By Elliott West
Introduction
Wales has produced some great snooker players in its history but one of the lesser-known ones definitely has to be Mark Bennett. This lad from Newport could definitely play and managed to remain on the professional tour from 1986-2001. A fine amateur player, Bennett managed to cross the turbulent divide between the amateur and professional game and produced some great results despite not winning any silverware in his thirteen years as a professional player.
Career
Part of a selective few, Mark Bennett was born in 1963, took part in Junior Pot Black in 1981, losing in the qualifying round to John Parrott 1-0 and joined the prestigious club of players who managed to win the Welsh Amateur Championship, a title that was bestowed on him in 1985 after beating Dilwyn John 8-7 in the final. Turning professional the following year in 1986, Mark had an impressive time at the top, spending four seasons in the top 32 between 1991 and 1995 but never managed to reach a ranking final.
He did however reach several quarter and semi-finals. His best performance and his last would definitely have to be his run in the 1996 Grand Prix. Reaching the semi-finals on this occasion, Bennett left a trail of casualties on his path to this stage. These included four seeded players, Peter Ebdon who he defeated 5-3, Chris Small 5-0, Steve Davis 5-3 (from 0-3 down), Tony Drago 5-1 before losing 3-6 to Euan Henderson. Bennett had led the match 3-1 before the semi-final interval.
This run had its memorable points, including his match against Tony Drago. Drago vented his frustration at losing the match by hurling his cue at the table and storming out of the arena. Tony wasn’t happy and later accused Bennett of bad sportsmanship. Tony who had been trapped in a snooker, set by the Welshman in the last frame, couldn’t escape the snare set and gave away 24 points to his opponent as a result. Bennett then spoke to the referee and claimed twice that Drago was missing the red ball on purpose.
The Welshman qualified for the World Championship on four occasions between 1987 and 1994 but never managed to get past the first round. His closest effort being his 1990 clash with John Parrott where he narrowly lost the match 9-10 to the Liverpudlian.
Mark could not unfortunately, build on his spectacular run in the 1996 Grand Prix and sadly his game went into decline, retiring as a professional in 1999. Since leaving the sport, Bennett still occasionally plays in the Welsh Amateur League and works as a snooker coach in the Monmouthshire region of South Wales and in the Savoy Snooker Club on Barry Island. A player who had career winnings of £277,369, made 18 centuries and whose highest break of 141, came at the 1995 German Open. His highest ranking was in the 1993-1994 season where he reached number 24.
