Michael Davids wins the 2024 South African National Snooker Championship

First won in 1937, South Africa's top domestic snooker prize is one of the sport's most established and longest-running events. Organised by Snooker and Billiards South Africa (SABSA), this year's edition was once again held at the superbly equipped Wanderers Club in Johannesburg with new cloths, lighting and balls installed prior to the action.

Contestants from across the country were initially split into eight round robin groups of seven, with the top four players from each qualifying for the last 32 straight knockouts.

Davids - a 36-year-old living in Cape Town - finished top of Group D with a 100% record after winning all six of his best-of-five frames matches and dropping only two frames in the process.

In the knockout phase, Davids defeated J. Nobin 4-1, M. Suleman 4-0 and Ashraf Haribhai 5-0 to reach the last four where he compiled breaks of 63 and 74 in a 6-4 victory against Mervin Donnelly to make the final for the first time.

Having come through the opposite side of the draw was two-time champion (2003,2010) Tauriq Samsodien who recovered from 5-1 down to deny 2018 winner Mutalieb Allie 6-5 in the other semi-final. Davids, though, managed to get the better of his experienced opponent, recording a 6-4 success in the showpiece to win the biggest title of his career, to date.

Earlier in the week at the same venue, two other major domestic titles were claimed. In the South African Classic, Kiashan Moodley came back from 4-2 down to oust Davids 5-4 in the final and secure the trophy.

In what was an incredible trip to Johannesburg for Davids, he teamed up with Samsodien to win the South African Pairs Championship. In the final, the duo defeated Allie and Munier Cassim 5-1.

Many thanks to Munier Cassim for his help on this article