Peter Francisco (snooker player)

Peter Francisco
Born (1962-02-14) 14 February 1962 (age 62)[1]
Cape Town, South Africa
Sport country South Africa
Professional1984–1995[1]
Highest ranking14 (1988/89)
Best ranking finishSemi-final (x2)

Peter Francisco (born 14 February 1962 in Cape Town, Western Cape) is a South African former professional snooker player who won the African Snooker Championship 4 times and South African Snooker Championship 8 times and the South African Billiards Championship 13 times as an amateur and professional.

Career

Francisco turned professional in 1984, and reached the final stages of the World Snooker Championship on five occasions: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1995.[1][2] He reached the semifinals in two ranking events: the 1986 International Open and the 1987 Grand Prix.[1]

In June 2013 he won the ABSF African Snooker Championship.[3]

Francisco participated in the 2015 Six-red World Championship, playing five matches in his group. He lost 1–5 to Marco Fu and Jamie Clarke, 3–5 to Mark Williams and 4–5 to eventual champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and was eliminated after the group stage, but defeated Darren Paris 5–1 to record his first competitive victory since a 10–8 win over Mick Price in the 1995 World Championship.[4]

Controversy

In 1995, Francisco faced Jimmy White in the first round of the World Championship. Throughout the match, Francisco played numerous shots which caused bafflement on the part of BBC commentators Clive Everton, John Virgo and Dennis Taylor.[5] There were an unusual number of bets made that the scoreline would be 10–2 in favour of White, which was the eventual outcome. Betting had been suspended on the match against the South African shortly before it began and a World Snooker Association panel analysed the match and later banned Francisco for five years for not conducting himself in a manner consistent with his status as a professional sportsman. At the same hearing he was not found guilty of match rigging.[6][7] After the 5 years of his ban was up he did briefly resume his pro career in 2000 but failed to make any impact.

Personal life

He is the nephew of fellow snooker players Manuel and Silvino Francisco.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1984/
85 		1985/
86 		1986/
87 		1987/
88 		1988/
89 		1989/
90 		1990/
91 		1991/
92 		1992/
93 		1993/
94 		1994/
95
Ranking[8] [nb 1] 59 26 18 14 25 24 19 25 38 61
Ranking tournaments
Asian Classic[nb 2] Tournament Not Held NR QF 2R 3R 1R LQ LQ
Grand Prix 2R 3R 2R SF 1R 1R QF 1R 1R 1R LQ
UK Championship LQ 2R 2R 2R 2R 3R 2R 2R 1R 1R LQ
Welsh Open Tournament Not Held 3R 1R LQ 2R
International Open[nb 3] LQ LQ SF 1R 1R 1R Not Held 1R LQ LQ
European Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 3R 2R 1R LQ LQ
Thailand Open[nb 4] Non-Ranking Not Held 3R 2R 1R 1R LQ LQ
British Open 1R 3R 2R 2R QF 3R 2R 2R 1R 1R 3R
World Championship LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ 1R
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters A A A A 1R A LQ LQ LQ LQ WD
Former ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters NH Non-Ranking LQ Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Open[nb 5] Ranking Event NH 1R Tournament Not Held NR
Classic LQ 3R 3R 3R 1R 3R 1R 1R Not Held
Strachan Open Tournament Not Held 1R MR NR NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Australian Masters[nb 6] A 1R A A NH A Tournament Not Held A
South African Professional Championship A A SF A A Tournament Not Held
World Matchplay Tournament Not Held 1R A A A A Not Held
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held 3R Tournament Not Held
World Masters Tournament Not Held QF 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.
  1. ^ New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.
  2. ^ The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989) and Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995)
  3. ^ The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)
  4. ^ The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1984/1985–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)
  5. ^ The event was also called the Australian Masters (1984/1985–1987/1988) and Australian Open (1994/1995)
  6. ^ The event was also called the Hong Kong Open (1989/1990) and Australian Open (1994/1995)

Career finals

Amateur finals: 10 (10 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1981 South African Amateur Championship South Africa L Seranke
Winner 2. 1982 South African Amateur Championship (2) South Africa S Davids
Winner 3. 1983 South African Amateur Championship (3) South Africa Ayoub Majiet
Winner 4. 1998 South African Amateur Championship (4) South Africa
Winner 5. 1999 South African Amateur Championship (5) South Africa
Winner 6. 2000 South African Amateur Championship (6) South Africa
Winner 7. 2007 South African Amateur Championship (7) South Africa
Winner 8. 2012 ABSF African Snooker Championship Egypt Mohamed Khairy 6–2
Winner 9. 2013 ABSF African Snooker Championship (2) Libya Khaled Belaid Abumdas 6–2
Winner 10. 2016 ABSF African Snooker Championship (3) Egypt Wael Talaat 6–1

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Mini profiles". Chris Turner. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  2. ^ "Finishes - Peter Francisco's record in World Championship". CueTracker - Snooker Database. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  3. ^ "The African Snooker Championship (Marrakech 2013): Knock out stage" (PDF). African Billiards & Snooker Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  4. ^ Florax, Ron. "CueTracker - Peter Francisco - Season 2015-2016 - Professional Results - Snooker Results, Statistics & Scoreboard". cuetracker.net. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  5. ^ Everton, Clive (2012). Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards: The Inside Story of the Snooker World. Mainstream. ISBN 9781780575681.
  6. ^ "Francisco banned for five years". The Independent. 8 May 1995. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  7. ^ "Snooker Faces Match-Fixing Probe". Winner Online. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  8. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 5 December 2017.