Professional player ambitions will be realised next week following the conclusion of Events 7 and 8 on the inaugural Ultimate Pool Challenger Series.
The top eight players from the end-of-season 2021 Challenger Series rankings will all earn promotion to next season’s Ultimate Pool professional ranks. The 2022 professional campaign begins with the BT Sport live televised Professional Cup between Christmas and New Year, followed by the Professional Grand Slam which will be broadcast live on FreeSports TV in February.
With all entrants next weekend able to pick up a maximum of 6000 points, anyone can gatecrash their way into the top eight at the eleventh hour and become an Ultimate Pool Professional - they can even top the rankings, too.
So far, there have been six different winners and 12 different finalists from just six events - an example of just how competitive this circuit is. Without going into the permutations, several of the current top eight may already be mathematically safe, but seventh and eighth ranked Luke Gilbert and Matt Brierley are certainly not, and both will need very deep runs just to stay in the promotion places.
Both have also been handed very tricky opening round ties in Event 7 – Gilbert faces the 11th ranked Gaz Higgins whilst Brierley plays Jez Graham. Ninth ranked Tim Roberts plays Andy Martin first up.
In Event 8, Gilbert, Brierley and Roberts take on Lee Sellick, Patty McCarron and Gary Fenton, respectively.
Event 5 champion Dan Eaton-Lees leads the Challenger rankings. Aiming to finish the season as the number one ranked player on the Series which has seen over 165 different entrants take part, Eaton-Lees has first round assignments against Ryan Scott (Event 7) and Dominic Clemens (Event 8).
The weekend will have a cosmopolitan feel to it with players representing Ireland, France, Malta, Morocco and India participating.
Throughout the weekend, Ultimate Pool’s social media channels will keep you posted about the latest ranking stories.
