Michael Georgiou
Georgiou at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born (1988-01-18) 18 January 1988
Forest Hill, England
Sport country England (until 2016)
 Cyprus (2016–present)
NicknameThe Pride of Cyprus[1]
Professional2008/2009, 2014–2020
Highest ranking46 (May–July 2019)
Maximum breaks1
Tournament wins
Ranking1

Michael Georgiou (born 18 January 1988) is a British-Cypriot former professional snooker player from Forest Hill. He is a practice partner of Igor Figueiredo and Hammad Miah, who practises at Whetstone Snooker Club.[2]

In 2018, Georgiou won his first professional ranking title by defeating Graeme Dott in the final of the Snooker Shoot-Out.[3][4]

Michael Georgiou made the 140th official maximum break in the third frame of the last 128 match against Umut Dikme at the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. It was Michael's first professional maximum break.

In 2019 he became the first Cypriot player to qualify for the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield defeating Lee Walker 10–7, Peter Ebdon 10–8 and Yan Bingtao 10–8 in the 3 qualifying rounds to make his Crucible debut.

Career

Georgiou qualified for the main tour by winning the 2007 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship in India. However it was a season to forget as he failed to win a single match and lost his tour place as a result.

Georgiou spent the next two seasons competing in the PIOS series then decided to give up snooker and started a career in recruitment. He commented: "I was doing a 9-to-5 job, sitting behind a desk. But I always kept an eye on snooker and when I saw how the sport had changed and the opportunities that are there now, I decided to give it another try".[5] Georgiou returned to serious action in 2013 as he entered the Q School, his best run coming at the second event where he defeated Dessie Sheehan and Darren Bond, before losing to eventual qualifier Ahmed Saif. Georgiou continued to enter European Tour events as an amateur during the 2013/14 season, while also participating in the EBSA Qualifying Tour where he reached final of one of the tournaments to qualify for the play-offs. There Georgiou was beaten to the two-year tour card by Zak Surety; however he was more successful in the 2014 Q School where, after losing early in Event 1, he went all the way in Event 2 by defeating Adam Wicheard, Gareth Green, Sean O'Sullivan, Jordan Brown and in the final round Ashley Carty to confirm his return to the main tour for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons.

Michael Georgiou at 2015 German Masters

Georgiou started his comeback season in the best possible way as he whitewashed Aditya Mehta 5–0 to qualify for the venue stages of the 2014 Wuxi Classic, where he beat Marcus Campbell 5–2, before losing 5–3 to Neil Robertson.[6] Anthony McGill eliminated him 6–4 in the first round of the UK Championship, but Georgiou then overcame 2006 world champion Graeme Dott 5–1 and Andrew Pagett 5–3 in qualifying for the German Masters. He lost 5–3 against Alfie Burden.[7] Georgiou's best form came at the Welsh Open where he defeated Peter Lines 4–1, Lee Walker 4–2 and Dott 4–3 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time.[8] However, he suffered a 4–2 defeat to four-time world champion John Higgins.[9]

Georgiou made his debut in the Australian Goldfields Open by beating Ross Muir 5–0, Aditya Mehta 5–4 and David Gilbert 5–4, but lost 5–2 to John Higgins in the first round.[10] Before the UK Championship he had been practicing with seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry and knocked out David Morris 6–5 in the opening round.[11] He was defeated 6–2 by Mark Allen in the second round.[12] Gergiou reached the third round of the Welsh Open by overcoming Jamie Jones 4–0 and Peter Ebdon 4–2, but lost 4–1 to Higgins for the second year in a row.[10] He needed to qualify for the World Championship to remain on tour, but lost his opening game 10–6 to Noppon Saengkham meaning he needed to come through Q School to earn his place back.[13]

Georgiou announced that he would be representing Cyprus at the 2016 Q School. Georgiou was successful in the second event, regaining his tour place defeating Craig Steadman 4–1 in the final round and as a result would qualify for the tour as a Cypriot player.[14] He got to the third round of the Paul Hunter Classic courtesy of beating Fraser Patrick 4–1 and David Gilbert 4–2 and lost 4–1 to Gerard Greene. Georgiou secured 6–2 and 6–4 wins over Matthew Selt and Mike Dunn to set up a third round encounter with Ronnie O'Sullivan at the UK Championship. Georgiou took the opening frame, but would go on to lose 6–1 and described his opponent as not human after the match such was his standard of play.[15] He had a fourth round showing at the Shoot-Out and was eliminated by Andy Hicks.[16] Georgiou moved out of London to Northern Ireland for a different pace of life and to be around fellow pro's Jordan Brown and Mark Allen, however results didn't follow and after a second round defeat to Jimmy White in qualifying for the delayed 2020 World Snooker Championship saw his ranking drop low enough for him to be off the professional tour.[17]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2008/
09		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2021/
22		 2022/
23
Ranking[18][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] 90 [nb 3] 74 49 46 [nb 4] [nb 4]
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Tournament Not Held RR A
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ 2R 1R LQ LQ A
British Open Tournament Not Held 2R A
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 2R 2R 1R 1R LQ A
UK Championship LQ 1R 2R 3R 2R 1R 2R 1R A
Scottish Open Tournament Not Held 2R 1R 2R 1R 1R A
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R A
World Grand Prix NH NR DNQ DNQ 2R DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Shoot Out NH Non-Ranking 4R W 2R 1R 4R 2R
German Masters NH 1R LQ LQ 1R 1R QF 1R A
Welsh Open LQ 4R 3R 1R 2R 4R 1R LQ A
Players Championship[nb 5] NH DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions NH A A A A 1R A A A
The Masters LQ A A A A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Northern Ireland Trophy LQ Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship LQ Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 6] NR 2R Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open NH LQ 1R Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R Non-Ranking Not Held
Paul Hunter Classic PA Minor-Ranking 3R 3R 2R NR Not Held
Indian Open NH LQ NH 2R LQ 1R Tournament Not Held
China Open LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 7] NH Minor-Ranking 1R 1R LQ LQ Not Held
International Championship NH LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ Not Held
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR 1R LQ LQ Not Held
World Open[nb 8] LQ Not Held LQ 1R 1R 1R Not Held
Turkish Masters Tournament Not Held LQ NH
Gibraltar Open Not Held MR 1R 3R 2R 1R 3R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Shoot Out NH A 1R Ranking Event
Haining Open NH Minor-Ranking A A 3R 4R A NH
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 Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. 1 2 New players don't have a ranking
  3. ↑ Players qualified through the Q School started the season without ranking points
  4. 1 2 He was an amateur
  5. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  6. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009)
  7. ↑ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (2008/2009)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2018 Snooker Shoot Out Scotland Graeme Dott 1–0

Pro-am finals: 3 (2 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2009 Pontins Autumn Open Wales David Donovan 5–2
Winner 2. 2018 Vienna Snooker Open Scotland Ross Muir 5–4
Runner-up 1. 2018 Golden Q Cup Belgium Luca Brecel 1–5

Amateur finals: 2 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2007 English Under-19 Championship England John Astley 1–5[19]
Winner 1. 2007 IBSF World Under-21 Championship China Zhang Anda 11–6

References

  1. ↑ Lambis, Paul (2 January 2023). "The pride of Cyprus". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  2. ↑ "Michael Georgiou Q&A". World Snooker. August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Georgiou Wins Maiden Title". World Snooker. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  4. ↑ "Shoot-Out-Titel für Michael Georgiou - SnookerPRO". SnookerPRO (in German). 11 February 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  5. ↑ "Highfield Breaks Lion's Heart". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Michael Georgiou 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "Alfie Burden makes last 16 of snooker's German Masters". Welwyn Hatfield Times. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Mark WIlliams wins all-Welsh battle". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Welsh Open: Mark Selby knocked out by Luca Brecel". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Michael Georgiou 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "In Form Higgins Starts Strongly". World Snooker. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  12. ↑ "Joe Swail may face Mark Allen test after both progress". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "Q School Order of Merit". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Michael Georgiou represents Cyprus flag in Q School 2016 confirmed by World Snooker". Cyprus Snooker Federation. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "O'Sullivan is unstoppable, says beaten Georgiou". RTÉ. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  16. ↑ "Michael Georgiou 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  17. ↑ "'Where do I go from here?' Michael Georgiou on dealing with the devastating low of losing his place on tour – Metro".
  18. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  19. ↑ "Snooker: Young star plays for pro future". The Journal. 21 June 2007. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
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