60 seconds with... Anthony McGill

Young gun Anthony McGill has really grasped the nettle this year in his bid to rise up the snooker rankings.

With plenty of PTC events for him to get his teeth into, it's proving to be the perfect apprenticeship for a young player who has been tipped for a long and successful career in the game.

OnCue asked him some quickfire questions.

When did you start playing snooker and how?

I always Enjoyed watching snooker on TV and then when I was about seven-years-old I played a lot of pool on holiday. That year I got a small snooker table for Christmas and then when I turned eight or nine, I moved onto the full size tables.

What's your proudest snooker moment and why?

Well in terms of winning a tournament it has to be the Pontin's International Open Series (PIOS) in December last year. It's a very difficult amateur tournaments to win. Also beating Stephen Hendry and Stephen Maguire both 4-0 at this year's PTC events, will stick with me forever.

What's your lowest moment and why?

I missed out on qualifying for the main tour by one match in 2008 and by 1 frame in 2009.

In 2008 I lost to Stephen Craigie 6-2 in the European U19 Final. To get one match away from the Pro tour and lose was hard to take.

Then in 2009 when I was desperate to bounce back, I lost 6-5 in the Scottish Championship semi final to Ross Vallance. If I had won I would have finished top of the Scottish rankings and qualified for tour. So to lose out by only a frame was probably my lowest moment. It got even worse for me.

Where do you see yourself in five year's time?

I would hope I was at least in the top 32, but I would also hope to be in the top 16. Well preferably, I would like to be number 1!

What professional snooker player do you most admire and why?

Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis for the way they dominated their eras. That kind of domination can only be achieved by working extremely hard and practicing hours upon hours, so I admire their ability to practice more than the rest. Hard work is vital I believe.

What's your greatest snooker memory?

I have so many good memories from snooker it would be hard to signal one out but hopefully I will have more to come!

If you weren't a snooker player, what would you be and why?

I am fascinated by the human mind and the power of it. I enjoy reading books on the mind, so I definitely would go into education to study that field.