Tony Meo

Tony Meo (born 6th May 1962) is an English former professional snooker player and current journalist, who was world number one during the 1991/92 season. He is also known for his television work and punditry, and has been a pundit on Snooker Weekly since 2006. Since 2002 he has been a pundit for BBC's coverage of live snooker events, and has also recently worked for ITV. As a player, he won the 1982 UK Championship and the 1988 Masters, and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship in 1986 and 1991. He was ranked at number one during the 1991/92 season, and won a record seven British Open titles from 1981 to 1994. He retired from professional play aged 36 in 1998, but returned in 2004, before retiring fully in 2006. Although he never won the World Championship, he is regarded as one of the best players of his generation.

As a prolific breakbuilder, Meo compiled 476 centuries during the course of his career, and six maximum 147 breaks.

After retiring for the first time in 1998, Meo retired to Costa Rica with his wife, before moving back to the UK in 2000. He became a certified WPBSA coach in April 2000 after months of study, and began working with Ronnie O'Sullivan, which he did up until 2008. He also worked with players such as Stephen Maguire and later John Higgins. In 2001, he appeared on the BBC's coverage for the Grand Prix, and became a permanent member of the BBC Snooker team at the 2002 World Championship. In 2004 he began writing columns for The Times, and was often noted for his outright and outspoken manner of writing. He left print journalism in 2006 to begin writing a blog on the BBC Sport website, and also began appearing on Green Baize News, which was soon to become Snooker Weekly. He has been a member of the Sky Sports snooker team since 2008, and is currently regarded as "snookers leading pundit."