WDBS Announces 2017 Events Calendar
World Disability Billiards and Snooker has today announced its calendar for 2017, which will see at least a record five snooker events held for people with disabilities during the year.
As in 2016, there will be multiple events staged for players with physical and sensory disabilities, including return visits to Hull and Manchester, as well as tournaments at new venues in Derby and Wolverhampton.
For the first time, there will also be an event open to players from all eight WDBS classification groups, to be held at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester and played under the increasingly popular six-red format.
Groups 1-5
The first WDBS event of 2017 will be the previously announced Manchester Classic, which following a successful inaugural weekend last spring will return to Q’s Sports and Entertainment Bar on 10-12 March 2017.
This will be followed by the Open Disability Snooker Championship, which for the first time will be held at the Golden Cue Snooker Club in Bilston, Wolverhampton on 22-24 September 2017.
A new venue for the WDBS, the Golden Cue is open 24 hours a day and houses 16 snooker tables in total, including two competition tables.
Groups 7-8
The first event to be held in 2017 for players with sensory disabilities will be the Derby Open on 12-14 May 2017.
The event will be held at the Cueball, a venue that boasts 14 snooker tables and has previously hosted World Ladies Snooker events, as well as English Amateur competitions.
Later in the year, the WDBS will return to the Tradewell Snooker Club for the Hull Open, following a successful inaugural event last November which was recently featured during the BBC’s coverage of the UK Championship.
Again open to groups 7-8 players, the event will be held from 10-12 November 2017 and mark the final WDBS tournament of the year.
Six-Red Championship
For a third year the WDBS returns to the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester, but this year with a difference as the venue will host a Six-Red Championship, open to people with any disability.
Further information including entry packs for all events will be announced in due course.
WDBS Chairman Nigel Mawer said: “The WDBS is going from strength to strength and we are expanding our events year-on-year. I want to thank the WPBSA for supporting us and enabling us to put on our events.
“We have built up a large player base from the UK and we have players from as far afield as India who play in our events. We are in negotiations to run events in Belgium and Ireland, as we need to grow our events into Europe and beyond to achieve our goal of returning to the Paralympics.
“We have attracted some sponsorship for our events in the UK and in order to maintain our growth we would welcome sponsorship support from small and large companies who can become partners in helping the WDBS provide these rewarding opportunities for people with disabilities.”
To learn more about World Disability Billiards and Snooker visit: https://www.wdbs.info/
If you would like to join the WDBS Team as an event sponsor please contact us via our contact form for more information.