Brandon Sargeant kicked off the new Challenge tour with a win in Burton over the weekend. The 20-year-old cueist came through six rounds to pick up the £2,000 first prize and trophy and start the campaign with a chance of making it onto the professional tour. Two players on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit will be lucky enough to book their place onto the World Snooker circuit where there is lucrative prize money on offer and the chance to play some big names in the game.
Sargeant had just competed in World Snooker's QSchool 2018 in Burton last week and was one of 64 players to have gained a place on the new Challenge Tour which will see those who qualified from QSchool play across the UK and Europe in a chance to make it to pro level.
The Stoke potter has competed in the English Association of Snooker and Billiard (EASB) events successfully and has also had some experience of World Snooker events including some World ranking events. Nine events are left on the Challenge Tour and the next one begins in early July with Sargeant taking an early lead on the Order of Merit.
He defeated Luke Simmonds in the final 3 - 1. On the way to the final, Sargeant knocked out the talented Welsh teenager, Jackson Page, in the quarter-finals at the Meadowside Leisure Centre in Burton where QSchool had finished.
Good start from Evans in CT One
11 times World Ladies Champion Reanne Evans (The Pride of Dudley), managed to get to round three but lost out to relegated pro from last season, Mitchell Mann 3 - 1. All matches were best of fives.
Last week saw 12 qualifiers earn their two-year tour cards - two of which were now to be classed pro tour rookies. They were:
- Welshman Kishan Hirani
- England's Ashley Carty
New hats
A mixture of 30 new and old players will be beginning the new 2018/19 season as professionals.
They include:
- England's Harvey Chandler, winner of the European Amateur Championships,
- Poland's first ever professional Adam Stefanow who was runner-up in the World Snooker Federation CHampionship in Malta a few months ago.
- Germany's second professional Simon Lichtenberg,
- And Egypt's second professional Mohamed Ibrahim, winner of the ABSF African Championship
The World Snooker season kicks off the first ranking event with the final stages at the end of July in Riga with the qualifiers taking place before that in Preston. Ryan Day claimed the title last season winning his first ranking title before going onto win a second in Gibraltar months later.
The second CT event will land in Preston on the 10th/11th July.