Having played snooker from the age of 13 years reaching a reasonable standard as an amateur, Harvey Chandler from Raunds, Northamptonshire, decided that he did not want to live the rest of his life wondering whether he might have made a career as a professional snooker player. Since the World Championships in April Harvey has increased his commitment to practice and entered a few pro-am tournaments around the country with a high percentage of success. During these tournaments he has taken the notable scalps of two very experienced players; Mark King, currently ranked 21, once reach 11th and Barry Pinches who reached 18th. Both players having played more than 20 years as professionals. Harvey’s strength is his break building prowess which has seen him achieve numerous competitive century breaks, including maximum 147’s.
In August Harvey travelled to Furth, Germany to play in the Paul Hunter Classic. A professional ranking tournament. In this event amateurs had the opportunity to pre-qualify to meet the professionals in the main stages. Harvey won through three qualifying matches to reach the last 128 players. Where in his first match he was pitted against a very promising Chinese player, Li Yaun whom he beat 4-2 to claim a last 64 spot. This round was to see the end of his excellent run of wins, in this his first ranking event outing.
This excellent achievement earns Harvey a place among the professional tour players. He is now positioned 123rd in the one-year world rankings. Harvey remains an amateur therefore he can only enter ranking events by invitation from the World Snooker organisation….which he is hoping will land on his door step soon. This is an important step up from which to launch his attempt at breaking into the play-offs at the end of the season for a place on the main tour and become a professional.
Harvey said “It was the best experience of my snooker career so far, to have my name called out by the Master of Ceremonies as I was walking out in front of hundreds of cheering German fans was a real buzz. I was very nervous to start with but after a few shots I rose to the challenge and I loved every second, it felt like ‘home’ out there. I was asked to signed my autograph by the German fans after my match against Li Yuan, it was surreal. I would like to thank my sponsor and manager, Colin Mitchell also Jamie Wright and the staff at Rushden Windmill Club and Suny Singh at Dunstable Snooker Centre for their ongoing support and my brilliant friends and family.”
Harvey’s next ranking event is early next year in Gibraltar, The Gibraltar Open. Until then he will be seeking out top players to practise with as often as possible whilst also travelling around the country playing in as many pro-amateur tournaments as he can.
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