Wikidbs

Information at your fingertips.

0-9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Tony Drago Biography

Tony Drago
Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965 in Valletta, Malta) is a professional snooker and pool player from Malta. He won the 2003 World Pool Masters Tournament beating Hsia Hui-kai 8–6 and also reached the quarter finals of the World Snooker Championship. In 2008, Drago won the Predator International 10-ball Championship, beating Francisco Bustamante 13–10.

Snooker career


Drago's highest snooker world rankings position was number ten (in 1998). He has reached two major finals – the Mita/Sky World Masters in 1991 (losing to Jimmy White), and the International Open in 1997 (his only ranking event final, and his first run past a quarter-final beaten by Stephen Hendry). He reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 1988. He has appeared in the tournament 11 times more, most recently in 2004/2005, with five further last sixteen runs. He lost to Matthew Stevens in three successive years – 8–13 in the last 16 in 1999, 2–10 in the 2000 first round, and 1–10 in the 2001 first round.

After failing to qualify for the 2004 World Championships, Drago entered a decline in snooker. He dropped out of the top 32 of the rankings a year later, and after losing to Issara Kachaiwong in his opening qualifier for the 2008 World Championship, he dropped off the tour.

In 2009 Drago won the EBSA International Open, which give him the chance to return for the 2009/2010 season. He reached the third qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters, Grand Prix and UK Championship. He then qualified for the Welsh Open, by defeating Simon Bedford (5–3), Peter Lines (5–2), Jimmy Michie (5–2) and Gerard Greene (5–2), where he played against Ryan Day in the first round, but he lost 4–5. In the China Open qualifying Drago defeated Lee Page (5–2), John Parrott (5–2), Anthony Hamilton (5–4) and Stephen Lee (5–2) to qualify for the televised stages of the China Open. After a solid 2009/2010 season, he got a place in the top 64 and finished 54th.

Pool career


Drago's first major pool win was the 2003 World Pool Masters, which came just a few weeks after a run to the semi-finals of that year's World Pool Championship

Drago was member of the winning European team at the 2007 and 2008 Mosconi Cup. At 2007 in Las Vegas, Drago won all of his single matches which earned him the Most Valuable Player Award.

In 2008, Drago won the Predator International 10-ball Championship, beating Francisco Bustamante 13–10.

Accomplishments


Drago once achieved a 149 break in a practice match at West Norwood Snooker Club, against Nick Manning. Drago played in two professional matches where maximums were scored against him, once by Jimmy White, and another by James Wattana.

In 1993 he recorded the fastest ever best-of-9-frames snooker victory by beating Sean Lanigan in just thirty-four minutes at the 2nd leg of the Strachan Challenge. He also holds the record for the fastest best-of-17 match, beating Joe O'Boye 9–0 in 81 minutes at the 1990 UK Championship. Conversely, he lost 4–13 against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round in 1996 in just 167 minutes and 33 seconds, an all-time Crucible record and less than 9 minutes per frame. In the 1996 UK Championship he made a century break in just three minutes and thirty-one seconds against John Higgins.

It is possible he would have won more tournaments were it not for his main aberration: playing shots with the rest. Most professional snooker players dislike the rest, but view its use as a necessary evil; some of Drago's misses when using the implement in important matches have bordered on the farcical, and have certainly cost him victories.

Playing style


His combination of exceptionally fast play and emotional temperament has made him a popular character in snooker, although he was famously criticised by Steve Davis for hurling his cue at the table and storming out of the arena following his 1–5 quarter final defeat to Mark Bennett in the 1996 Grand Prix, with Drago later accusing his opponent of bad sportsmanship, because the latter had twice in the match suggested that Drago missed the object ball deliberately while snookered. Similarly, he became visibly angry with Peter Ebdon during their second round match in the 2003 World Championship, in which Ebdon repeatedly left the arena between frames. Drago took this as an attempt to disrupt the flow of his game, but apologised publicly when he later found out that Ebdon had been ill during the match.

Drago is known for his consistently high-speed play, similar to pool players Lou Butera of the US and Luc Salvas of Canada, or snooker's Ronnie O'Sullivan. His style has earned him the nickname "the Tornado" and in more recent times has been known among the pool community as the "Maltese Whippet" (due to another player using the Tornado nickname in pool).

Currently Drago plays with a John Parris cue.

Source: Wikipedia Tony Drago page

0-9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z