1985 World Snooker Championship

1985 World Snooker Championship

The 1985 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament. It took place from 12 to 28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The defending champion was Englishman Steve Davis, who had previously won the World Championship three times. He met Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor in the final which was a best-of-35-frames match. The 35th frame was contested over the final black ball, with the player able to pot the ball winning the world title. The winner received a prize of £60,000 from a total of £250,000, the highest first prize amount for aSnooker event to that date.

About 1985 World Snooker Championship in brief

Summary 1985 World Snooker ChampionshipThe 1985 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament. It took place from 12 to 28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The defending champion was Englishman Steve Davis, who had previously won the World Championship three times. He met Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor in the final which was a best-of-35-frames match. The 35th frame was contested over the final black ball, with the player able to pot the ball winning the world title. There were 14 century breaks compiled during the championship, with ten more in qualifying matches. The winner received a prize of £60,000 from a total of £250,000, the highest first prize amount for aSnooker event to that date. The tournament was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, and was sponsored by the Embassy cigarette company. It was the last ranking event of the 1984–85 snookser season. The final between Davis and Taylor holds the record for the most-viewed broadcast of a programme shown after midnight, with a peak of 18. 5 million viewers for the match’s final frame. The first World Championship, in 1927, was won by Joe Davis in a final at Camkin’s Hall in Birmingham. Since 1977, the tournament has been held at thecrucible theatre in Sheffield. It features 32 professional players competing in one-on-one single-elimination matches, played over several frames. The players are selected to take part using a combination of the world snookers rankings and a pre-tournament qualification round.

The top 16 players in the latest world rankings qualified for the main draw as top seeded players. The draw for the tournament was made at the Savoy Hotel in London on 16 January 1985. As defending champion Steve Davis was seeded for the event, he was the first seed to be drawn in the first round of the tournament. Canadian Bill Werbeniuk scored the championship’s highest break, a 143, in his first-round match. This was Davis’s third world championship win, following his victories in 1981 and 1983. The event was broadcast by BBC in the UK, with over 90 hours of coverage. The estimated cost for the fortnight’s broadcast was reportedly £3 million. It is the ninth consecutive World Snookser Championship to be held at The Crucible, the first tournament having taken place in 1977. The World Championship is organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snookers Association (WPBSA) The tournament is the official world championship of the game of snooking. It has been played worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand. The WPBSA announced a ban on performance-enhancing substances on 9 April  1985; the tests were proposed by WPB SA board member Barry Hearn. The ban was mandated by the WPBBA on 9 April 1985. The competition was first to feature drug tests for the participants.