Queen's Birthday Honours: Snooker great Reanne Evans made MBE

Reanne Evans MBE has won the world women's snooker championship a record 12 times

Reigning world women's snooker champion Reanne Evans has been appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

The 34-year-old from Dudley, who has won the world championship a record 12 times, said she "thought it was a joke" when she got the news.

In November 2019, Evans came within a frame of becoming the first woman to beat a man in snooker's top 16.

She receives the honour for services to women's snooker.

Evans was in the car with her daughter when she received the phone call telling her of the honour.

"It was nice to share the moment with her - I'm just so proud," she said.

After winning 61 consecutive women's matches and defeating reigning world champion John Higgins at the 2009 World Six-Reds Championship, the player was awarded a wild card on the professional main tour for the 2010/11 season.

This made her the first woman to play on the main professional snooker tour for 15 years.

Reanne Evans said despite her global success, she found it hard to praise herself

"Being honoured will hopefully help give the women's game a bigger platform," she said.

"It's been getting more and more popular, with bigger sponsors and we're playing around the world now, so hopefully this will be a stepping stone to move forward.

"People always ask, 'did you expect to get something like this', but I'd say 'no way'".

"It's still little me from Gornal just playing snooker," she said.

"I've never been one to praise myself, but when you get recognition from people outside the sport maybe it's a bigger deal than you think."

Snooker commentator and the founder and first chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, Rex Williams, 87, has also been honoured.

The Stourbridge resident became a professional player at the age of 17 in 1951, and is credited with making the second recognised maximum break of 147 in 1965.

He has been honoured for services to snooker and billiards.