World Seniors champion David Lilley has set his sights on making it through Q School and proving that he belongs on the World Snooker Tour, after a demoralising two-year spell on the circuit.

Lilley turned pro for the first time in 2019 at the age of 43. His first few months on tour were ruined by a shoulder injury, and he was eventually relegated at the end of the 2020/21 season. But an “overwhelming” triumph at the World Seniors earlier this month has given Lilley the motivation to make a fresh start.

The 45-year-old from Tyne & Wear worked as an insurance claims controller, playing snooker on the amateur circuit, before deciding to make the leap to the pro game after qualifying through Q School two years ago.

“In my first season on tour I started getting pain in my shoulder,” he said. “It would only come on certain shots and I would get a shooting pain through my neck. Then I was quitting on those shots to avoid the pain. I spent fortunes with physiotherapists and chiropractors trying to solve the problem but nothing worked. That led to anxiety. Mentally I was gone, ruined. I would go into matches very apprehensive, then get embarrassed when I played badly.

“The first lockdown was a blessing because I stopped playing snooker, and with rest my shoulder got better. I think it was a repetitive strain injury as I had gone from playing eight hours a week to eight hours a day. Luckily it doesn’t bother me any more.”

Lilley won just five matches in his first season on tour, and though he improved in his second year – notably beating Shaun Murphy on his way to the last 32 of the English Open – it was not enough to keep his card.

“It was only when I got to the final weekend of the seniors event that I decided to enter Q School again and try to get my place back,” he said. “I feel I have unfinished business. I know how well I can play, but I can count the number of times I have done that on the tour on the fingers of one hand. I called my wife and she agreed, she said I need to get it out of my system. I am fully focussed on Q School now, hopefully I can get through and give it a proper two years on the tour, injury free.”

Lilley earned a place in the Seniors event by coming through the qualifying rounds. “I arrived at the Crucible with no expectations and no targets other than to play well,” he reflects. “I found the television lights hard to adjust to at first, then started to get on a roll. It all just came out of the blue.”

After knocking out Philip Williams, Ken Doherty and Patrick Wallace to reach the final, Lilley scored a 5-3 victory over Jimmy White, sealing the £15,000 top prize with a break of 69.

“It was a massive high, overwhelming,” he said. “The most pleasing thing was to finish the match in one visit rather than crawling over the line. The money is nice, but I’m just glad to have showed what I can do when it mattered.”

Lilley’s one regret was that he wasn’t able to share his triumph with a man who had a huge influence on his career. Stan Chambers was a widely respected coach in the North East, having helped countless juniors learn the game over more than 50 years. He sadly passed away earlier this month.

“When I started playing, my dad was tough on me, he would shout at me if I missed an easy ball. Stan was the one who would stick up for me. And he was my coach for many years,” recalls Lilley. “He was always the main man around the North East and he will be massively missed. I was at his funeral on Thursday and it was great to see so many faces there, old and new.”

Article by WST.

The post Lilley Determined To Build On Seniors Success appeared first on WSS | World Seniors Snooker.

The former world number two has entered Q School for the first time in four years, having rekindled his enthusiasm for practice. When the event at Ponds Forge in Sheffield starts next week, he’ll line up against some 200 other players, all hoping to land one of 14 golden tickets to the pro circuit. Knowles will face Bradley Cowdroy in the opening round of the first of three events.

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“I played ok against Jimmy White in the recent World Seniors Championship and it made me want to test out what I’m doing in other tournaments, to find out whether I’m good enough now to win matches” said Knowles. “The adrenaline was flowing and I was nervous when I played Jimmy at the Crucible, perhaps because I expected too much. I may have lost 3-0 but I felt I hadn’t made many mistakes, Jimmy just punished my bad shots.

“I have been practising more than at any time in the last 20 years and I have really got the love of the game back. I have a table at home and I’m using some of the practice methods I used many years ago, working on my long potting and cue action. And I haven’t lost the thrill that comes with playing in tournaments.”

Knowles was one of snooker’s biggest stars of the 1980s, winning the International Open, Professional Players Tournament and Australian Masters. He was ranked among the top 16 for most of that decade and reached three Crucible semi-finals. Perhaps his greatest moment was beating defending champion Steve Davis 10-1 in the first round in Sheffield in 1982.

He last played on the tour in 2001 and was unable to progress beyond the last 64 at his most recent attempt at Q School in 2017, but Knowles remains optimistic.

“I’ve got a realistic chance this time because of the time I have put into practice,” he said. “I have still got the knowledge of the game. Snooker changed in my era when the balls and cloth changed. But everything comes full circle and you saw at the World Championship this year a very controlled style of play from the likes of Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham. That knowledge remains very important and that’s why you see a lot of the older players on the circuit still doing well.

“What I need is more matches against other players on the Star tables, if I can get that under my belt then my consistency will improve, I’ll cut out the mistakes and the break-building will come back. My goal is to get back on to the tour and show what can be achieved at my age.”

Article by WST.

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