Hannah – Ladies Day A Success

Six-time World Ladies Junior Champion Hannah Jones believes the Ladies Day initiative at the Crucible will help to bring a lot more females into snooker.

By Jonathan Davies

Along with ten-time World Ladies Champion Reanne Evans, 17-year-old Jones spent Thursday afternoon playing in the Winter Garden and encouraging others to have a go.

Jones said: “There are lots of ladies coming forward to play. I’ve been playing doubles with women from the audience and a group of school girls – coaching them, helping them and just having a good time.

“I just hope it will help them to get the confidence to come forward and play in competitions.”

She added her sixth junior title in Leeds last week, and claimed it was her best achievement given the rise in the game’s popularity.

“There are much more ladies coming forward from all over the world so there was so much pressure on me and I was happy to win it,” she said.

Jones started playing at the age of seven and has since won 53 titles, and played with Steve Davis at a Legends event last year which she described as an “overwhelming experience”.

Her aims are to turn professional and become World Champion, as well as coach young girls into the game. She admits that potentially playing on the main tour one day would be a challenge.

“It would be very difficult but nothing’s impossible. It would take a lot of hard work and dedication,” she said. “I’m willing to put that in so I’m just going to play and see how it goes”.