UK Cypriot Michael Georgiou, a Londoner whose parents are from Gerani in Cyprus.

No Cypriot had ever qualified for the World Championship until his win over China’s Yan Bingtao set up a first-round tussle with Australia’s Neil Robertson this  afternoon Saturday 20th April 2019.

“There’s a first for everything, so I’m hoping I can do Cyprus  proud and hopefully gain interest in the sport over there and grow the game,” said 31-year-old Georgiou.

It’s great to be the first from my nation to reach snooker’s hallowed home the Crucible in Sheffield,

Michael Georgiou reached the third round of the UK Championship in 2016, but is possibly best known for winning the Snooker Shoot Out two years later in 2018.

The Snooker shoot out isa one-frame shoot-out with a random draw, where the winner is given £32,000. The top 64 players in the world rankings contested the tournament, which was shown on Sky Sports and ITV4. The 2011 event was the first time that Sky Sports had shown a World Snooker event live since 2004.

 From 2011 to 2015 the event took place at the Circus Arena in Blackpool.

The event was sponsored by PartyPoker.com in 2012,by Betfair in 2013,by 888casino in 2014, and by Betway in 2015. The tournament was held at the Hexagon in Reading for 2016.[16] From 2016 until 2018 the tournament was broadcast by ITV and was sponsored by Coral. In 2017 the shoot-out is a ranking event for the first time, open to all 128 professional players. At the end of the season the players voted to keep it as a ranking event. From 2017 the tournament was staged at the Colosseum in Watford. From 2019 the event was broadcast on Eurosport and Quest in a long term deal up until 2026.