Mitchell Dennis Mann (born 26 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player.
Mann first played snooker aged 9, after being forced to quit football after a diagnosis of LeggâÂÂCalvéâÂÂPerthes syndrome, a rare disease which rots the hip bone in young boys. The main highlight of his junior career was winning the Junior Pot Black in 2007, beating Jack Lisowski 76âÂÂ23 in the final.
In 2007âÂÂ08, Mann at aged 15 began to play in the secondary International Open Series tour with eight places on the professional snooker tour on offer to the top eight in the end of season Order of Merit. In 2008âÂÂ09, Mann was ranked 11th in the Order of Merit and 46th in 2009âÂÂ10.
For 2010âÂÂ11, the PIOS was dropped and replaced by the pro-am Players Tour Championship and an end-of season Q School became the new pro ticket events. In the PTC events, Mann managed several wins against professional players Liang Wenbo, Michael White, Dave Harold and Shaun Murphy notable casualties. He also qualified for main qualifying stages of the 2010 World Open professional ranking tournament through the Landywood Snooker Centre tournament, losing 0âÂÂ3 to Ben Woollaston in round 1.
Mann was also a regular competitor in the Q School events, where several two-year tour cards were on offer to semi-finalists in each event. Mann came close the third event of the 2012 Q School to winning a tour place, lost a deciding frame to Robbie Williams. This performance however, enabled Mann to be a top up player for 2012 Australian Goldfields Open professional ranking event, where he reached the third round last 64 stage. He also played in the 2013 event via the same method, but lost 5âÂÂ1 to Stuart Carrington in first round last 128 stage.
Mann won a two-year card on the professional World Snooker Tour for the 2014âÂÂ15 and 2015âÂÂ16 seasons in June 2014 after winning the 2014 EBSA European Snooker Championships, beating John Whitty 7âÂÂ2 in the final. He missed the first two ranking tournaments of 2014âÂÂ15 season as this win came after the qualifying rounds of those events. He picked up his first win on the tour by edging experienced player Peter Lines 6âÂÂ5 in qualifying for the International Championship. He came through a wildcard round match 6âÂÂ1 against Niu Zhuang and then made a 142 break during a 6âÂÂ5 win over Wang Zepeng. In Mann's deepest run in a ranking event to date he lost 6âÂÂ4 to Michael White in the last 32. He was knocked out in the first round of both the UK Championship and Welsh Open. Mann saw off Alfie Burden 10âÂÂ4 in World Championship qualifying and won three frames in a row, after Gerard Greene had come from 4âÂÂ0 down to trail 7âÂÂ6, to beat him 10âÂÂ6. He required one more win to reach the biggest tournament in snooker, but lost 10âÂÂ6 to Alan McManus. Mann was the world number 88 at the end of his first season on tour.
Mann defeated Zhou Yuelong 4âÂÂ2 at the Welsh Open and then narrowly lost 4âÂÂ3 to Shaun Murphy. At the final European Tour event, the Gdynia Open, Mann eliminated Sanderson Lam 4âÂÂ3, Rhys Clark 4âÂÂ3 (having been 3âÂÂ0 down) and Jack Lisowski 4âÂÂ2 to reach the last 16 where he lost 4âÂÂ1 to Marco Fu. This performance helped him finish 45th on the Order of Merit to earn a new two-year place on the snooker tour. He qualified for the China Open, but was whitewashed 5âÂÂ0 by Rory McLeod in the first round. By beating Kishan Hirani 10âÂÂ7 and Matthew Selt 10âÂÂ9, Mann was one win away from playing in the World Championship and he did so by edging out Dechawat Poomjaeng 10âÂÂ9. The world number 74 Mann was the lowest ranked player in the event and the only debutant and he went 2âÂÂ1 up early on against Mark Allen, before struggling with his technique to lose 10âÂÂ3.
After winning just two of his 11 matches before the 2016 UK Championship, Mann described his 6âÂÂ3 first round victory over Kyren Wilson as a massive relief. He then beat Sam Baird 6âÂÂ2, before falling 6âÂÂ3 to Zhang Anda in the third round. At the Scottish Open he eliminated Baird 4âÂÂ2 and Anthony McGill 4âÂÂ1, but then lost 4âÂÂ1 to Sean O'Sullivan. Mann reached the last 32 of an event for the third time this season when he overcame Michael Holt 4âÂÂ1 and O'Sullivan 4âÂÂ2 at the Welsh Open and he was defeated 4âÂÂ2 by Kurt Maflin. Having dropped off the tour at the end of the 2017/18 season he entered the 2018 Q School. However, he lost in the first round of the first event to former professional Michael Judge. He then lost in the subsequent q school events, thus ensuring that he will have to wait another year before attempting to regain professional status.
On 3 May 2019, it was announced by World Snooker that Mann would receive a two-year tour card to return to the professional tour for the two seasons 2019âÂÂ20 season and 2020/21. In June 2021 he secured a spot on the 21-22 and 22âÂÂ23 seasons via the 2021 Q School Order of Merit.