIPS

64 players from fifteen countries line up for the Ladies World Snooker Championship in Swindon. A feast of snooker, and billiards, is assured for players and spectators alike as the event comprises, not only the world snooker championships, but also the world ladies billiards championships, an inaugural world ladies seniors event (for the Over 40s), a world ladies doubles event and the world ladies plate.

World No. One and four times world champion Kelly Fisher is defending her title, won at the Crucible last April and on recent form some of the leading contenders vying for her title will include Belgium's Wendy Jans, who won her first ranking event in Scotland last week; Lisa Ingall, Maria Catalano, Lisa Quick the 2001 champion, Sharon Dickson and the up and coming Reanne Evans, who reached the semi final in her tournament debut last year.

World No. Two Lynette Horsburgh has been competing in the event since the mid 1980s and is still to realise her ambition of lifting the title.

On form it's hard to bet against Fisher, but despite her unbelievable 69 match unbeaten run, she is not invincible. Maria Catalano ended the record run and in the 2001 championship Newport's Sharon Dickson beat Fisher in the Last 16. FULL DRAWS/RESULTS MORE NEWS

FISHER NETTED - AT LAST

Kelly Fisher's phenomenal record break unbeaten run was brought to an end in the East Anglian Ladies Championship, by Maria Catalano.

Catalano, from Dudley, cousin of Ronnie O'Sullivan, swept to a 3-1 victory in the quarter finals, despite a break of 83 from Fisher. She went on to qualify for only her second final with a hard fought semi final win over Newport's Sharon Dickson.

Wendy Jans from Belgium will provide Catalano's opposition in the final, to be played during the Regal Scottish in Edinburgh on 11 April. It's a second ranking event final for Jans and she, like Catalano are both still looking for their first ranking title. Wins over Michelle Brown, world No. 2 Lynette Horsburgh and Sarah Clark earned Jans her place in the final.

Earlier in the day Dudley's Reanne Evans had rattled in breaks of 74 and 78 during a round two win, only to fold rather tamely 3-0 against the experienced Jenny Poulter, in round three. Evans bounced back to win the Plate and Poulter won the seniors (Over 40s) event. Maria Catalano was also in scoring mood, as in her 3-0 Last 16 win over Belgium's Caty Dehaene, she compiled breaks of 64, 47, 54 and 61. FULL RESULTS