Knowles Happy to Take Pot Luck On the Baize; Twenty Years Ago He Was a Sex Symbol. Now He has a Slap-Dash Approach to His Snooker, but He Still has His Fans, Finds Stewart Fisher

Summary

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TWENTY years ago, Tony Knowles was to snooker what his namesake Beyonce currently is to the music industry. Nowadays, aged 48, and ranked no better than 248 in the world, the biggest date the former world No 2 and snooker sex symbol has in his diary is an appearance tomorrow at the down-at-heel Pontin's leisure centre in Prestatyn, North Wales, as pre-qualifying commences for the Embassy World Championships.

It is hardly top box office, but the quotient of female fans in the crowds for his appearance should still be high. "I've still got some of the original fans, they still turn up to watch me play qualifying," Knowles said. "These are people who have been with me for 20-odd years. It is amazing really."

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Knowles Happy to Take Pot Luck On the Baize; Twenty Years Ago He Was a Sex Symbol. Now He has a Slap-Dash Approach to His Snooker, but He Still has His Fans, Finds Stewart Fisher

Despite such encouragement, it is quite a come-down for a triple World Champ-ionship semi-finalist to be scrabbling around the nether regions of the Challenge Tour and toiling through qualifying rounds. The odds of him even reaching the televised stages and the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan a...

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