Challenge Tour 2018/19

The Challenge Tour 2018/19 was an amateur series of snooker tournaments parallel to the 2018/19 snooker season . It should close the often criticized loophole that had arisen due to the cancellation of the Players Tour Championship .

mode

The results of the Q School 2018 were used as the basis for a field of 64 players. The best players of the three Q-School tournaments, if they had not qualified for the professional season, were qualified for the Challenge Tour 2018/19. In addition, wild cards were given out for some tournaments , a total of eight. This concerned the national champions of Latvia ( Rodion Judin ) and Belgium ( Kevin Van Hove ), the Poland Kacper Filipiak , the Icelandic Kristján Helgason and the women’s world champions Ng On Yee and Reanne Evans . However, Helgason and Filipiak did not take part in any tournament. The Pole Adam Stefanów originally received a wildcard, but was invited to the Snooker Main Tour and therefore did not take part in the Challenge Tour.

For the 2018/19 season, 10 tournaments were scheduled in European snooker clubs and venues for snooker tournaments of the professional season. Based on the model of the world rankings , a premium ranking list was drawn up at the end of the season and the two leaders of the ranking were given the right to start the Main Tour seasons 2019/20 and 2020/21 .

All games were played in the best of 5 frames mode.

Prize money

There is a fixed prize money for each tournament.

	Prize money
winner	£ 2,000
finalist	£ 1,000
Semi-finalist	£ 700
Quarter finalist	£ 500
Round of 16	£ 200
Last 32	125 pounds
All in all	£ 10,000

Results

Each player had to pay an entry fee of 50 ₤ for each tournament.

No.	date	venue	winner	finalist	Result
01	June 2nd to 3rd, 2018	Burton-upon-Trent	Brandon Sargeant	Luke Simmonds	3: 1
02	July 10-11, 2018	Preston	David Grace	Mitchell Mann	3-0
03	28th July 2018	Riga	Barry Pinches	Jackson Page	3: 2
04th	August 27-28, 2018	Fuerth	Mitchell Mann	Dylan Emery	3-0
05	September 18-19, 2018	Derby	David Lilley	Brandon Sargeant	3: 1
06th	4th to 5th October 2018	Lommel	David Grace	Ben Hancorn	3-0
07th	October 13-14, 2018	Barnsley	Joel Walker	Jenson Kendrick	3-0
08th	November 24th to 25th, 2018	Budapest	Simon Bedford	David Lilley	3: 1
09	January 26-27, 2019	Sheffield	Adam Duffy	Matthew Glasby	3: 1
10	March 6-7, 2019	Gloucester	George Pragnell	Callum Lloyd	3: 2

Qualifiers

Brandon Sargeant from England was already the first qualifier after the ninth event. With David Grace , Mitchell Mann and David Lilley , three players had the opportunity to get one of the first two places before the last tournament. Since Mann was eliminated in the second and Lilley in the third round, Grace finished second in the ranking and qualified for the next two Main Tour seasons. Sargeant is new to the professional tour, Grace was a professional in the previous 2017/18 season .

Mitchell Mann had missed the qualification, but the world federation still had a place free in the coming season and selected him for a World Snooker Tour Card . David Lilley finally made it to the Main Tour qualification in the Q School 2019 .

Ranking list

David Grace

space	player	Prize money in pounds
1	Brandon Sargeant	6,625
2	David Grace A	6,475
3	Mitchell Mann A	5,850
4th	David Lilley	4,400
5	Barry Pinches	4,075
6th	Steven Hallworth	3,225
7th	Joel Walker	3,075
8th	George Pragnell	3,025
8th	Jackson Page	3,025
10	Kevin Van Hove	2,725
11	Simon Bedford	2,450
12	Adam Duffy A	2,375
13	Daniel Womersley	2.175
14th	Ben Hancorn	2,075
15th	Luke Simmonds	1,825
16	Jamie O'Neill	1,775
16	Oliver Brown	1,775
...
32	Andreas Ploner	1,025
...
46	Felix Frede	500
...
71	Umut Dikme	125

^A.Player was on the professional tour in the 2017/18 season .

	Qualified for the Main Tour seasons 2019/20 and 2020/21 .
	Mitchell Mann received a wildcard from World Snooker for the next two professional years.

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Challenge Tour Nominations Announced. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , May 30, 2018, accessed July 19, 2018 .  
2. ^ Poland's Stefanów to Join Main Tour. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , May 17, 2018, accessed May 17, 2018 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} World Snooker Challenge Goal 2018/19. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , February 7, 2018, accessed July 19, 2018 .  
4. ^ Challenge Tour Prize Money. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , May 31, 2018, accessed July 19, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Calendar 2018/2019. (PDF; 111 kB) In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , accessed January 27, 2019 . 
6. ^ Sargeant Rises To the Challenge. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , June 2, 2018, accessed July 19, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Grace Beats Man In Challenge Final. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , July 10, 2018, accessed July 19, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Pinches Wins Challenge Tour Event Three. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , July 28, 2018, accessed July 29, 2018 . 
9. ^ Mann Wins Challenge Tour Four. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , August 26, 2018, accessed August 28, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Lilley Wins Challenge Tour Five. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , September 19, 2018, accessed September 20, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Grace Rises To The Challenge. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , October 5, 2018, accessed October 6, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Walker Strolls To Challenge Victory. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , October 15, 2018, accessed October 15, 2018 . 
13. ^ Bedford Best In Budapest. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , November 25, 2018, accessed November 25, 2018 . 
14. ^ Duffy On Cloud Nine. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , January 27, 2019, accessed January 27, 2019 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b} By George! Pragnell Wins Challenge Tour Ten. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , March 7, 2019, accessed March 9, 2019 . 
16. ^ Sargeant earns tour stripes. In: worldsnooker.com. WPBSA , February 1, 2019, accessed February 7, 2019 .  
17. ↑ Challenge Tour 2018/19: Event 10 Preview. In: wpbsa.com. WPBSA , March 5, 2019, accessed March 9, 2019 .  
18. ↑ Challenge Tour Rankings 2018/2019. In: snooker.org. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .