By Elliott West
Introduction
Born in 1975 and now 48 years old, Gary Ponting who I believe was from Bristol, was a professional snooker player from 1993-2002 with a highest ranking of 49 in the 1999/2000 season. Although probably not a player that many would have heard of, he was part of a group of players including Spencer Dunn, Ian Graham, Shaun Mellish, Stephen O’Connor and Karl Payne who reached the Crucible once in their career through the dreaded qualifiers. One of these players, Spencer Dunn won an unbelievable 11 qualifying matches at the 1993 World Championship before losing to Nigel Bond 4-10 in the first round. Gary faced a similar fate at the 1994 World Championship where he drew Willie Thorne in the first round losing 2-10. A match that will be best remembered when Willie potted two tricky blues, the second a sublime cut back to the corner pocket to go on to win the frame with a 118 break.
Progress Made
Gary would also go on to reach the last 32 stages of the 1996 Thailand Open where he was whitewashed by Peter Ebdon 5-0 in the first round, a tournament that was won by Alan McManus after defeating Ken Doherty 9-8 in the final, this was one of only two ranking titles for Alan McManus, the other being the 1994 Dubai Classic where he beat Peter Ebdon 9-6 to claim the title. Gary would also reach the last 96 of the 1996 Asian Classic, a tournament won by Ronnie O’Sullivan after beating Brian Morgan 9-8 in the final.
Progress Made
Gary Ponting made the last 16 of four tournaments but one of his best performances came in the 1998 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship, held at the Bournemouth International Centre. An event where Gary made five-century breaks including the highest of his career, a break of 138. Gary was at the top of his form, beating Tony Drago 9-8, and Patrick Wallace 9-8 before losing to John Parrott 6-9 in the last 16. Ponting also made the quarter-finals of the 2000 British Open, held at Plymouth Pavilions, earning himself his biggest single prize of £9,400. Gary who reached the last 16 after a walkover in his drawn match against Anthony Hamilton, went on to beat Mathew Stevens 5-4 before losing to Paul Hunter 4-5 in the semi-finals. An event that was eventually won by Peter Ebdon who beat Jimmy White 9-6 in the final. A match refereed by the late Alan Chamberlain.
Later Years
Gary Ponting played a total of 239 matches, winning 145 and losing 94, a total of 1970 frames played. He was involved in a number of deciding frames, winning 55 and losing 32 and someone who played in 95 tournaments. However, like a number of a players, Ponting suffered a lack of form and he would only go on to play in one more tournament, the 2003 World Championship where he lost in the qualifiers to India’s Manan Chandra 1-10. By then Gary had slipped down to 73rd in the rankings and would lose his professional tour card the same year at the age of 28. Ponting slipped under the radar thereafter into the mists of time but I would be interested to know what became of this talented player who deserves recognition for his part played in snooker’s history. I heard that he moved to New Zealand.
