The 2016 Festival of Pool has come to an end and a fantastic weekend was had by all involved. The setting of the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Birmingham was suitably grand for such an event and the introduction of live streaming proved extremely popular and was very well received.
Thanks to the tours partnership with CLC Media, we are able to provide an unrivalled standard of stream with multiple camera angles and commentary from some of the best players in the game such as World Champion Mick Hill and England International Karl Sutton.
Each of the matches streamed can be found and watched back by searching for the UK Pool Tour on YouTube or by following this link:
UK Pool Tour Streaming Archive
On to the event itself and it was another good weekend for Mick Hill and Phil Harrison who looked on course to meet each other in the tour final but Welshman Steve Martin had other ideas and despatched Mick in the semi final before losing out to an unstoppable Harrison who had comfortably made it through to the final with an 8-3 victory over twice World Champion Tom Cousins.
The Challenge final was contested between Norwich’s Shaun Chipperfield and Rochdale’s Matt Brierley. After a tense deciding frame it was to be Chipperfield who would run out a 6-5 victor.
The Supreme Team Classic took place on the Sunday with the draw being done live over the mic on the Saturday night with all involved eagerly listening out for their names in the hope of striking lucky with a ‘super’ team of top players. But, as this weekends competition highlighted, having a big name in the team does not guarantee a great performance and it was to be two teams with no premier league players that would battle it out in the final. In the end Dave Rawlinson’s team ran out 5-2 victors over Reece Townsend’s team and picked up the money, winners trophy and bragging rights for the year.
On to the World Qualifiers and it was almost a repeat of the Challenge semi final line-up with Brierley, Chipperfield and Halcrow all being drawn in the same section. Brierley managed to avenge the previous nights loss to qualify before losing 7-1 to Halcrow who was in tremendous form and took the added bonus of some free accommodation. Gerry Canning and Mark Astbury managed to put early defeats in both competitions behind them and put in a strong performance in the qualifiers taking both the place and the accommodation.
In the Premier League Adam Davis, Mick Hill and Tom Cousins all continued their strong start to the season and currently top the leader board.
In the Ladies Premier League Amy Beauchamp, Sharon James and Lyndsey Roberts all went unbeaten. It looks like it’s going to be a close, hard fought battle at the top and any one of at least 5 of the ladies are clearly in with a shout so far.
With record numbers on the tour this weekend the atmosphere was electric and with the introduction of the streaming providing a new outlet for the tour and more changes on the horizon it’s certainly an exciting time for all those involved. Should you wish to get in on the act then click the link below and put your name down for the UK’s finest eight ball pool tour: