Kurt Maflin - Career

Career

He began playing snooker at the age of four, achieving a high break of 25 by the time he was five. He increased his time spent at the table practising. As a rated top junior player, Maflin represented England in the 1999 Home International series in Prestatyn, North Wales, where England were victorious.

After appearing in the Finals of the English National Championships in the Under-13 and Under-15 categories, he went on to become the first person to retain the English Under-17 national title (once held by Paul Hunter) in 2000 after winning it for the first time in 1999.

When aged 14, Maflin was invited, on behalf of TV Times magazine, to team up with former World Champion Dennis Taylor to raise money for the leukaemia Research Fund at the 1998 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge event. After meeting the world's top players, Maflin and Taylor managed to win £4,300 for the charity, playing 'Pounds for Points'.

Maflin also appeared twice on BBC1's popular snooker game show series Junior Big Break: Stars of the Future in 1997, and winning the contestant the grand prize of a holiday in 1998. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2000, at the time the second-level professional tour. In 2001, Maflin reached the final of the English Open Championship and was runner-up in the European Championship Final staged in Riga, Latvia. In the same year he won his place on World Snooker's Main Tour becoming the second youngest professional snooker player in the world at the time. He dropped off the tour and moved to Norway with his partner Anita Rizzuti.

Maflin returned to serious competition for the 2006 Challenge Tour. He won this to return to the Main Tour for 2007/2008. He also won the gold medal at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman, Jordan, beating Daniel Ward 11–8 in the final. On his way to victory, Maflin won 15 consecutive matches.

Maflin had a great run in the Masters qualifying tournament, beating Jimmy White to reach the final before losing out on a wild card place in the event to Barry Hawkins. However, he finished only 82nd in the world rankings and again dropped off the tour.

In 2010, he won the EBSA European Play-Offs and once again qualified for the main tour. In June 2010, at the inaugural Player's Tour Championship event in Sheffield, Maflin compiled his first professional 147 break in his first round match against Michał Zieliński. He qualified for the final stages of a major ranking event for the first time at the 2011 China Open, losing 4–5 to Ding Junhui (despite leading 4-1) in the last 32.

In the 2011/2012 season Maflin reached the fifth qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters. He played in all 12 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events throughout the season, with his best finish coming in Event 12 where he beat James Wattana, former world champion Shaun Murphy and Jack Lisowski to reach the last 16 before losing to Andrew Higginson. He was placed 60th on the PTC Order of Merit. Maflin finished the season ranked world number 72, out of the top 64 who retain their places for the 2012/2013 season. However, due to his performances in the PTC events he has earned a spot on the tour for a further year.