Hong Kong coach Wayne Griffiths part of World Snooker’s plans to grow game globally
- The Welshman is appointed to a coaching panel that he hopes would encourage more armchair fans to take up the sport and increase its popularity worldwide
- His appointment is a result of Hong Kong’s success on the international scene, including that of three-time women’s world champion Ng On-yee
Hong Kong head coach Wayne Griffiths is hoping to play his part in helping to expand snooker’s popularity around the world after he was appointed to the world governing body’s new coaching panel.
Griffiths, a respected coach on the global snooker stage, is part of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association’s (WPBSA) new International Expert Coaching Advisory Panel, which held its first meeting last week.
The panel will look for ways to enhance coaching methods and programmes and ensure all federations around the world have access to accredited coaching courses.
Griffiths has been head snooker coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute for a decade and has played a key role in the rise of players such as three-time world champion Ng On-yee.
“This appointment has been made possible off the back of good work and great results achieved by the HKBSCC, HKSI and the Hong Kong coaches and players,” Griffiths said. “The aim of the panel is to promote improved structure and more opportunities to develop coaching and grass roots structure across the world.
“We want to get more armchair viewers, of which there are over half a billion in recent years, to join the sport and support the game, to encourage current players to play more often and to get more players having access to structured coaching.
“It is our intention to grow the access to, and the popularity of, snooker in every continent.”
Griffiths, son of Wales’ former world champion Terry, helped set up the successful EBSA European Coaching Foundation and said he was delighted to represent Hong Kong and the world governing body in helping to shape the future of global snooker.
Terry Griffiths, a regular visitor to Hong Kong in the late ’80s and early ’90s, has recently launched snooker’s first global skills-based handicap system, known as SQ, which has been adopted by the WPBSA.
The system has already been embraced by Ng and Hong Kong’s former world No 5 Marco Fu, who are acting as SQ ambassadors.
Elements of the SQ handicap system will be used at the Hong Kong Billiards and Snooker Control Council’s Talent ID event next weekend. The system will be used to assess young players with potential to join the Hong Kong junior squad.
The coaching panel, meanwhile, will be led by the WPBSA’s head of coaching and training development Chris Lovell. Experienced European snooker head coach PJ Nolan is also part of the panel.
“As snooker continues to grow around the world – even in the current worldwide challenging circumstances – coaching remains fundamental to any progressive and successful sport,” Lovell said.
“This new panel will help us to bring together some of the world’s leading figures in snooker coaching and the visionary expertise they possess will enable snooker coaching to be at the forefront of the growth of our sport.”
