Other Referees

Here’s some information on referees who officiate at events on the World Snooker Tour…

Alex Crisan
Nationality: Romanian
Home town: Bucharest
Alex first started refereeing in 2006. He later had the chance to work at European Tour as well as ranking events. He has refereed major amateur finals and he is also an examiner referee for the EBSA.
Then in 2015 came his major breakthrough as he was asked by World Snooker to work at the Masters at Alexandra Palace, as one of just three referees at snooker’s biggest invitation event.
Away from snooker, Alex works as a sales agent and his hobbies include skating and tennis.

 

Christian Fock
Nationality: Austrian
Home town: Vienna
Christian is an EBSA Class 1 referee and has worked at several European Tour events. He has also taken charge of matches at major amateur events and he’s a board member of the Austrian Billiards and Snooker Association. Away from snooker, he works as a proof reader.

 

Joery Ector
Nationality: Belgian
Home town: Engsbergen-Tessenderlo
Joery passed his refereeing exams in 2008. After working at the European Amateur Championship in 2010, he went on to officiate at European Tour events. His highlights include taking change of the semi-finals of the Antwerp and Sofia European Tour events in 2012.
Away from snooker, he works in a bank and his hobbies include skiing, cycling and football.

 

Eva Poskocilova
Nationality: Czech
Home town: Prague
Eva qualified as a referee in 2008, and first worked on a European Tour event in her home city of Prague in 2010. She has since refereed at several European Tour events and has taken charge of televised matches. Eva also officiated the ladies final at the 2013 ISBF World Championship.
Away from snooker, she works as a translator and teacher at the renowned Charles University in Prague, and occasionally commentates on snooker for Czech Eurosport. Her hobbies include cinema and literature.

 

Hilde Moens
Nationality: Belgian
Home town: Berlare
Hilde was a familiar face at European Tour events and more recently was an official at several ranking tournaments during the 2017/18 season including the European Masters.

 

Proletina Velichkova
Nationality: Bulgarian
Home town: Sliven
Proletina first refereed at a European Tour event at the 2012 Bulgarian Open, and took charge of her first televised match a year later. She has since become a regular face on the tour.
Away from snooker, Proletina has a degree in graphic/motion design. She enjoys drawing, reading and keeping fit.

 

Ingo Schmidt
Nationality: German
Home town: Russelsheim
Ingo has been refereeing for over 15 years and he’s an examiner for the EBSA. He first officiated a televised match at the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic, and names his best moment as taking charge of a quarter-final at the 2014 German Masters in Berlin.
Away from snooker, he has worked for the airline Lufthansa for 25 years, and he names his favourite hobby as spending time with his family.

 

Jan Scheers
Nationality: Belgian
Home town: Boom
Jan first refereed in 1999 and later began to work at major amateur tournaments. The following year he started to referee at professional tournaments. He was a mainstay on the European Tour and took charge of finals in Bruges, Killarney and Gdynia. More recently Jan oversaw his first ever ranking event final at the 2018 Players Championship, where Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated Shaun Murphy. Away from snooker he works in a Post Office. He was once one of Belgium’s leading sprinters and now his favourite pastime is Sudoku

 

Kristof Azijn
Nationality: Belgian
Home town: Boutersem
Kristof has been refereeing for ten years and has worked at European Tour events as well as the Pink Ribbon pro-am. Away from snooker he works as a teacher and enjoys running.

 

Luise Kraatz
Nationality: Germany
Home town: St Helens
Luise worked on a World Snooker Tour event for the first time at the 2014 Paul Hunter Classic in Germany. Remarkably, in only her third match, she picked out the balls for an official 147, made by Aditya Mehta. She has refereed several televised matches at ranking events since.
After nine months away from the table to have her first child, she officiated her first ranking final at the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth.
Away from Snooker she has a Masters degree in International Business Studies and is a full time mum at the moment.

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Maike Kesseler
Nationality: German
Home town: Mammendorf near Munich
Maike first watched snooker in 2005. Two years later she took her refereeing exams, then gained experience at amateur events before working on the World Snooker Tour for the first time at the 2010 Paul Hunter Classic. She has since become one of the best known officials from the continent and took charge of a semi-final at the 2015 German Masters ranking event, she also refereed at the Crucible during the 2017 World Championship
Away from snooker, she works in a bank and enjoys travelling.

 

Malgorzata Kanieska
Nationality: Polish
Home town: Warsaw
Malgorzata first started refereeing at European Tour events in 2010 and has gained considerable experience over the past five years. She has also refereed at the qualifying rounds of ranking events including the World Championship.
Away from snooker, she is studying space engineering and she loves watching Australian Rules Football.

 

 

Martyn Royce
Nationality: English
Home town: Bicester, Oxfordshire
Martin qualified as a referee in 2009 and worked on a World Snooker event for the first time at Q School in 2012. Martin took charge of his first ranking final at the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic, where Michael White defeated Shaun Murphy to claim the title.
Away from snooker he is a keen baker and enjoys supporting rugby league outfit the Huddersfield Giants.

Milosz Olborski
Nationality: Polish
Home town: Lodz
Milosz has been refereeing since 2008 and has worked at several European Tour events. He took charge of his first final at the 2014 Lisbon Open, and his second at the 2015 Riga Open.
Away from snooker he is an IT Specialist and his hobbies include basketball, chess and photography.

 

Pasi Jantti
Nationality: Finland
Home town: Turku
Pasi has been working on World Snooker events since 2011 and he has refereed two European Tour semi-finals.
Away from snooker, he runs a Thai food shop and enjoys playing golf.

 

Paul Cosgriff
Nationality: Australian
Home town: Melbourne, the world’s most liveable city
Paul got involved in snooker refereeing in the amateur game in Australia before graduating to pro events on the World Snooker Tour. He took charge of his first final at the 2014 Riga Open when Mark Selby beat Mark Allen 4-3. Paul has worked at several ranking events and officiated one of the quarter-finals at the 2015 Australian Goldfields Open. He is also a Class 1 examiner.
Away from snooker, he worked as an air traffic controller for 32 years before retiring. His favourite hobby is golf.

 

Tatsiana Kuziomkina
Nationality: Belarus
Home town: Minsk
Tatsiana has refereed at several European Tour events since 2013.

 

Theo Selbertinger
Nationality: German
Home town: Dingolfing, Bavaria
Theo first worked at European Tour events in 2010, and he took charge of the Paul Hunter Classic final that year. He has also officiated quarter-final matches at the German Masters, as well as the World Championship qualifying rounds.
Away from snooker, Theo works as an IT Technician and he enjoys car tuning, basketball and home cinema.

 

Name: Thorsten Mueller
Nationality: German
Home town: Chemnitz
Thorsten started refereeing at European Tour events in 2010. He is a regular at events on the continent and has also officiated at the UK Championship and German Masters as well as the qualifying rounds of the World Championship.
Away from snooker, he works for Telekom Deutschland

 

Andy Yates
Nationality: English
Home town: Manchester
Andy first refereed a pro match in 2006, and the following year he worked at ranking events for the first time. His most memorable moment came at the 2007 Grand Prix in Aberdeen when he officiated a 147 from Tom Ford in a match against Steve Davis. He has now refereed four maximum breaks as well as the final of a PTC event in Gloucester.

 

Nico de Vos
Nationality: Belgian
Home town: Leuven
Nico first started refereeing at European Tour events in 2010. He was in charge of the 2012 Gdynia Open final, where Neil Robertson defeated Jamie Burnett. Nico was delighted to be given the chance to work at the 2013 World Games in Colombia, where he took charge of the final won by Aditya Mehta. He owns a bar in his home town of Leuven.

 

Jurgen Gruson
Nationality: Dutch
Home town: Terneuzen
Jurgen first refereed on the pro circuit in 2006, and has since become a regular face on tour. His highlights include officiating the finals ET events in Germany and Bulgaria as well as a semi-final at the German Masters.
Away from snooker, he works as a teacher at the Royal Netherlands Military Academy. He enjoys practising the martial art Aikido.

 

Monika Sułkowska
Nationality: Polish
Home town: Warsaw
Monika started refereeing in 2012 and passed her international exam a year later. Her first World Snooker tournament was the Gdynia Open in 2014 and during that event she refereed a 147 by Shaun Murphy. She took charge of a televised match for the first time at the Lisbon Open in 2014 and since then she officiated at numerous events, including Home Nations Series, German Masters and qualifying stages of World Championship.
Away from snooker, Monika is a freelance sports journalist and book editor. She lives in London and works in broadcast services. Monika enjoys climbing, travelling and a good book with a cup of Earl Grey.

 

Kevin Dabrowski
Nationality: Polish
Home town: Krakow
Kevin first refereed for World Snooker in 2014 at the European Tour event, the Gdynia Open in his home country. He was playing in the tournament, and when another referee pulled out, he was drafted in as an official. He has refereed at several televised world ranking events including the Riga Masters and European Masters. Away from refereeing, he has a degree in law, and runs his own snooker club in Krakow. He has a top break of 110 and is also an EBSA coach.

 

Daniel Holliger
Nationality: Swiss
Home town: Stehrenberg
Daniel started refereeing in 2006 at the IBSF World Grand Prix and went on to work on Pontins International Open Series events. He first officiated at a World Snooker event in 2009 and he has become a regular at European Tour events, and refereed at the qualifying rounds of the China Open and Indian Open 2015.
Away from snooker, he works in the graphic arts industry.

Glen Sullivan-Bisset
Nationality: English
Glen began as a snooker referee in March 2011, and is now a Referees’ Examiner with the EASB. He has officiated at several international tournaments, and has refereed many tournament finals; including the English Amateur Championship, European under-21s in Cyprus, World under-18s in Beijing, among others.
Glen refereed at his first European Tour event in Germany in 2015, and has become a regular at World Snooker events since. Glen took charge of his first televised match at the English Open in 2017.

 

Nigel Leddie
Nationality: English

Nigel first worked for World Snooker in 2011, at Q School. His first professional event was the European Tour event in Mulheim.
Since then he has refereed regularly on the pro tour and is currently a B Band referee.
His most memorable moment was his first televised match, which came at the 2018 English Open in Crawley when Ben Woollaston beat Mark Selby.
He has also worked as a security official at the World Championship several times.
Away from snooker he works as a taxi driver in Lincoln. He is also a keen player with a top break of 126.