YEAR IN REVIEW 1996: SPORTS-AND-GAMES: BILLIARD GAMES

BILLIARD GAMES: Snooker. Stephen Hendry of Scotland maintained his mastery at snooker by winning the world professional title at Sheffield, England, in April 1995. His victory over Nigel Bond of England in the final by 18 frames to 9 enabled him to achieve his fourth successive triumph in the event and the fifth in all. He went on to defeat Peter Ebdon of England 9-5 in the Scottish Masters final at Motherwell, Scotland, in September and John Higgins of Scotland by the same score in the Grand Prix final at Sunderland, England, in October. At Preston, England, in December, he beat Ebdon again by 10-3 in the U.K. final. He had earlier won the European Open title at Antwerp, Belgium, in December 1994 by defeating John Parrott of England 9-3 in the final. Higgins gained the British Open title in April at Plymouth, England, with a 9-6 win in the final over Ronnie O'Sullivan of England to reverse the result of the English Masters final at Wembley in February, when O'Sullivan won 9-3. (SYDNEY E. FRISKIN) BOWLING The 13th world tenpin bowling championships took place July 9-15, 1995, in Reno, Nev. A record number of participants, 358 men and 253 women from 61 countries, bowled in a new five-story stadium with 80 lanes. In men's singles Canada's Marc Doi (1,364) and Bill Rowe (1,356) won the gold and silver medals. In women's singles Debby Ship, also from Canada, won the world title (1,318). Second was Elizabeth Johnson of the U.S. (1,295). The world champion in men's doubles was Sweden (2,702), and Thailand (2,489) won the women's doubles. In the trio event the young Dutch male team silenced the rest of the field with their double victory (3,954 and 3,889). Australia won the women's competition (3,626). In the five-player team event the Dutch men captured their second world title (6,282), and the Finnish women won the gold (5,974). The total score of these four events decided the all-events champions. The men's winner was the tournament's youngest participant, 17-year-old Michael Sassen from The Netherlands, with a new world record of 5,496. Jaana Puhakka from Finland made bowling history as the first woman to win the world youth champion's title twice in a row and then in her first adult world championships the all-events (4,916). The top 16 men and women continued bowling a one-game round-robin, after which the three on top bowled a step-ladder final for the Masters crown. Yang Chen-ming of Taiwan was the men's champion, and Celia Flores of Mexico won the women's crown. (YRJ SARAHETE)