Mandy Fisher

Mandy Fisher (born in April 1962) is an English former professional snooker player and a World Women's Snooker Championship winner in 1984.[lower-alpha 1] Fisher founded the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association (now known as World Women's Snooker) in 1981 and currently serves as the president.[2]

Mandy Fisher
BornApril 1962 (age 58)[1]
England
Sport country England

Career

Fisher started playing snooker at the age of 16.[2] She founded the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association (WLBSA) in 1981[3] and in addition to playing, led the administrative side of the sport in the 1980s and 1990s.[2][4]

She was the losing finalist at the 1981 World Women's Snooker Championship.[2] In 1983 she became the first woman to reach the last 128 of the English Amateur Championship.[5] In 1984, she defeated Canadian Maryann McConnell 4–2 to win the first professional women's title.[2] In 1984, the National Express sponsored a five-month, five-tournament grand prix circuit, with a £60,000 prize fund, and which was broadcast on regional television channels. Sixteen of the top-ranked women turned professional and competed in the series. Fisher eventually won, and her winnings of £14,000 in the season took her to twelfth place – just behind three-time men's world champion John Spencer – in the professional snooker money-winners' list for the year.[3][5]

In the 1980s Fisher featured regularly on the snooker exhibition circuit, competing with players such as Steve Davis, Jimmy White and Alex Higgins.[2][6] In 1983 she became the first woman to reach the last 128 of the English Amateur Championship.[5]

Fisher played while heavily pregnant in the early 1990s, with a midwife on standby, and later lamented that this was deemed more newsworthy than women players demonstrating their skill.[7][8][9] Barry Hearn, later the World Snooker chairman, forced Fisher to wear maternity clothing to mark this in front of media at London's Hyde Park.[1]

In 2011, Fisher stepped down from the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association[6] but took office again in 2013.[10][11][12]

Personal life

Fisher is also a podiatry professional, working in Wisbech.[2][6]

Career Highlights
OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponentScoreRef.
Winner 11980Pontins Women's ChampionSian Newbury3–2[5]
Runner-up 21981Women's World Open Vera Selby0–3[5]
Winner 31984National Express Grand Prix[5]

Notes
  1. The event was known as the World Professional Championship at the time.

References
  1. The woman who has run ladies snooker for 30 years has retired Archived 18 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine Women Sport Report, 17 April 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  2. Board Members – Mandy Fisher Archived 22 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine Women's World Snooker. Retrieved 20 July 2019
  3. McNee, Sandy (7 November 1989). "In search of the big break – Snooker". The Times – via NewsBank.
  4. Restructure For World Ladies Snooker World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, 5 December 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2019
  5. Morrison, Ian (1987). The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker. Twickenham: Hamlyn Publishing Group. p. 42. ISBN 0600556042.
  6. Caney, Gavin (11 April 2011). "Fenland's Mandy Fisher steps down after 30 years of running ladies' snooker". CambsTimes. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  7. "Mum-to-be Mandy's on cue for a really special delivery". Newcastle Journal. p.3. 30 October 1991 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 1 September 2019. Although eight-and-a-half months pregnant, she is set to play in the quarter-finals of the Forte Hotels Ladies World Championship on November 7CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. Everton, Clive (8 November 1991). "Sport in Brief – Snooker". The Guardian. p.21 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 1 September 2019. Allison Fisher beat … Mandy Fisher 5–0 to reach the semi-finals ... yesterday. Mandy, who had a baby on Sunday...CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. Briggs, Gemma (17 February 2008). "Girl power that's just as driven: Even the men believe that a woman's touch can raise the profile of a sport". The Observer – via NewsBank. In snooker, some players have found that pregnancy can work to their advantage. Mandy Fisher, chair and founder of World Ladies Billiards and Snooker, played while heavily pregnant in the early 1990s. 'I had a maternity dress and my slippers on and there was a midwife on standby,' she says. 'The shame was, it was the most publicity we had. It was not because of the skill.'
  10. "Thailand to Host 2019 World Women's Championship". World Women's Snooker. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  11. "'You're a girl, you can't play snooker at the Crucible'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  12. Hendon, Dave (18 December 2013). "2013 in Snooker: The Hits and Misses". Snooker Scene Blog. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
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