Chris Small

Chris Small
birthday	26th September 1973 (age 46)
place of birth	Leith , Edinburgh , Scotland
nationality	Scotland
professional	19911991 - 2005
Prize money	£ 579,800
Highest break	141 ( European Open 1997 + WM 2001 )
Century Breaks	50
Main tour successes
Ranking tournament victories	1
Minor tournament victories	1
World rankings
Highest WRL place	12 ( 2004/05 )

Chris Small (born September 26, 1973 in Leith , Edinburgh , Scotland ) is a Scottish former snooker player and trainer who was a professional player for 14 years between 1991 and 2005, winning a ranking tournament with the LG Cup in 2002 and finally due to his ankylosing spondylitis ended his career.

Career

Born in 1973 in Leith , Scotland , the former bank clerk received his first snooker table from his parents at Christmas 1981 and took part in junior tournaments two years later as a student at Hermitage Park Primary . In 1984 he joined the Leith State Snooker Club . In 1987, Small took part in several Scottish U16 events as a student at Leith Academy and ended the season number one in the rankings. A year later he represented Scotland in an U16 tournament between the Home Nations England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before reaching the semi-finals of the Scottish Snooker Championship in 1989 at the age of 16 .

First professional years

Small began his professional career in the 1991/92 season when the professional tour was opened to all players. Due to the extremely high number of professional players, Small had to play through numerous qualifying rounds, with the majority of the tournaments losing in the first two rounds. It wasn't until the Welsh Open that Small managed to get into the fifth qualifying round, until he was eliminated in the fourth round of the Strachan Open shortly afterwards . At the end of the season, however, he managed to play his way through eight of nine possible qualifying rounds of the snooker world championship , defeating Allison Fisher , Rod Lawler and ex-world champion Cliff Thorburn , among others , and thus on the first attempt for the main round of the world championship in the Crucible Qualify theater . There he also defeated the Welshman Doug Mountjoy and was only defeated in the second round by the New Zealander Dene O'Kane with 10:13. Thus he placed himself on the snooker world rankings on rank 72 and did not have to play through all qualifying rounds in the following seasons.

Due to his first successes in the previous season, Small was invited to the Scottish Masters at the beginning of the next season , but where he lost his opening game against Neal Foulds . Throughout the season, Small lost most of the ranked tournaments in the round of the last 128 at the latest, with two appearances in the respective round of the last 64 at the UK Championship and the British Open, two exceptions at the ranked tournament level and with two appearances in the There were also two exceptions at minor ranking level in each round of the last 32 at two events of the Strachan Challenge . He also had his first major success at the beginning of the season at the Benson & Hedges Championship when he won his first tournament with a 9-1 win over Alan McManus . With that same victory he was also able to take part in the wildcard round of the Masters , where he was defeated by Willie Thorne . Nevertheless, he lost a good 25 places in the world rankings and was 98th in the following.

Promotion to the top 32

In the 1993/94 season Small was eliminated from most tournaments in the seventh qualifying round or in the round of the last 128, which he mostly missed the main round. He only got beyond those rounds in three tournaments, but failed the Thailand Open in the round of the last 96 and thus also before the main round. In contrast, he reached the latter at the British Open by defeating Anthony Hamilton and lost in the round of 64 to Mike Hallett . At the European Open he had even defeated the round of 32, where he lost to Martin Clark from England after victories over, among others, Cliff Wilson and Jason Ferguson . On the world rankings he gained a few places, so that he was subsequently listed on rank 86.

In the following season Small managed to be eliminated mostly only in the round of the last 128 or in the round of the last 96, although in contrast to the previous year there were more tournaments in which he played beyond. He reached the round of 64 at both the Grand Prix and the UK Championship and most recently in qualifying for the Snooker World Championship and the round of 32 at the British Open . However, this was surpassed by the Welsh Open when he was with Nick Dyson , Eddie Charlton , Nigel Bond , Peter Francisco , Fergal O'Brien and Stephen Hendry defeated numerous good players and with the latter the reigning world champion and so reached the semi-finals of the tournament and there was defeated by his compatriot John Higgins . In the world rankings this meant a jump to rank 62, which was the first time he was in the top 64.

Right at the start of the 1995/96 season , Small reached the final of the non-ranking tournament Australian Open Championship , which he lost to Anthony Hamilton 7: 9 . During the rest of the season Small reached the round of the last 48 three times, as well as the round of 32 at the German Open , in which John Higgins lost to John Higgins. He also moved into the round of 16 at the UK Championship , the Welsh Open and the International , where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan , Paul Hunter and Karl Broughton . In the world rankings, he moved into the top 32 for the first time with rank 30, which meant that Small was set for the main round for a large part of the ranking tournaments.

Rise to the expanded world elite

So it happened that he was eliminated in most tournaments in the round of 48 or in the round of 32 in the 1996/97 season . Shortly after the start of the season, however, he had reached the quarter-finals at the Benson and Hedges Championship and lost there to Drew Henry . He also reached the round of 16 at both the International Open and the European Open, where he lost to Stephen Hendry and James Wattana . In the world rankings, however, he improved five places to 25th place.

Also in the next season Small was eliminated from most of the tournaments at the latest in the round of 32, whereby he could usually win a single game before the elimination. It was different at the Grand Prix , when Small reached the quarterfinals with victories over Dennis Taylor , Paul Davies and Alfie Burden and was defeated by Dominic Dale . In addition, he reached the round of 16 at the Welsh Open by winning over David Roe and Nick Walker and was defeated by Alan McManus . In the world rankings he managed to keep his 25th place.

The 1998/99 season was the same , with Small again often losing in or before the round of 32. However, he reached both the Scottish Open and at the British Open the knockout stages, which he also used in the World Snooker Championship reached where it joins with a win over Dave Finbow qualified for the main round and there after beating Anthony Hamilton against John Parrott lost . He also moved into the semifinals of the Grand Prix shortly after the start of the season , in which, however, he was defeated by Hong Kong's Marco Fu . At team level, Small had also reached the Nations Cup final together with his Scottish teammates Stephen Hendry , John Higgins and Alan McManus , where they had to admit defeat to the Welsh selection consisting of Darren Morgan , Mark Williams , Matthew Stevens and Dominic Dale . In the world rankings, Small improved to 18th place and just barely missed making it into the top 16.

Down on rank 29

Also in the 1999/2000 season , Small was largely eliminated in or before the round of 32. Only at the Grand Prix did he reach the round of 16 with victories over Steve James and Matthew Stevens, where he lost to Mark Williams . Apart from that, Small also took part in qualifying for the Scottish Masters , where he defeated his compatriots Marcus Campbell , Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott and the Englishman Peter Ebdon in the first four rounds , before losing to Matthew Stevens in the fifth of six rounds. On the world rankings he lost three places, so that he finished 21st in the following.

In 2001 he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative spinal disease , which quickly made it difficult for him to continue playing snooker. Shortly afterwards, injections of steroids were necessary. Apart from that, until the end of his career, Small had tried various other types of treatment, such as magnets in his shoes and under his mattress, and still carried out those injections, even though they carried various risks.

Within the next season , Small was eliminated again a total of three times in a round of the last 48 and four times in the round of 32 and also in the third qualifying round of the Scottish Masters after victories over David Gray and Dave Harold against Joe Swail . Only in the main round of the World Snooker Championship , for which he had qualified by defeating Barry Pinches , he reached the round of 16 with a 10: 8 over Marco Fu , in which John Higgins from Scotland had to admit defeat at 8:13 . In the world rankings, this meant that Small again lost three places and was placed 24th.

In the 2001/02 season Small reached despite nine tournaments only three times a round of the last 32. It was defeated at the UK Championship John Higgins, at the Welsh Open Peter Ebdon and at the World Snooker Championship to Stephen Lee from England . On the world rankings he lost five more places and was now 29th.

Greatest successes and last professional years

A major turnaround came in the 2002/03 season , although Small lost four opening games. Apart from that, however, he reached the round of 32 at the World Snooker Championship and the round of 16 at both the UK Championship and the Irish Masters , where he was defeated by Matthew Stevens , Mark Williams and Steve Davis . However, Small had already achieved the greatest success of his career at the beginning of the season when he had defeated Mark Davis , Joe Perry , John Higgins , Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy Michie at the LG Cup and had thus reached the final. In this he met Alan McManus , against whom he had won his first professional tournament a good ten years earlier. And this time, too, Small won the game 9: 5 and thus his only ranking tournament of his career. Following this, he also made it to the semi-finals of the British Open , where Paul Hunter stopped him. In the world rankings, he made up for the loss of the last three seasons and finished third again.

In the following season , however, Small was eliminated once again in the round of 64, three times in the round of 48 and three more times in the round of 32, the latter including the UK Championship and the World Snooker Championship , with he had to give up the latter game due to his severe pain. This was caused by focusing problems resulting from the steroid injections, which caused Small to be 1: 7 behind and which made it difficult for him to play. However, Small had started the season with a quarter-final at the LG Cup , where he lost to John Parrott after victories over Stuart Pettman and Paul Hunter . He also reached the round of 16 of the European Open , where he had previously won Michael Judge and Matthew Stevens and now lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Nevertheless, Small was able to improve on the world rankings by six places and thus took 12th place in the world rankings of his career in the following season. And despite the fact that he was thus qualified for the first time directly for the main round of the World Snooker Championship and for the Masters, Small went into his last professional season.

In the 2004/05 season , Small could not win a single game. He was eliminated a total of one time in the round of 64 and seven times in the round of 32 and lost his round of 16 debut at the Masters 6-1 against John Higgins . As part of the World Snooker Championship , he played his last professional game against Shaun Murphy , which he lost 5:10. While Murphy won the tournament and became world champion, Small - crashed to 41st place - ended his professional career after fourteen years. The reason for this was the severe pain caused by his ankylosing spondylitis , which prevented him from even bringing his head up to see the balls on the table.

Further life

Although his health had deteriorated significantly, Small, who has four children with his wife Clare, began training local youth players in 2006, where he could only describe the shots to be played instead of showing them. In the same year, a charity event with numerous top players was held in Edinburgh to raise money for small players. After he had to stop training in 2009 due to his health condition, he started again as a trainer in 2012 with a new medication. His trained players include Michael Leslie and Chris Totten , who both made it to the Main Tour.

In July 2008, it was announced that the WPBSA had rejected a request from Small to withdraw money from a fund set up for players like him after Small rejected a £ 250 medical report due to a lack of funds . As a result, the world association was criticized, among others, by Jimmy White and Clive Everton for this decision.

successes

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Non-ranking tournaments
Second	1995	Australian Open Championship	Anthony Hamilton	7: 9
Team tournaments
Second	1998	Nations Cup with Scotland : * Stephen Hendry * John Higgins * Alan McManus	Wales : * Darren Morgan * Mark Williams * Matthew Stevens * Dominic Dale	4: 6
Minor ranking tournaments
winner	1992	Benson And Hedges Championship	Alan McManus	9: 1
Ranked tournaments
winner	2002	LG Cup	Alan McManus	9: 5

Web links

• Profile of Chris Small at CueTracker
• Chris Small in the Snooker Database (English)
• Profile of Chris Small on sportuitslagen.org
• Chris Small's website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Chris Small - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 21, 2019 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Turner: Player Profile: Chris Small. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on September 20, 2013 ; accessed on August 23, 2019 (English).  
3. ↑ ^{a b c} I don't want pity, just to stand up straight. The Scotsman , March 22, 2006, accessed August 23, 2019 .  
4. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1991-1992 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 21, 2019 .  
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Chris Small. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 21, 2019 .  
6. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 21, 2019 .  
7. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 22, 2019 .  
8. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1994-1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 22, 2019 .  
9. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1995-1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 22, 2019 .  
10. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1996-1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 22, 2019 .  
11. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1997-1998 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 22, 2019 .  
12. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1998-1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 22, 2019 .  
13. ↑ Chris Turner: World Cup / World Team Classic / Nations Cup - Team Events. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on November 21, 2011 ; accessed on August 22, 2019 (English).  
14. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 23, 2019 .  
15. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Day: Yellow To Black Q&A With ... Chris Small. The Cue View, March 26, 2017, accessed August 23, 2019 .  
16. ↑ ^{a b c} Small forced to give up snooker. BBC Sport , September 23, 2005, accessed August 23, 2019 .  
17. ↑ Clive Everton : Snooker: Opening Day At Sheffield Comes With A Small Eruption. The Independent , April 18, 2004, accessed August 23, 2019 .  
18. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 2000-2001 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 23, 2019 .  
19. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 2001-2002 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 23, 2019 .  
20. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 2002-2003 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 23, 2019 .  
21. ↑ Julian Shea: Small pulls out. BBC Sport , April 17, 2004, accessed August 23, 2019 .  
22. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 2003-2004 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 23, 2019 .  
23. ↑ Ron Florax: Chris Small - Season 2004-2005 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on August 23, 2019 .  
24. ↑ ^{a b} Ex-snooker star Chris gives up cash battle. The Scotsman , July 30, 2008, accessed August 23, 2019 .  
25. ↑ Martin Couper: Ex-snooker champion gives up battle 108. Deadline News , July 30, 2008, accessed on August 23, 2019 .  
26. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Small Snooker Coaching. chrissmallsnookercoaching.co.uk, accessed August 23, 2019 .  
27. ↑ Michael Gallacher: Snooker: Chris Small launches coaching career after long lay-off. Edinburgh Evening News , November 8, 2012, accessed August 23, 2019 .