Carter takes sixth spot

The Final
Ali Carter 3-1 Dominic Dale
55-70(Carter 45), 95-0 (78), 87-42 (Carter 67, Dale 42), 66-26

Semi Finals
Dominic Dale 3-0 Michael Holt
88-0 (88), 79-0 (79), 134-0 (134)

Ali Carter 3-0 Mark Davis
103-1 (56), 100-0 (100), 64-36 (Carter 32)

Ali Carter, the Chelmsford-based potter, became the sixth player to qualify for the winners group of Championship League Snooker as he defeated Dominic Dale in the Group 6 final.
He now joins Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and Mark Selby in the winners group with one more spot to be decided.

“I like it here, it is only ten minutes from my home so it is convenient for me. I was pleased with the way I played; I made a few centuries and won some good matches but they are two very long days and I was quite tired at the end there, I think we both were -so the final isn’t always the best match but I think the semis were the best games for Dominic and myself.

“I am delighted to get through to Winners’ Group but that’s going to be a tough one. I look forward to it and it will be nice to be back in the Winners’ Group.”

Carter, who has enjoyed plenty of Championship League success down the years, qualified at his first attempt while Dale can return on Monday 29th February for a final attempt. He will be joined by beaten semi-finalists Michael Holt and Mark Davis, fifth place finisher Kyren Wilson as well as new players Stuart Bingham, Matthew Selt and Liang Wenbo.

Earlier today, Irish veteran Fergal O’Brien recorded his first ever competitive 147 when losing to Mark Davis. At 43, he becomes the oldest ever player to carry off such a feat.

Taking place at Crondon Park Golf Club in Essex, Championship League Snooker features seven players with the winner moving forward to the final all-winners group and the bottom two players leaving the competition.

The Championship League Snooker event is a venture between Matchroom Sport and Perform where 25 of the game’s elite players compete with all matches broadcast on a host of betting websites.

Each group features seven players with each man playing the other six once in a round-robin basis. Every match is the best of five and the winner gains one point with the loser getting zero.

At the end of the league phase the top four advances to that group’s semi-finals where the two winners meet in the final and the winner advances to the Winners’ Group in March.
The losing finalist, two losing semi-finalists and player finishing fifth move into the next group where they are joined by three new players and the process is repeated.

Group Six commences tomorrow at 11.00am. Live scoring can be found at www.worldsnooker.com