WHILE most Snooker fans are salivating over the top play at the 39th UK Championships in York which got underway two days ago, there happens to be the World Amateur Championships going on tens of thousands of miles away on the other side of the world in Doha, Qatar.
The Championships, which have given rise to a number of top pros on the World Snooker tour, including the likes of Stuart Bingham, 2015 World Champion, have been a breeding ground for kickstarting some of the game's top pros.
Judging a snooker judge
This year, a former top 32 pros (Michael Judge see video) sister, a young lady called Paula Judge has been making an impression on the ladies scene in Doha, and has impressed those who have been competing against her in the competition.
Judge, 32, most recently competed in the Ladies LiteTask UK Championship at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds and now is making her cueing debut in the Far East in Qatar.
In a recent Q and A on the World Ladies Billiards Association website, Judge said: "You learn more from defeats than you do wins."
She added: "I decided to enter (the UK) because I wanted to compete with the best women in the World and no better place to start than in Leeds. I'll give it a go and see how I fare."
Judge only started picking up her cue earlier this year because she said "life got in the way," in the past seven years. She is not only a snooker player but fitness instructor as well and believes that the mental side in snooker plays an important part in the success of a player.
However, Judge made an impressive debut in the 2016 edition, reaching the quarter-finals in Leeds, before losing to Reanne Evans (see pic) 3 - 0.
Vivek Pathak, the media officer for the International Billiards and Snooker Federation, said that although Judge has lost three out of her four matches so far, she has given her opponents tough competition and has played tough matches, including the World six reds champion and reigning Under-21 winner Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan from Thailand.
Judge apparently has a good chance of qualifying for the knockout stage.
