words hamish stuart pictures Steve Pope
SnookEr STar WEllS on CuE To
riSE in hiS dEbuT Pro SEaSon
daniel Wells has nothing against Wales but he is “I have worked hard all of my life and the harder you work, the more it
quite happy to spend a lot of his time strolling around seems to pay off for me. That (scholarship) brought me up to Sheffield
dark rooms in Sheffield. with Liang Wenbo and the top professionals. Back home, I was working
hard but there is always a temptation to go out with your mates and
The Neath left-hander has begun and adventure which, he hopes, will have a few drinks.
lead to a huge career on the green baizes of professional snooker in
future years. “Last year, I was in a house with snooker players and you didn’t get
those distractions. The more you practice with these players, the better
As is often said, the harder you work, the luckier you get and, through because you have that belief.”
this determination and dedication to the sport, Wells has had a fair
slice of good and well-earned fortune. He is still there at the snooker academy and paying his own bed and
board. Indeed, being in Sheffield, thinks Wells, could mean the difference
He was the first player to be given the Paul Hunter Scholarship for between being at the top of the snooker world and not.
rising young players in 2007, named after the brilliant ex-Masters
champion who died tragically at the height of his fame in October 2006 “Here (in Sheffield) you can just walk into the room and there are
through cancer. about ten top players wanting to practice every day. I’m putting in
between six and ten hours a day. The Academy is open from 10am to
Now, after his tastes of life on the main professional tour through 6pm but I have a key which allows me to open and lock up when I
attempts to qualify for the Northern Ireland Trophy and, this month, want to.”
the Shanghai Masters, Wells has become a ‘Hot Shot’.
And, with the dedication and sacrifices already made, his aim of staying
“There are five players under 25 who have been selected as Hot on the Main Tour and reaching the top 64 in the rankings in his rookie
Shots,” he said. “There is myself, Mark Selby, Mark Allen, Jamie Cope campaign should be very achievable.
and another new player on the Main Tour this year, Michael Georgiou.
“he is still there at the snooker
academy and paying his own bed
and board.”
“What this involves is making ourselves available for ten days of the
season for video and photo shoots to promote snooker. The first one
is on September 8.”
But the business end of matters is on the table and Wells has a
thorough understanding of that, which is why he is in Sheffield.
Part of his Paul Hunter Scholarship allowed him to practice at World
Snooker’s Academy in the Yorkshire city, which also stages the World
Championships every Spring.
There, he is practicing with some big name players, like former UK
champion Ding Junghui and another Chinese potting ace, Liang Wenbo,
who stunned some more experienced names in the early rounds at
The Crucible this year to reach the World Championships quarter-
finals.
aniel Wells
d
Wells said: “The Paul Hunter Scholarship was brilliant. I was the
luckiest person in the world to be given that. I was also one of the
top amateurs in Wales and to have this gave me that extra boost of
SW
confidence.
snooker 45
sportingwales
issue4twothousand&eight
SW_Issue4.indd 45 9/10/08 15:34:00
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