1972 World Amateur Snooker Championship
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox individual snooker tournament
| tournament_name = 1972 World Amateur Snooker Championship
| logo =
| dates ={{Start and end dates|1973|01|4|1973|01|20|df=y}}
| venue =
| location = Various venues
| country = Wales
| organisation = Billiards and Snooker Control Council
| format = Round-robin and knockout
| Total prize fund =
| winners_share =
| highest_break = {{flagathlete|Ray Edmonds|ENG}}, 101
| winner = {{flagathlete|Ray Edmonds|ENG}}
| runner_up = {{flagathlete|Mannie Francisco|SAF|1928}}
| score = 11–10
| previous = 1970
| next = 1974
}}
The 1972 World Amateur Snooker Championship was the fifth edition of the tournament that later became known as the IBSF World Snooker Championship. The 1972 tournament was played in venues in Wales from 4 to 20 January 1973. Ray Edmonds defeated Mannie Francisco 11–10 in the final to win the title.
Tournament summary
The first World Amateur Snooker Championship was held in 1963. Jonathan Barron, who won the title in 1970, was the defending champion for 1972.{{cite book |last=Everton |first=Clive |date=1981 |title=The Guinness Book of Snooker |publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd |location=Enfield |isbn=0851122302 |pages=150–151}}
The tournament was held at venues in Wrexham, Cardiff, and Aberdare from 4 to 20 January 1973.{{cite news|last=Taylor |first=Frank |title=Sing-along Savur bids for a title |work=Daily Mirror |date=10 January 1973 |page=27}}{{cite news |title=Edmonds's rally preserves England's record |work=The Times |location=London |date=22 January 1973 |page=9}} There were four round-robin groups, with the top two players from each group progressing to a second round-robin stage. The top two players from the second-stage groups progressed to the knockout stage.
Ray Edmonds defeated Mannie Francisco 11–10 in the final to win the title. The final was held on 19 and 20 January, at Sophia Gardens Pavilion, Cardiff. Edmonds was 1–6 behind at the end of the first day's play, but won five of the seven frames in the afternoon {{cuegloss|session}} on 20 January to reduce his deficit to two frames at 6–8. Franscico won the first frame of the third session to lead 9–6, before Edmonds levelled the match at 9–9. Edmonds took the lead at 10–9, but Francisco forced a {{cuegloss|deciding frame}} by winning the twentieth frame. Edmonds won the last frame to claim victory.
Edmonds made the highest {{cuegloss|break}} of the tournament, 101, during the first group stage; and the highest break of the final, 40.{{cite book |last=Morrison|first=Ian |date=1989 |title=Snooker: records, facts and champions |publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd |isbn=0851123643|page=129}}
Qualifying groups
The final tables are shown below. Players in bold qualified for the next round.
Group A
| class="wikitable"
! Player !! {{tooltip|2=Matches Won|MW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Won|FW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Lost|FL}} !! {{tooltip|2=Highest Break|Break}} | ||||
| width="220"| {{flagathlete|Jimmy van Rensberg|SAF|1928}} | 3 | 12 | 6 | 45 |
| {{flagathlete|Kelvin Tristram|NZL}} | 1 | 8 | 8 | 50 |
| {{flagathlete|Geoff Thomas|WAL}} | 1 | 6 | 8 | 32 |
| {{flagathlete|Bert Demarco|SCO}} | 1 | 6 | 10 | 41 |
Group B
| class="wikitable"
! Player !! {{tooltip|2=Matches Won|MW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Won|FW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Lost|FL}} !! {{tooltip|2=Highest Break|Break}} | ||||
| width="220"| {{flagathlete|Mannie Francisco|SAF|1928}} | 3 | 15 | 5 | 47 |
| {{flagathlete|Jonathan Barron|ENG}} | 3 | 15 | 10 | 50 |
| {{flagathlete|Alfred Borg|MLT}} | 2 | 12 | 11 | 59 |
| {{flagathlete|Alwyn Lloyd|WAL}} | 2 | 11 | 14 | 41 |
| {{flagathlete|Tony Monteiro|IND}} | 0 | 3 | 16 | 46 |
Group C
| class="wikitable"
! Player !! {{tooltip|2=Matches Won|MW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Won|FW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Lost|FL}} !! {{tooltip|2=Highest Break|Break}} | ||||
| width="220"| {{flagathlete|Paul Mifsud|MLT}} | 4 | 16 | 5 | 61 |
| {{flagathlete|Ray Edmonds|ENG}} | 3 | 14 | 7 | 101 |
| {{flagathlete|Jack Rogers|IRE}} | 2 | 8 | 8 | 36 |
| {{flagathlete|Mario Berni|WAL}} | 1 | 7 | 12 | 47 |
| {{flagathlete|Brien Bennett|NZL}} | 0 | 3 | 16 | 30 |
Group D
| class="wikitable"
! Player !! {{tooltip|2=Matches Won|MW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Won|FW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Lost|FL}} !! {{tooltip|2=Highest Break|Break}} | ||||
| width="220"| {{flagathlete|Arvind Savur|IND}} | 2 | 10 | 6 | 38 |
| {{flagathlete|Max Williams|AUS}} | 2 | 9 | 7 | 48 |
| {{flagathlete|David Sneddon|SCO}} | 2 | 9 | 9 | 34 |
| {{flagathlete|Des May|WAL}} | 0 | 6 | 12 | 42 |
Semi-final Group A
| class="wikitable"
! Player !! {{tooltip|2=Matches Won|MW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Won|FW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Lost|FL}} !! {{tooltip|2=Highest Break|Break}} | ||||
| width="220"| {{flagathlete|Jonathan Barron|ENG}} | 3 | 12 | 4 | 35 |
| {{flagathlete|Arvind Savur|IND}} | 2 | 10 | 8 | 68 |
| {{flagathlete|Kelvin Tristram|NZL}} | 1 | 6 | 8 | 29 |
| {{flagathlete|Paul Mifsud|MLT}} | 0 | 6 | 12 | 50 |
Semi-final Group B
| class="wikitable"
! Player !! {{tooltip|2=Matches Won|MW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Won|FW}} !! {{tooltip|2=Frames Lost|FL}} !! {{tooltip|2=Highest Break|Break}} | ||||
| width="220"| {{flagathlete|Mannie Francisco|SAF|1928}} | 2 | 11 | 9 | 70 |
| {{flagathlete|Ray Edmonds|ENG}} | 2 | 11 | 9 | 39 |
| {{flagathlete|Jimmy van Rensberg|SAF|1928}} | 1 | 8 | 10 | 51 |
| {{flagathlete|Max Williams|AUS}} | 1 | 9 | 11 | 78 |
Knockout
Players in bold denote match winners.
{{4TeamBracket-Compact-NoSeeds-Byes
| RD1=Semi-finals
Best of 15 frames
| RD2=Final
Best of 21 frames
| team-width=180
| score-width=25
| RD1-team1={{flagathlete|Jonathan Barron|ENG}}
| RD1-score1=6
| RD1-team2={{flagathlete|Ray Edmonds|ENG}}
| RD1-score2=8
| RD1-team3={{flagathlete|Mannie Francisco|SAF|1928}}
| RD1-score3=8
| RD1-team4={{flagathlete|Arvind Savur|IND}}
| RD1-score4=7
| RD2-team1={{flagathlete|Ray Edmonds|ENG}}
| RD2-score1=11
| RD2-team2={{flagathlete|Mannie Francisco|SAF|1928}}
| RD2-score2=10
}}
Final
Scores in bold indicate winning {{cuegloss|frame}} scores.
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; margin: 1em auto 1em auto;" |
| colspan="3" align="center" bgcolor="#ffd700" | Final: Best of 21 frames. Sophia Gardens Pavilion, Cardiff. 19–20 January 1973 |
| width="200" align="right" | Ray Edmonds {{flagicon|ENG}} | width="100" align="center" | 11–7 |width="200" | Mannie Francisco |
| colspan="3" align="center" style="font-size: 100%" | 19 January: 19–69; 46–56; 30–61; 33–60; 45–54; 23–70; 52–42 20 January afternoon: 55–46; 43–51; 61–34; 57–34; 82–20; 31–74; 54–43; 20 January evening: 37–49; 50–43; 61–26; 58–26; 58–49; 40–60; 54–31 |