International Open Series

The International Open Series (often referred to as Pontins International Open Series or PIOS^[1][2] for sponsorship purposes), was a series of snooker tournaments that ran from the 2001/02 season until the 2009/10 season. It was originally called the Open Tour but was renamed in 2005/2006.^[3]

International Open Series

Tournament information
Venue	World Snooker Centre
Location	Prestatyn
Country	Wales
Established	2001
Organisation(s)	WPBSA (2001/02) EASB (2002/03–2009/10)
Format	Professional (2001/02) Pro-am (2002/03) Amateur (2003/04–2009/10)
Final year	2009/10
Final champion	Jack Lisowski

History

The tour was established to provide players not on the WPBSA Main Tour or Challenge Tour with professional competition, and the best performers were promoted to the Challenge Tour.^[3] It was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) during its first season, but the English Association of Snooker and Billiards (EASB), an amateur body, took it over from 2002/03.^[3] The event was open to professionals, amateurs and international players for the first couple of seasons, but following the EASB's split from the WPBSA for 2003/04 the entry criteria were revised barring professional and non-English players from entering.^[3] After the Challenge Tour was discontinued, the entry criteria were revised again to allow international amateur players to compete, and from 2005/06 the competition promoted players directly to the Main Tour.^[4] The series was abandoned after the 2009/10 season and replaced by the Q School in the 2010/11 season.

Event finals

Season	Event	Winner	Runner-up	Final score
WPBSA Open Tour (professional non-ranking)[3]
2001/02	Event 1	Mark Gray	Shaun Murphy	5–2
	Event 2	Brian Morgan	Leo Fernandez	5–2
	Event 3	Robin Hull	Colm Gilcreest	5–4
	Event 4	Matthew Couch	Munraj Pal	5–3
	Event 5	Lee Spick	Mark Gray	5–3
	Event 6	Stuart Bingham	Matthew Selt	5–4
EASB Open Tour (pro-am)[3]
2002/03	Event 1	Ryan Day	James Reynolds	5–4
	Event 2	Ryan Day	Mark Gray	5–3
	Event 3	Rory McLeod	Mark Gray	5–2
	Event 4	Ricky Walden	Jamie Cope	5–1
EASB Open Tour (amateur)[3]
2003/04	Event 1	David KL Taylor	Darren McVicar	4–3
	Event 2	James Tatton	Lee Richardson	4–2
	Event 3	Lee Richardson	Jamie Barratt	4–0
	Event 4	Sean Bullock	Andy Radford	4–0
	Event 5	Andy Radford	Mark Sutton	4–0
	Event 6	Eddie Cooper	Nick Spelman	4–2
	Event 7	Alan Trigg	Wayne Cooper	4–1
	Event 8	Paul Davison	Wayne Cooper	4–2
	Final play-off	Wayne Cooper	Nick Spelman	5–1
PIOS (amateur)[4]
2005/06	Event 1	Tian Pengfei	Martin Gould	6–3
	Event 2	Mark Joyce	James Leadbetter	6–3
	Event 3	Liu Song	Stephen Rowlings	6–1
	Event 4	Colm Gilcreest	Mark Joyce	6–3
	Event 5	Chris Melling	Paul Davison	6–5
	Event 6	Liu Song	Paul Davison	6–3
	Event 7	Tian Pengfei	Liu Song	6–3
	Event 8	Andrew Higginson	Jamie O'Neill	6–3
2006/07	Event 1	Munraj Pal	Kurt Maflin	6–3
	Event 2	Julian Logue	Alex Davies	6–5
	Event 3	Leo Fernandez	Lee Walker	6–5
	Event 4	Kuldesh Johal	Lee Walker	6–4
	Event 5	Kurt Maflin	Ashley Wright	6–3
	Event 6	Jamie O'Neill	Ashley Wright	6–2
	Event 7	Bjorn Haneveer	Craig Steadman	6–2
	Event 8	James McBain	Kurt Maflin	6–4
2007/08	Event 1	Simon Bedford	Gary Wilkinson	6–3
	Event 2	Kuldesh Johal	Andrew Pagett	6–4
	Event 3	Paul Davison	Michael King	6–2
	Event 4	Matthew Couch	Michael Wild	6–3
	Event 5	Peter Lines	Daniel Wells	6–5
	Event 6	Kuldesh Johal	Simon Bedford	6–5
	Event 7	Jamie Jones	Peter Lines	6–2
	Event 8	Liam Highfield	Justin Astley	6–2
2008/09	Event 1	Bjorn Haneveer	Andrew Atkinson	6–2
	Event 2	Xiao Guodong	Noppadol Sangnil	6–5
	Event 3	Shokat Ali	Michael White	6–3
	Event 4	Craig Steadman	Mike Hallett	6–1
	Event 5	Chris Norbury	Alfie Burden	6–2
	Event 6	Xiao Guodong	Jack Lisowski	6–0
	Event 7	Thepchaiya Un-Nooh	Lee Page	6–3
	Event 8	Joe Jogia	Ben Woollaston	6–5
2009/10	Event 1	Jack Lisowski	Liam Highfield	6–5
	Event 2	Liam Highfield	Neal Jones	6–2
	Event 3	Paul Davison	Kyren Wilson	6–4
	Event 4	Jamie Jones	Jak Jones	6–0
	Event 5	Anthony McGill	Farakh Ajaib	6–0
	Event 6	Kyren Wilson	Liam Highfield	6–4
	Event 7	Paul Davison	Justin Astley	6–2
	Event 8	Jack Lisowski	Justin Astley	6–1

Order of Merit winners

^[4]

Season	Winner
2005/06	Liu Song
2006/07	Kurt Maflin
2007/08	Kuldesh Johal
2008/09	Joe Jogia
2009/10	Jack Lisowski

References

1. "Pontin's &– Working with Global Snooker". London: Global Snooker. 2009. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
2. "Pontin's International Open Series: Rules of Entry 2009/10" (PDF). Global-Snooker.com: Maximum Snooker Coverage. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
3. Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Suffolk: Rose Villa Publications. pp. Introduction & 178–186. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
4. "Pontins International Open Series". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2010.