Introduction
Ian Preece (born 23 June 1982) is a Welsh former professional snooker player, from the city of Newport.
Preece first appeared on the main tour in 2003, after a successful career as a junior; he held the record as the youngest winner of the World Amateur Championship between 1999, when he beat David Lilley 11–8 in the final, and 2011, when Hossein Vafaei won the title at the age of 17 years and 81 days.
Career
Until 2009 his best runs were to the last 48 of tournaments, which he has achieved in the 2007 Welsh Open, 2007 China Open, 2007 UK Championship, and 2008 Shanghai Masters. He managed to reach the last 32 of an event for the first time at the 2009 Welsh Open with victories over Peter Lines, Andrew Higginson and Stuart Bingham but was beaten 0–5 by Stephen Maguire. However the remainder of the 2008–09 season was poor and saw him in danger of dropping off the main tour, however he was awarded a wildcard from World Snooker which enabled him to compete on the tour for the 2009–10 season. However, he was unable to keep his place and so has slipped off the main tour.
After six years out of the professional game, Preece reached the last 16 at Q-School Event One in 2016, losing 2–4 to Chen Zhe, and the same stage at Event Two, where he was defeated 4–1 by John Astley. However, these performances were sufficient for him to finish third on the Q-School Order of Merit, and he thus earned a two-year card to compete again on the main tour.
Preece won three matches in 2016 Shanghai Masters qualifying, but was denied a trip to China by David Gilbert losing out 5–2.
Performance and rankings timeline
| Tournaments | 1998/99 | 1999/00 | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2019/20 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | 64 | 55 | 66 | 79 | |||||||||||||||
| Ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
| Riga Masters | Tournament Not Held | A | LQ | 2R | |||||||||||||||
| International Championship | Tournament Not Held | A | 1R | A | |||||||||||||||
| China Championship | Tournament Not Held | NR | 1R | A | |||||||||||||||
| English Open | Tournament Not Held | 3R | 2R | A | |||||||||||||||
| World Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | |||||
| Northern Ireland Open | Tournament Not Held | 1R | 1R | ||||||||||||||||
| UK Championship | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | ||||||
| Scottish Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | Tournament Not Held | 2R | 1R | ||||||||||
| European Masters | A | Not Held | A | A | A | A | LQ | NR | Not Held | A | 1R | ||||||||
| German Masters | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | ||||||||||||||||
| Shoot-Out | Tournament Not Held | 1R | 2R | ||||||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Tournament Not Held | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
| Welsh Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | 1R | LQ | 2R | LQ | 1R | 2R | ||||||
| Gibraltar Open | Tournament Not Held | A | 1R | ||||||||||||||||
| Players Championship | Tournament Not Held | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
| Tour Championship | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||
| China Open | A | A | A | A | Not Held | A | WR | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||
| World Championship | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | ||||||
| Non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Masters | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | WD | A | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | ||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
| British Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||
| Irish Masters | Tournament Not Held | A | LQ | A | NR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Trophy | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | LQ | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||
| Bahrain Championship | Tournament Not Held | LQ | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||
| Shanghai Masters | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | NR | ||||||||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | Tournament Not Held | Pro-am Event | A | 2R | NR | ||||||||||||||
| Indian Open | Tournament Not Held | LQ | 1R | NH | |||||||||||||||
| Performance Table Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LQ | lost in the qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) |
QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
| SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
| DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
| NH / Not Held | means an event was not held. | |||
| NR / Non-Ranking Event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
| R / Ranking Event | means an event is/was a ranking event. | |||
| RV / Ranking & Variant Format Event | means an event is/was a ranking & variant format event. | |||
| MR / Minor-Ranking Event | means an event is/was a minor-ranking event. | |||
| PA / Pro-am Event | means an event is/was a pro-am event. | |||
| VF / Variant Format Event | means an event is/was a variant format event. | |||
Tournament wins
Pro-am
- Pontins Spring Open, 2000
Amateur
- EBSA European Under-19 Championship, 1998
- IBSF World Amateur Championship, 1999
- Welsh Amateur Championship, 1999