Kuldesh Johal

Kuldesh Johal
Born (1980-09-25) 25 September 1980 (age 44)
Huddersfield, England
Sport country England
Professional2008/2009, 2010/2011
Highest ranking80 (2008/2009)

Kuldesh Johal (born 25 September 1980) is an English former professional snooker player. He competed on the main tour during the 2008/2009 and 2010/2011 seasons.

Career

Born in 1980, Johal played in Challenge Tour qualifying events in the early 2000s, without any success. He won two Pontin's International Open Series events during the 2007/2008 season, defeating James Leadbetter, Matthew Couch, Jeff Cundy, Stuart Carrington and Andrew Pagett in Event 2 and Gary Wilson, Jamie Jones, Liam Highfield, Stephen Craigie and Simon Bedford in Event 6, winning a place on the main tour for the 2008/2009 season.

Johal's first season as a professional brought runs to the last 64 at two ranking tournaments - the 2008 UK Championship, where he beat Aditya Mehta and Paul Davies, both 9–5, before losing by the same scoreline to Michael Holt, and the 2009 China Open, where he overcame Michael Georgiou and Barry Pinches but lost 3–5 to Judd Trump. He lost his first-round qualifying match in the 2009 World Championship 8–10 to Jin Long, and finished the season ranked 80th, falling off the tour.

His performances in the minor tour events the following season were sufficient for him to return to the professional circuit for 2010/2011; however, he lost 18 of his 25 matches, the highlight being a run to the last 32 at PTC Event 2. There, he defeated Patrick Wallace 4–1 and Matthew Selt by the same scoreline, but surrendered a 3–1 lead over Alan McManus to lose 3–4. He concluded the season with a ranking of 86th, and was again relegated.

Having not played competitive snooker since 2012, Johal entered the 2015 Q School, aiming to regain his place on tour. In Event 2, he beat five opponents, including Jamie Clarke and Marcus Campbell – relegating the latter from professional snooker after a 24-year career – to reach the quarter-finals. Requiring only a victory in this match to return to the main tour, he was drawn against Jason Weston, but lost 2–4.

At the beginning of the 2015/2016 season, Johal received entries to the first three ranking events; he lost all three of his opening matches - in the Australian Goldfields Open, 1–5 to Zhao Xintong, at the Shanghai Masters, 4–5 to Craig Steadman and in the International Championship, 3–6 to Neil Robertson.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1997/
98 		1999/
00 		2000/
01 		2001/
02 		2002/
03 		2003/
04 		2004/
05 		2008/
09 		2010/
11 		2015/
16 		2017/
18 		2018/
19 		2020/
21 		2021/
22
Ranking[1][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 3] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2]
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Tournament Not held Non-Ranking Event RR RR
British Open A A A A A A A Tournament Not held A
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not held A A A A
English Open Tournament Not held A A A A
UK Championship A A A A A A A LQ LQ A A A A A
Scottish Open[nb 4] A A A A A A Tournament Not held A A A A
World Grand Prix Tournament Not held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking 2R 1R 2R 3R
German Masters[nb 5] A Tournament Not Held LQ WD A LQ A A
Players Championship[nb 6] Tournament Not held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
European Masters[nb 7] Tournament Not held A A A A Tournament Not held A A A A
Welsh Open A A A A A A A LQ LQ A A A A A
Turkish Masters Tournament Not held A
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR A 2R 1R 1R
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ A A LQ LQ LQ A LQ A A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ A NR Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 8] Tournament Not Held MR A LQ Not Held
World Open[nb 9] A A A A A A A LQ LQ NH A A Not Held
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 10] Tournament Not Held Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking 2R A Not Held
International Championship Tournament Not Held LQ A A Not Held
China Open[nb 11] NR A A A Not Held A LQ LQ A A A Not Held
WST Pro Series Tournament Not held RR NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Merseyside Professional Championship A 2R A WD A A 1R Tournament Not Held
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) 		QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Event means an event is/was a pro-am event.
  1. ^ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l He was an amateur.
  3. ^ a b New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  4. ^ The event was called the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  5. ^ The event was called the German Open (1997/1998)
  6. ^ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2015/2016)
  7. ^ The event was called the European Open (2001/2002-2003/2004) and the Malta Cup (2004/2005)
  8. ^ The event was called the Riga Open (2015/2016)
  9. ^ The event was called the Grand Prix (1997/1998, 1999/2000–2000/2001, 2004/2005–2008/2009) and the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  10. ^ The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005)
  11. ^ The event was called the China International (1997/1998)

Career finals

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2000 Pontins Autumn Open England Colin Morton 5–3

Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2007 PIOS – Event 4 Wales Lee Walker 6–4
Winner 2. 2007 PIOS – Event 2 Wales Andrew Pagett 6–4
Winner 3. 2008 PIOS – Event 6 England Simon Bedford 6–5
Runner-up 1. 2020 Challenge Tour – Event 10 England Adam Duffy 1–3

References

  1. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2019.