This weekend World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS) heads to Kingston-upon-Hull for its final event of 2016, the WDBS Hull Open at the Tradewell Snooker Centre on 11-13 November.
The WDBS has seen sustained growth following its first event held just under a year ago in Gloucester and its visit to the UK City of Culture for 2017 marks the first world disability snooker event to be staged in East Yorkshire.
The weekend will be supported by Hull-based national legal services provider Hudgell Solicitors and telecommunications company Think Telecom, as well as the Hull Deaf Centre. With their support, the event will carry a record prize fund of £600, to be distributed across two competitions including players who fall under Groups 7-8 of the WDBS classification system.
The event will be the second open to players with sensory disabilities, specifically visual and hearing disabilities, and will see entries more than double since May’s Woking Open.
Among those to have entered are players from the Hull Deaf Centre, including Lee Douglas, Kevin Suddaby and Lewis Richardson who all competed in Woking. Both former professional Paul Smith and David Baker also return to the field, having contested the Group 7 final back in May.
As at previous WDBS events, the competition will be preceded by an open day on 11 November, at which people with any disabilities are encouraged to come and try snooker. This will run from 10:30am until 7:00pm and be supported by WPBSA World Snooker coaches including former professional Ian Glover.
Full coverage and updates throughout the weekend will be available at wdbs.info, in addition to our social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. The latest results and group standings will be updated regularly via the MySnookerStats service.