Exclusive: Barry Hearn rules out guaranteed spots for women at World Snooker Championship

Barry Hearn has ruled out handing ­female snooker players a guaranteed spot at the World Championship – ­despite the response to Fallon Sherrock’s historic darts triumph this week.

Sherrock became the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship on Tuesday when she stunned Ted Evetts, amid jubilant scenes at ­Alexandra Palace.

Her victory, which came just a year after the tournament guaranteed two spots to female players, made headlines worldwide and was one of the most talked-about topics on social ­media.

Hearn is chairman of both the PDC and World Snooker, the latter of which also allows women to compete against men. But he dismissed the prospect of a guaranteed female spot at its World Championship, which has a third fewer entrants than its darts counterpart, but lasts almost the same number of days.

“There’s absolutely zero chance of fast-tracking a woman into the Crucible,” he told Telegraph Sport.

Female darts players were handed two guaranteed spots at Alexandra ­Palace at the same time as the field was expanded from 72 to 96 entrants.

Increasing the number of entrants at the Crucible from 32 to accommodate a similar spot would be a totally different proposition, given the average length of a match.

“No doubt there’d be commercial benefits of seeing it, but the fact is there is literally no space,” said Hearn, who added it would not be fair to take away a spot currently reserved for the world’s top 16 and the 16 who come through qualifying.

But the chairman of Matchroom Sport said one way for snooker to replicate the Sherrock effect would be for the qualifying tournament – where women are offered two guaranteed spots in a 128-strong field – to be ­televised.

Two years ago, 12-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans beat Robin Hull in the first qualifying round for the Crucible, but her feat was far less visible than that of Sherrock.

Putting pressure on the World Championship rights holder, the BBC, to cover such matches, Hearn said: “Every round should be televised on the BBC, whether it’s red button or whether it’s streamed or whatever. And then you’d have exactly the same effect that you’ve got in the World Championship of darts.”

Evans last month almost became the first woman to beat a male top-16 snooker player when she lost 4-3 to former world champion Shaun Murphy at the Champion of Champions tournament.

The 34-year-old told the Telegraph Sherrock’s win was great for sport and that she would back a guaranteed female spot at snooker’s World Championship if the field was expanded.

But she admitted that may not be possible at the Crucible, where there is room for only two tables, and that it otherwise would not be fair on the other 32 entrants to deny them a place they had earned on merit.