Snooker stars set for UK Open Pool Championship appearances

Stuart Bingham and Gary Wilson faced each other in the opening round at the Crucible a fortnight ago, but over the next few days they’ll both be competing in very different surroundings at the 2024 UK Open Pool Championship.

One of the World Nineball Tour’s major events, this year’s UK Open Pool Championship takes place at the Telford International Centre between May 7-12; the same venue that hosted snooker’s Players Championship back in February.

Nearly 256 players from a multitude of countries across the world will feature in the $200,000 ranking event that has an initial double elimination format meaning players begin with two lives as they attempt to qualify for the last 64 straight knockout phase.

World Nineball Tour professional Wilson is currently ranked 84th in the standings and will be looking for a good run here to finish inside the top 100 and qualify for next month’s big money World Pool Championship in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Wilson impressed last year on the nineball circuit, reaching the last 16 of the UK Open at the Copper Box in London before bowing out to world champion and world number Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 10-5. The current Scottish and Welsh Open snooker champion also made the last 32 of the European Pool Championship held in Germany.

First up in Telford this week for Wilson is Oman’s Mubarak Al-Wahaibi.

Bingham - off the back of a memorable semi-final finish at the Crucible only a few days ago - made his WNT debut last year at the European Open where he picked up notable wins before just missing out on the last 64.

In the opening round Bingham will meet Scotland’s Fraser Patrick, a name very familiar to him having been a recent professional on the World Snooker Tour. In fact, they played each other four times on snooker’s top tier, with Patrick 3-1 up in the head-to-head count.

A plethora of top nineball pool stars are set to be action this week. Albania’s Eklent Kaci is the defending champion.