Snooker star Ng On-yee hunts second major win at Gibraltar Open, says she is ‘happy’ as Hong Kong quarantine rules ease
- Ng says she has improved a lot, thanks to daily practice sessions with fellow pros including Michael Holt, Lee Walker and Li Hang
- She opens her Gibraltar Open tournament against world No 23 Ryan Day in the first round
Snooker star Ng On-yee is expecting her second win on the mixed gender world professional tour at the Gibraltar Open on Friday, boosted by the thought of reduced quarantine time when she returns to Hong Kong next month.
The 31-year old Ng returned to England in February, with five ranking tournaments on hand to play until April, was supposed to go through a lengthy “wash out” and mandatory quarantine process when back to the city next month.
“I am happy to hear about the lifting of the flight bans and the reduction of quarantine days,” Ng said. “Otherwise, it would have taken me 14 days to stay in a non-restricted city followed by another 14 days of hotel quarantine before getting home.”
Ng was granted a two-year World Snooker Tour card at the start of this season alongside Reanne Evans and won her first game on the circuit by beating Chinese player Wu Yize 4-2 in the qualifying round of last month’s Welsh Open.
The three-time women’s world champion hopes a maiden win in Gibraltar will bolster her tournament ranking over the next few weeks. On Friday she faces world No 23 Ryan Day in the first round.
“My first-ever win on the world snooker tour boosted my confidence with two breaks over 80, and I hope that this kind of one visit shot will be executed more consistently in my future games.”
Ng said that her scoring ability improved a lot after daily practice sessions with professionals such as Michael Holt, Lee Walker and Chinese players Li Hang, Xu Si and Tian Pengfei.
“It is my first year on the professional tour, so I aim to enjoy it, absorb as much as I can when practising with different professionals, and play my best on every game,” Ng told the Post.
Ng has already completed six tournaments this season, with narrow losses to former world champion Shaun Murphy and English pro Craig Steadman, with the same score of 5-4 at the Scottish Open Qual and German Master Qual last summer.
The Gibraltar Open consists of 128 players, running from Thursday to Saturday, with Judd Trump looking to defend the title against top stars Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Neil Robertson.
Following the Gibraltar Open, Ng will fly to the UK for the women’s ranking tournament in early April in Leicester, followed by the World Championships in Sheffield, where Hong Kong snooker ace Marco Fu Ka-chun returns after a two-year absence due to Covid-19.
Ng hopes to have some practice with Fu before the qualifying rounds of the World Championships.
“It’s been a while not practising with Marco, and I am looking forward to seeing him again in Sheffield and practising with him,” she said.
