Snooker hopes to secure Paralympics return for 2032

Tony Southern beat Thailand's Niwat Kongta in the final of the World Abilitysport Games

Snooker could be set to make a return to the Paralympics in 2032, 44 years after its last appearance.

World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS) is pushing for snooker to be included with disability snooker growing at a rapid rate.

In December, England won three gold medals at the World Abilitysport Games in Thailand, a multi-sport event which featured competitors from nine countries taking part in the snooker competitions.

Tony Southern claimed gold in the group two wheelchair category and said the chance to represent Great Britain at the Paralympics would be “a dream come true”.

“We’ve been trying to get back in the Paralympics for a while,” added the 55-year-old from Liverpool. “The last time was in 1988 in Seoul with only one limited wheelchair category.

“Hopefully we will be in for 2032. In 2032 it’s in Brisbane and Australia is a hotbed for snooker so hopefully that will be another ace in the pack.

"It’s a sport that can be enjoyed by all, no matter your disability or ability at the table and it’s one of the few sports that can be played by everybody.”

Snooker 'tailor-made' for Paralympics

Snooker first appeared in the Paralympics in 1960 and was in every event until 1976 and then again in both 1984 and 1988.

Nigel Mawer, WDBS chairman, said: “Snooker was a founder sport coming out of Stoke Mandeville for people with spinal injuries, and we were in it until 1988 so we've got a good chance of getting back because we have been there before.

"Secondly, this sport is tailor-made for the Paralympics. You look at the categories we use, the players, their disabilities, it fits in squarely in the Paralympics model.

"The next step for us is to get recognition from the International Paralympic Committee and if we get that we can call ourselves para snooker.

"Those are the first steps and once you're a recognised sport, the next step is to lobby to try to get into the Paralympics."

'The standard is getting higher and higher'

From left to right - Thanapol Seekao, Songkiat Raebankoo, Rob Walker, Gary Swift, Steve Davis, Nigel Mawer, Tony Southern, Carl Gibson and coach Surasak Weraphong

The three English gold medallists - Southern, Carl Gibson and Gary Swift as well as Thai champions Songkiat Raebankoo and Thanapol Seekao - were at the Crucible on Wednesday and Thursday.

The group were introduced to the crowd before Wednesday morning’s session, played exhibition matches at the Cue Zone at the nearby Winter Garden and went on a tour of the iconic Crucible on Thursday.

Southern said: “To play from a chair is probably 10 times more difficult than when I was standing up playing because you have to play 70% of your shots with a rest or extension so you have to be super-hot with the rest in order to compete.

“I have cerebral palsy which I’ve had since birth. It affected my walking, I was playing standing up until the age of 40 then it got too bad in terms of falls so I decided to play from a chair and not looked back since.”

Snooker will be part of the European Championships in Portugal in October, with the first World Championship to be staged in Thailand in 2025.

“The standard is getting higher and higher,” added Southern. “We recently had one of our visually impaired players get a 100 break at an event and one of our players with an amputee got a maximum in practice.

“The wheelchair players are regularly getting 40 or 50 breaks at events. My best in a chair is 87, which is probably the equivalent of 130 when standing up because of the complexity of trying to get around the table and play your shots with the rest.”