By Elliott West
Introduction
Marco Fu is the most accomplished player that Hong Kong has produced but have you heard of the snooker player Franky Chan? Part of the ‘Class of 1990’, Chan had a short professional career from 1990-1996, turning professional the same year as Ken Doherty, Jason Ferguson, Chris Cookson, Jonathan Birch, Alan McManus and Jason Prince. His best performance was in the 1992 Strachan Open where he reached the quarter-final stage. A high ranking of 42 in the 1992-1993 season, Franky had career earnings of £36,515. A promising player but his professional career was short-lived.
Career
Born in 1965, Franky Chan turned professional in 1990. A player who had already had experience of competitive snooker, having competed in the Hong Kong Open and the 1988 Kent Cup. His professional status came via beating Mike Darrington in the 1990 Professional Play-offs.
His first season as a professional between 1990-1991, brought immediate success with great runs to the last 16 stage of the Asian Open and the Dubai Classic and the last 32 stage of the 1991 British Open. In the 1990Asian Open, held in China, Chan beat Jason Smith, David Roe, Wayne Jones and Darren Morgan before losing to Tony Chappel, 1-5. In the Dubai Classic, Franky was equally successful, defeating Joe Grech, Nigel Gilbert, Cliff Wilson and Jimmy White but in the end, experience outwitted him and he lost his next match to Rex Williams, 2-5. In the 1991 British Open, Chan was whitewashed by Stephen Hendry, 5-0. Having started the season without a ranking, he finished the season, ranked 53rd and so was able to keep his place on the main tour by remaining in the top 64.
More success followed when Franky took part in the 1991 Belgian Challenge. A non-ranking event, Franky had an impressive run, reaching the quarter-finals via a victory over Neal Foulds to reach the last 16. However his luck ran out when he was drawn against Jimmy White. Jimmy at the height of his form, made light work of his opponent and defeated the man from Hong Kong, 5-0. Later in the season, Franky executed his best career performance in the 1992 Strachan Challenge. A quarter-final run, left him having to play Nigel Bond. A match that was sadly a bridge too far for this budding player. Despite a possible fight back in the third frame, Bond was too strong an opponent, winning the match, 5-1. This surge helped him finish the season in 42nd place, a career best.
However, from this point, Chan’s career took a nosedive. A dip in form led him to plunge down the rankings and by the end of the 1993/94 season, he had slipped down to118 in the rankings. Ironically, this was the season that Franky scored his only professional century break. This occurred in a Grand Prix qualifying match against David Grimwood when he made a 118 break. Sadly though, this was his last hurrah. After losing 3-5 to Darryn Walker in the qualifying stage of the 1994 British Open, Franky Chan didn’t play competitive snooker again and was relegated from the main tour in 1996, ranked 310th.
Summary
Franky Chan is one of the many players that had bundles of potential but never quite made it. Despite a breakthrough into the top 62, he always seemed to come up against a strong opponent in the latter stages of a tournament. A great shame because it was clear that so much hard work had been channeled into reaching this stage in the first place. A player that still deserves though for a fruitful few years in snooker’s history.
