2023: Joy for Josh in the 900 Week One…

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JOSH THOMOND came through the thrills and spills of the first week of amateur snooker’s fast and furious 900 on Wednesday – all smiles.

The 27-year-old amateur star of the game came up against another rising star of the amateur scene in Marcos Dayao who had dazzled on the first night with his steely John Higgins style break of 54 which has been the talk of the town on social media and still will be for a while.

But it was a nervy performance all the way throughout the finals night for 23-year-old Dayao but he managed to battle through the nerves and seal a place in the final .

With a tough field of 8 players for the finals, there were shocks galore as the favourites fell like flies and the first player to fall was Finland’s Robin Hull, tipped to win week one.

He came up against outsider Aleix Melia from Spain, who showed he could play the game and said after his big TV win that he loved watching Ronnie O’Sullivan with his father to watch technique but then he decided to hone his own technique.

In his semi-final, Melia made a great 39 break against Josh Thomond as Spain seeks to try and get more snooker players involved.

Wyly old fox Tony Knowles, managed another good run to the semi- finals proving that ageing experience still cuts it.

Lee the Shirt Richardson commented in punditry, “it’s been a night full of shocks.”

Thomond scoops £1,500 and goes into the Grand Finals in November as week one ended with the thrills of a tense and close ending to the final.

Next week leads with the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson and Hong Kong’s female superstar NG On Yee and a host of other stars from past, present, and future.

Season one recap

Former World Champions Dennis Taylor and Joe Johnson were amongst a host of marquee names announced for the new 900 Series which was shown live and exclusively on Sporty Stuff Tv for 25 nights from from 19th September 2022.

Ant Parsons claimed the inaugural title last season.

Being hosted exclusively from the Crucible Sports & Social Club Reading, all matches took place in the Stephen Hendry Matchroom.

The Snooker Legends 900 was a new concept of the game, a frame is 15 minutes in length, which is 900 seconds. A 20-second shot clock is in operation throughout. It proved to be fast and furious.

This new 15-minutes, one frame style event delivered a new and exciting chapter for amateur snooker players globally.

Entry to The 900 was £50. £2000 was up for grabs for the winner EACH WEEK. £6000 PRIZE POT every week.

96 Amateurs appeared on TV, from Sept 19th. £55,000 prize pot in total.