Mark Selby is now assured of retaining snooker’s world number one ranking following the conclusion of this week’s Betway UK Championship.
Prior to the tournament only reigning world champion Stuart Bingham remained mathematically in contention to overhaul the Leicester cueman by the conclusion of the event.
Defeat for Bingham against former Barbican champion Peter Ebdon yesterday however ensured that he will not make it to the semi-finals in York for a third successive year and can therefore no longer catch Selby this week.
Following his own narrow victory against Jamie Jones yesterday evening, Mark now holds a lead of £111,512 to Bingham on the latest provisional ranking list, with the opportunity to extend that advantage by a further £138,000 by claiming a second UK crown in York on Sunday.
Regardless of what happens, with only the ET5 event in Gibraltar to be completed before the end of the year, Mark is now assured of remaining at the top of the ranking list at the start of 2016.
Having reclaimed the number one ranking following his victory at the Kreativ Dental German Masters back in February, he now looks almost certain to complete a full calendar year at the top for what would be the second time in his career (September 2011 – November 2012).
Selby has also finished as the world’s season-ending number one player for each of the past four seasons (2011/2012 – 2014/2015).
