Craig Steadman (born 14 July 1982) is an English former professional snooker player.
Steadman began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2001, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached the quarter final at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman, Jordan, where he was eliminated by Manan Chandra 6âÂÂ3. He reached the final of the 2008 European Snooker Championships but was defeated 7âÂÂ6 by David Grace. He first entered Main Tour for the 2009âÂÂ10 season, after finishing the 2008/09 PIOS rankings on the rank 8. On 23 May 2009 he won the English Team Championship with Manchester.
He made it to the main draw of a ranking event for the first time in 2012, by beating Mike Dunn 5âÂÂ3 in the wildcard round for the German Masters. He played Matthew Stevens in the first round, but was comfortably beaten 5âÂÂ1. Despite not being on the main snooker tour Steadman played in all 12 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events throughout the season, reaching the last 32 on four occasions. These performances were enough to see him earn a place back on the tour for the 2012âÂÂ13 season. Steadman decided to accept the invitation back on to the main tour only at the last minute, as he felt snooker was distracting him from his main career as a professional artist.
Steadman took advantage of a new flatter structure used in the qualifiers for the 2013 Welsh Open, whereby he would only need to win two matches to reach the venue by defeating Yu Delu and Jamie Burnett with the loss of only one frame. However, in Newport he was whitewashed 0âÂÂ4 by Stuart Bingham. Steadman played in all ten PTC's this season, with his best results being three last 32 defeats to finish 65th on the Order of Merit. His season ended when he lost 6âÂÂ10 to Kurt Maflin in the second round of World Championship Qualifying to finish the year ranked world number 83.
In his opening match, Steadman defeated Marcus Campbell 5âÂÂ3 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he faced Lü Haotian in the first round and lost 5âÂÂ3. He also qualified for the International Championship and World Open, but lost in the opening round of each. At the China Open, Steadman beat Michael Holt and Martin O'Donnell to advance to the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, where he was defeated 5âÂÂ2 by Mike Dunn. In qualifying for the World Championship, Steadman saw off Jak Jones 10âÂÂ7 to play Steve Davis in the second round. He led 9âÂÂ5 before Davis won three frames in a row but Steadman then took a 46-minute 18th frame on the colours to win 10âÂÂ8, in a result that relegated six-time world champion Davis from the main tour. Steadman himself lost his place on the tour in the next round when he was defeated 10âÂÂ6 by Dechawat Poomjaeng as he was ranked world number 78, outside of the top 64. He entered the 2014 Q School and dropped just two frames in his five matches of the first event to earn a new two-year tour card for the 2014âÂÂ15 and 2015âÂÂ16 seasons.
Steadman began the 2014âÂÂ15 season by qualifying for the Wuxi Classic for the second year in a row and was beaten 5âÂÂ2 by Marco Fu in the first round. He also qualified for the International Championship by defeating Cao Yupeng 6âÂÂ4 and he saw off Graeme Dott 6âÂÂ1 in the first round, before losing 6âÂÂ3 to Ian Burns. Despite Anthony Hamilton being docked a frame for arriving late to their first round UK Championship meeting, Steadman was edged out 6âÂÂ5 in a scrappy six-and-a-half-hour match. Steadman described his performance as pathetic afterwards, but responded in his very next event the Lisbon Open. He began the tournament with a 4âÂÂ1 win over Shaun Murphy, a player who had won the last two European Tour events, and then earned a pair of deciding frame victories against Kyren Wilson (came back from 3âÂÂ0 down to win 4âÂÂ3) and Joe Swail (came back from 3âÂÂ1 down to win 4âÂÂ3). Steadman then whitewashed Stuart Bingham 4âÂÂ0 to reach his first quarter-final in a professional event, where he lost 4âÂÂ3 to Mark Davis.
In April, Steadman qualified for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time, courtesy of wins over Rhys Clark, Michael White and Jamie Burnett. He described playing five-time winner of the event Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round an honour and was defeated 10âÂÂ3.
A 6âÂÂ2 triumph over Li Hang saw Steadman qualify for the International Championship for the third successive year, but he lost 6âÂÂ2 to Ding Junhui in the opening round. He also lost in the first round of both the UK Championship (6âÂÂ3 to Zhou Yuelong) and Welsh Open (4âÂÂ1 to Dechawat Poomjaeng). Steadman was knocked out in the fifth round of first event of the 2016 Q School and the final round of the second event. This meant that he earned a new two-year tour card by ending in first place on the Q School Order of Merit.
Steadman lost in the second round of three events in the first half of the 2016âÂÂ17 season and also let 3âÂÂ0 and 5âÂÂ3 leads slip against Anthony McGill in the first round of the UK Championship to be defeated 6âÂÂ5. His best form of the year came at the Welsh Open, where he reached the last 16 of an event for the second time in his career after eliminating Jak Jones 4âÂÂ2, Sam Baird 4âÂÂ1 and Anthony Hamilton 4âÂÂ2. However, he was then whitewashed 4âÂÂ0 by Barry Hawkins.
Steadman reached the third round of three ranking events throughout the 2017âÂÂ18 season. However, he wasn't able to accumulate enough ranking points by the end of the season and was thus relegated from the tour. He entered 2018 Q School in a bid to re-enter the professional snooker tour. He did so defeating Adam Duffy 4âÂÂ0 in the final round of the second event.
Steadman this season competed as an amateur and in the Shoot Out he made it to the semi-finals. His previous best in a ranking event was the last 16. He did not participate in qualifying for the World Championships.
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