Peter Francisco (snooker player)

Peter Francisco (born 14 February 1962 in Cape Town, Western Cape) is a South African former professional snooker player who won the African Snooker Championship 4 times and South African Snooker Championship 8 times and the South African Billiards Championship 13 times as an amateur and professional.

Peter Francisco

Born	(1962-02-14) 14 February 1962 (age 62)[1] Cape Town, South Africa
Sport country	South Africa
Professional	1984–1995[1]
Highest ranking	14 (1988/89)
Best ranking finish	Semi-final (x2)

Career

Francisco turned professional in 1984, and reached the final stages of the World Snooker Championship on five occasions: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1995.^[1][2] He reached the semifinals in two ranking events: the 1986 International Open and the 1987 Grand Prix.^[1]

In June 2013 he won the ABSF African Snooker Championship.^[3]

Francisco participated in the 2015 Six-red World Championship, playing five matches in his group. He lost 1–5 to Marco Fu and Jamie Clarke, 3–5 to Mark Williams and 4–5 to eventual champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and was eliminated after the group stage, but defeated Darren Paris 5–1 to record his first competitive victory since a 10–8 win over Mick Price in the 1995 World Championship.^[4]

Controversy

In 1995, Francisco faced Jimmy White in the first round of the World Championship. Throughout the match, Francisco played numerous shots which caused bafflement on the part of BBC commentators Clive Everton, John Virgo and Dennis Taylor.^[5] There were an unusual number of bets made that the scoreline would be 10–2 in favour of White, which was the eventual outcome. Betting had been suspended on the match against the South African shortly before it began and a World Snooker Association panel analysed the match and later banned Francisco for five years for not conducting himself in a manner consistent with his status as a professional sportsman. At the same hearing he was not found guilty of match rigging.^[6][7] After the 5 years of his ban was up he did briefly resume his pro career in 2000 but failed to make any impact.

Personal life

He is the nephew of fellow snooker players Manuel and Silvino Francisco.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	1984/ 85	1985/ 86	1986/ 87	1987/ 88	1988/ 89	1989/ 90	1990/ 91	1991/ 92	1992/ 93	1993/ 94	1994/ 95
Ranking[8]	[nb 1]	59	26	18	14	25	24	19	25	38	61
Ranking tournaments
Asian Classic[nb 2]	Tournament Not Held				NR	QF	2R	3R	1R	LQ	LQ
Grand Prix	2R	3R	2R	SF	1R	1R	QF	1R	1R	1R	LQ
UK Championship	LQ	2R	2R	2R	2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	1R	LQ
Welsh Open	Tournament Not Held							3R	1R	LQ	2R
International Open[nb 3]	LQ	LQ	SF	1R	1R	1R	Not Held		1R	LQ	LQ
European Open	Tournament Not Held				1R	1R	3R	2R	1R	LQ	LQ
Thailand Open[nb 4]	Non-Ranking			Not Held		3R	2R	1R	1R	LQ	LQ
British Open	1R	3R	2R	2R	QF	3R	2R	2R	1R	1R	3R
World Championship	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	1R	1R	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	1R
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters	A	A	A	A	1R	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	WD
Former ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters	NH	Non-Ranking			LQ	Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Open[nb 5]	Ranking Event				NH	1R	Tournament Not Held				NR
Classic	LQ	3R	3R	3R	1R	3R	1R	1R	Not Held
Strachan Open	Tournament Not Held							1R	MR	NR	NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Australian Masters[nb 6]	A	1R	A	A	NH	A	Tournament Not Held				A
South African Professional Championship	A	A	SF	A	A	Tournament Not Held
World Matchplay	Tournament Not Held				1R	A	A	A	A	Not Held
Shoot-Out	Tournament Not Held						3R	Tournament Not Held
World Masters	Tournament Not Held						QF	Tournament Not Held

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 Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.

1. New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.
2. The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989) and Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995)
3. The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)
4. The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1984/1985–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)
5. The event was also called the Australian Masters (1984/1985–1987/1988) and Australian Open (1994/1995)
6. The event was also called the Hong Kong Open (1989/1990) and Australian Open (1994/1995)

Career finals

Amateur finals: 10 (10 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1981	South African Amateur Championship	L Seranke
Winner	2.	1982	South African Amateur Championship (2)	S Davids
Winner	3.	1983	South African Amateur Championship (3)	Ayoub Majiet
Winner	4.	1998	South African Amateur Championship (4)
Winner	5.	1999	South African Amateur Championship (5)
Winner	6.	2000	South African Amateur Championship (6)
Winner	7.	2007	South African Amateur Championship (7)
Winner	8.	2012	ABSF African Snooker Championship	Mohamed Khairy	6–2
Winner	9.	2013	ABSF African Snooker Championship (2)	Khaled Belaid Abumdas	6–2
Winner	10.	2016	ABSF African Snooker Championship (3)	Wael Talaat	6–1

References

1. "Mini profiles". Chris Turner. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
2. "Finishes - Peter Francisco's record in World Championship". CueTracker - Snooker Database. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
3. "The African Snooker Championship (Marrakech 2013): Knock out stage" (PDF). African Billiards & Snooker Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
4. Florax, Ron. "CueTracker - Peter Francisco - Season 2015-2016 - Professional Results - Snooker Results, Statistics & Scoreboard". cuetracker.net. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
5. Everton, Clive (2012). Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards: The Inside Story of the Snooker World. Mainstream. ISBN 9781780575681.
6. "Francisco banned for five years". The Independent. 8 May 1995. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
7. "Snooker Faces Match-Fixing Probe". Winner Online. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
8. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 5 December 2017.

External links

• Cue sports portal

• Peter Francisco at snooker.org