Dominant Ng On-yee on Saturday won her third women’s World Snooker Championship in Malta, without dropping a frame, and now has her eyes on another crack at the men.
The 27-year-old world No. 1 from Hong Kong swept to a 5-0 win against England’s world No. 4 Maria Catalano, who earlier in the day had stunned 11-time world champion Reanne Evans 4-3.
It completed a perfect title defense for Ng, who remarkably whitewashed her opponents in all six of her matches in the tournament.
The success sees Ng become only the fifth player to win the title on three or more occasions — she first triumphed in 2015 — and she will also extend her world ranking lead after deposing decade-long No. 1 Evans last month.
Ng was surprised at the manner of her victory.
“I did not have great expectations coming into the tournament as I was coughing and sick, so I just tried to play every game, every ball,” she told the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Web site. “But looking back now I think that this took a lot of pressure off me.”
The win gives Ng a third chance to go for a place in the men’s professional world championship in the qualifying tournament at the Sheffield Institute of Sport in England next month.
“As well as the title, the most important thing for me is that I have now qualified to play at the professional World Championship in Sheffield, which I am really looking forward to,” Ng said.
She lost in the first qualifying round on both her previous attempts to reach the showpiece, which is take place from April 21 to May 7 at the world-famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
“The first time there [in 2016] when I played Peter Lines I was so nervous about the atmosphere that I did not play well,” Ng said. “Last year against Nigel Bond I had more expectations, but I still didn’t play well, so hopefully this year I can just enjoy the match.”
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