Reanne seeks a dream date
REANNE EVANS will begin her bid to fulfi l a triple dream tomorrow.
The 29- year- old from Dudley has won the women’s world title for the past 10 years.
Now the amateur will set out to become the fi rst woman to play at the Crucible in the fi nal stages of the Betfred World Championship.
Not content with that, Evans is praying for another crack at World Snooker’s main tour – and wants to lead the women’s game into the Olympics and beyond.
Evans takes on 1997 world champion Ken Doherty in the fi rst of three Ponds Forge qualifi ers she must win to make the shake- up.
She won just £ 1,500 for her 10th world title last year – while Mark Selby pocketed £ 300,000 in the blueriband event.
Evans, who may get a tour wild card next season, said: “It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone who plays snooker dreams of playing at the Crucible, even top players who go there every season.
“It is the ultimate and it would be a dream come true to get there. I know how hard it will be to win three matches but maybe dreams can come true.
“What would I rather do – get to the Crucible, really make it on the main tour, or help bring about a very successful women’s tour? Being greedy, I want to do all of them.
“Playing the men pushes me and improves me, so obviously I relish that and want to carry on doing it.
“But I also want to be a leader for the women’s game and hopefully anything I can do can help raise sponsorship and the profi le and get us in better venues.
“I just don’t want anything I do to be forgotten about or not to mean something for women players in the future.
“Inclusivity is a big part of what the Olympics is all about. Snooker is trying to get into the Games and they need a strong women’s game.
“I would like to think if I played my best snooker that I could hold my own around the 64- in- the- world mark at the moment. But you don’t play your best every day.
“So I hope I can get back on the tour, compete, win a few matches and make my mark in some way there and not get hammered every week. Then I can say, ‘ See, I can do it’.”