Reigning Women's World Snooker Champion Reanne Evans has stressed the importance of accelerating the women's game.The Brit has said "we need to put our foot on the pedal" and continue the progress made so far.Evans is one of the trailblazers of women's snooker, having claimed a record 12 world titles during her career.Both Evans and Ng On-yee of Hong Kong are currently competing on the professional men's tour."We are in a good place at the moment and hopefully we can keep going forward with it," the world champion told BBC Five Live."At this moment in time we need to put our foot on the pedal and keep pushing and pushing to keep it that way, especially in snooker because it is not as big as tennis, darts or football."Much like the sports listed by Evans, women's snooker is indeed on the rise. The world number one is arguably the face of the sport right now, similarly to Fallon Sherrock, who is making history and putting women's darts on the map.Evans paid homage to Sherrock in her interview, as well as four-time British Darts Organisation women's world champion Lisa Ashton. "I have always followed women's sport, be it football, darts or tennis," the snooker star said. "I was a big fan of Lisa Ashton before Fallon came on the scene and they are all doing amazing. If I can play a part in that it would be fantastic."
Evans also said she hopes to see "a lot more of us in the future" as women's sport continues on its upwards trajectory.
"If we can get more women competing at a higher level, especially more competing on the women's tour as well, it is fabulous.
"I never thought of being a role model myself but people come up to you and say they have been playing because of you or didn't know that women played — hopefully in a year or two that won't be the case."
Evans is set to face Barry Hawkins in the first round of the UK Championship, while Ng prepares to take on Masters champion Yan Bingtao.
The Brit admitted having Ng on the main card with her helps ease the burden as she shares the limelight with a fellow women's player.
"We will always encourage each other, keep competing and raising each other's bars. We do that on the women's tour so want to bring it to the main tour."