By Elliott West
Introduction
Israel is not a country that you immediately associate with snooker but now the main tour has a player born in this region. Eden Sharav hails from Mishmar Ayalon in Israel with an Israeli father and Scottish mother, moving to Scotland when he was three. He has represented his country in the sport since 2018, previously it was Scotland when he turned professional in 2015. Currently ranked 73 in the world rankings, Eden had a promising amateur career, winning the Pontins “Star of the Future” event in 2011, aged 19, beating Ross Muir 4-0 in the final in Prestatyn. A few months later as an amateur, he reached the last 16 stage of his tournament debut in the Players Tour Championship, beating Liang Wenbo 4-0, Adam Duffy 4-1 and Gary Wilson 4-2 before losing to Marcus Campbell 4-0.
Professional Career
After an initial failure to qualify at Q School in 2014, reaching the final round, Sharav did however manage to qualify for the 2014 International Championship, 2015 Indian Open and all the ranking tournaments for the 2014-15 season due to his impressive Q School results. Despite this golden opportunity, Eden had an unfruitful season, going out in the first round of both the International Championship and the Indian Open.
Despite this setback, Sharav did fulfil his dream of becoming a professional in 2015, making his was through Q School to be awarded with a two-year tour card. His performances to date, have largely been qualifications and first/second round exits.
Now ranked 73 with a highest ranking of 67 in 2019, Eden has remained on the tour thanks to taking the seventh out of eight on the one-year ranking list. Sharav did perform well in the recent Snooker Shootout but failed to reach the final day. This builds on his 2019 performance when he defeated Shaun Murphy in the first round. His best performance to date was when he reached the semi-final stage of the 2018 Northern Ireland Open, losing to Judd Trump 3-6. He also reached the last 32 of an event in Belgium and China and played Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last 16 of the English Open that year. He also represented Israel in the Snooker World Cup in 2017 and 2019.
Sharav is a player who is still in awe of playing his snooker idols but someone who is brimming with confidence. To me, he is one of those sportsmen who are on the outskirts of success. Capable of reaching the latter stages of a tournament, he can beat any player on the day but as we know, snooker is a sport that is filled with a complexity of permutations. It can be a frustrating game to play, especially when you know how well you can actually play. Despite these complexities, Sharav is definitely one to watch out for and I wouldn’t be surprised if he made the top 32 sometime in the future.
Summary
Eden Sharav had already made 31 centuries in his short career and achieved a 142 break in the 2018 Northern Ireland Open. Having already made £154,425 in career earnings, Eden is a delight to watch and remains on a course destined for a top spot.
