Mandy Fisher, the head of World Women’s Snooker, talked about the plan to provide female players two-year tour cards in an insightful conversation with the BBC’s Framed podcast. She also emphasized the amazing progress made in recent years to increase inclusivity in the sport. Fisher also discussed the difficulties that aspiring athletes confront and the necessity of making the sport more accessible.
Mandy Fisher, president of World Women’s Snooker, is optimistic that the gender gap in snooker is narrowing and has praised the remarkable advancements achieved by female players in recent years.
Fisher emphasized how inclusive the sport is growing and gave an explanation of why the World Snooker Tour made a crucial choice in granting women two-year tour cards.
The BBC snooker podcast Framed featured her statement, “It’s absolutely huge.” It serves as a platform. A learning curve exists.
More players have entered the game as a result of realizing this. For example, Bai Yulu, the 19-year-old British Open champion, probably would have stayed in China and continued to play if we hadn’t been handed tour cards. She therefore made her first-ever trip to the Women’s World Championship this year in an attempt to earn a tour card.
Framed, the BBC snooker podcast, featured her comment, “It’s absolutely huge.” It functions as a stage. There is a learning curve.
When people realized this, more people joined the game. For instance, had we not been given tour cards, 19-year-old Bai Yulu, the winner of the British Open, most likely would have stayed in China and kept playing. In an effort to secure a tour card, she so traveled to the Women’s World Championship for the first time this year.
Tour cards have been extended to Evans, Rebecca Kenna, Mink Nutcharut, and Baipat Siripaporn.
Even though female competitors still don’t often win, Fisher is optimistic that this trend will eventually reverse.
“It’s true that they haven’t won many games. They’ve gained momentum by winning frames, she continued.
“However, keep in mind that they haven’t performed on the Star tables until recently.
“You can’t explain to people there is so much difference from playing on club tables, and unless you’ve got your own Star table installed, you are not going to go to a tournament and play your best because they are just so different from anything else that most people have ever played on.”However, you can always tell that the standard is rising. The women are performing incredibly well, they have won matches, and they are not at the bottom of the standings.”People need to be given an opportunity. It’s likely that coming on the tour, regardless of gender, you will have difficulties. It takes time to get used to a new place, just like anything else.
It can take players years and years to reach their peak performance. We are aware of this since athletes who have been playing for 20 years without contributing are currently making waves in their final few years of play.”
Though much work remains, the former world champion emphasized the difficulties in ensuring that the sport is more accessible to everybody.
“Most female patrons avoid snooker clubs. They frequent pubs, which are equipped with pool tables. I realize that pool is a skilled game, therefore I’m not claiming it isn’t. All I’m saying is that it’s a pretty big step to go from being good at pool to being good at snooker.
“I was not able to play in all the snooker clubs, or I was the first woman ever to go and play in these clubs because you would have signs saying ‘No women allowed’, so it takes generations to get over that.””It will take some time, but I just can’t see any physical reason why women should not be as good as men.” More women are playing snooker now that there are more snooker centers and academies that welcome them.
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