Editing Snooker (section)

===Amateur===
Non-professional snooker (including youth competition) is governed by the [[International Billiards and Snooker Federation]] (IBSF).<ref name="ibsf" /> The highest level competition in the amateur sport is the IBSF World Snooker Championship.<ref name="trib_Muha" /> Events held specifically for seniors are handled by the WPBSA under the [[World Seniors Tour]],<ref name="LANCS" /><ref name="J3Vse" /><ref name="worl_WPBS" /> the highest level of the senior sport being the [[World Seniors Championship]].<ref name="worl_WPBS" /> World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS) is a WPBSA subsidiary that organises events and playing aids in snooker and other cue sports for people with disabilities.<ref name="BBC get inspired" /> The most prestigious amateur event in England is the [[English Amateur Championship]]; first held in 1916, this is the oldest snooker competition still being played in the world.<ref name="wst._Hanc" />

Snooker is a mixed gender sport that affords men and women the same opportunities to progress at all levels of the game. While the main professional tour is open to male and female players alike, there is also a separate women's tour organised by [[World Women's Snooker]] (formerly the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association) which encourages female players to participate in the sport and take part in high level amateur competitions.<ref name="BBC get inspired" /><ref name="wws_about" /> The leading tournament on the women's tour is the [[World Women's Snooker Championship]], the winner of which receives a {{nowrap|two-year}} tour card to the main professional tour.<ref name="wst_wwsc" />

[[Reanne Evans]] won the women's world title a record twelve times, including ten consecutive victories from [[2005 World Women's Snooker Championship|2005]] to [[2014 Women's World Snooker Championship|2014]].<ref name="bbc_evans12th" /><ref name="WWSC" /> She has also participated on the World Snooker Tour and has taken part in the qualifying rounds of the main World Snooker Championship on five occasions, reaching the second round in 2017.<ref name="bbc._Wome" /> Evans holds the record for the highest break made in WWS competition, having achieved a 140 break twice (in 2008 and 2010).<ref name="wome_Worl" /> Other successful female players are [[Kelly Fisher]] (with five women's world titles), [[Ng On-yee]] (with three), and most recently [[Nutcharut Wongharuthai]], [[Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan]] and [[Bai Yulu]], who won the World Women's Snooker Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively.<ref name="WWSC"/>

Some leagues have allowed clubs to exclude female players from tournaments.<ref name="BBC_Leeds_2019_03_26" /><ref name="bIhfn" /> A committee member of the Keighley league defended allowing such teams in the league as necessity: "If we lose two of these clubs [with the {{nowrap|men-only}} policies] we would lose four teams and we can't afford to lose four teams otherwise we would have no league."<ref name="BBC_Leeds_2019_03_26" /> A World Women's Snooker spokesperson commented, "It is disappointing and unacceptable that in 2019 that {{Sic|}} players such as [[Rebecca Kenna]] have been the victim of antiquated discriminatory practices."<ref name="BBC_Leeds_2019_03_27" /> The [[All-Party Parliamentary Group|{{nowrap|all-party}} parliamentary group]] for snooker said, "The group believes that being prevented from playing in a club because of gender is archaic."<ref name="BBC_Leeds_2019_03_27" />