Perrie Mans

Pierre "Perrie" Mans (born 14 October 1940) is a retired professional snooker player from South Africa, who first won the South African Amateur Snooker Championship in 1965, and won the event 19 times. He won the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1979 and reached the final of the World Championship in 1978.

Career

Mans won the South African Amateur Snooker Championship in 1960, the only occasion in which he competed in the event. He then turned professional and took the South African Professional Title from Freddie Van Rensberg in 1965.

Mans first entered the World Snooker Championship in 1970. His first victory in the Championship came in the 1973 event when he defeated Ron Gross 9–2 before losing 16–8 to Eddie Charlton. However, in 1974 he pulled off a major surprise by defeating John Spencer 15–13 in the second round, before being soundly defeated by Rex Williams in the quarter-final 15–4. In the 1976 event he defeated Graham Miles 15–10 and Jim Meadowcroft 15–8 to reach the semi-final where he lost 20–10 to defending champion Ray Reardon.