Thursday 8 July 2010

Girl power graces world tour

I'd like to be one of the first snooker blogs to congratulate Reanne Evans on her success of earning a wildcard place on the men's professional tour.

I think it's great for her and fantastic for the sport.

Without doubt, there'll be a crop of fans from the older generation who may slam any decision that allows females to compete in professional male sport.

And in some sports I can understand these protestations.

There was talk about the Williams' sisters trying their hand against the men in Tennis. For a game which is so heavily reliant on power, I can't see how this could work.

But in snooker - a game of vast skill- I believe gender is irrelevant.

Reanne has gone an incredible 61 matches without defeat, and scooped an impressive six world titles, and still only 24-years-old.

She's obviously superior for that level, so it's great she gets an opportunity to see how good she really is against the world's best. It's a test she'll relish and a fascinating one for the fans to watch.

It may be that she fails to compete. But until she tries, she'll never know.

And this 'experiment' in my eyes is a good way of seeing how the women's and men's games really compare.

On becoming the first female to compete on professional tour since Allison Fisher 15 years ago, she told the BBC: "It's the biggest challenge of my career.

"The standard will be really high. I'm going to try my best and just enjoy it - whatever happens it will be a steep learning curve for me.

"It's so hard to stay on the tour, but that's what I'm hoping for. I'm practising with a few different pro players to get as ready as I can.

"Being on the tour has given me the incentive to push myself as hard as I can."

OnCue looks forward to seeing how she gets on, and wishes her all the best.

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