The 1972 World Amateur Snooker Championship was the fifth edition of the tournament that later became known as the IBSF World Snooker Championship. The 1972 tournament was played in venues in Wales from 4 to 20 January 1973. Ray Edmonds defeated Mannie Francisco 11âÂÂ10 in the final to win the title.
The first World Amateur Snooker Championship was held in 1963. Jonathan Barron, who won the title in 1970, was the defending champion for 1972.
The tournament was held at venues in Wrexham, Cardiff, and Aberdare from 4 to 20 January 1973. There were four round-robin groups, with the top two players from each group progressing to a second round-robin stage. The top two players from the second-stage groups progressed to the knockout stage.
Ray Edmonds defeated Mannie Francisco 11âÂÂ10 in the final to win the title. The final was held on 19 and 20 January, at Sophia Gardens Pavilion, Cardiff. Edmonds was 1âÂÂ6 behind at the end of the first day's play, but won five of the seven frames in the afternoon on 20 January to reduce his deficit to two frames at 6âÂÂ8. Franscico won the first frame of the third session to lead 9âÂÂ6, before Edmonds levelled the match at 9âÂÂ9. Edmonds took the lead at 10âÂÂ9, but Francisco forced a by winning the twentieth frame. Edmonds won the last frame to claim victory.
Edmonds made the highest of the tournament, 101, during the first group stage; and the highest break of the final, 40.
The final tables are shown below. Players in bold qualified for the next round.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Semi-final Group A
Semi-final Group B
Players in bold denote match winners.
Scores in bold indicate winning scores.