MULTIPLE women will compete in televised matches in the final stages of a world ranking event in Britain for the first time at this week’s Snooker Shoot Out in Watford.

Reanne Evans, the 11-time women’s world champion, will be joined by Essex teenager Emma Parker, with both awarded wild cards for the event which starts at the Watford Colosseum tomorrow.

Parker, 19, is currently the world’s leading under-21 female player and is 10th in the overall women’s rankings.

She said on worldsnooker.com: “I will be nervous on Friday but hopefully I can put that to one side and play well.

“It is a massive opportunity for myself and Reanne to play on television. Hopefully we can win matches. I would love snooker to be my career, I just have to take it step by step.”

Parker faces India’s Laxman Rawat in the first round of the tournament, in which all matches are decided over a single frame and last a maximum of 10 minutes, with a shot clock giving players a maximum of 15 seconds to take shots in the first five minutes and 10 seconds in the second five.

She said: “I have been practising with a shot clock, my mum has been counting down the seconds for me. It’s not easy, you have to see the shot quickly and then play it.”

Evans takes on Jimmy White in the opening round tomorrow evening.