On the 22nd and 23rd October the World Billiards tour headed to Carlisle, UK. The event was played at the Q Zone club. After scoring very well in the group stages on the event Rob qualified for the knockout stages as 3rd seed behind Dave Causier and Peter Gilchrist. In the Last 16 Rob beat Mark Hirst 624-136, he then beat Ryan Mears 565-259. Rob then ran into an in form Peter Gilchrist losing 676-300. Through this event Rob made 16 breaks of 100+ with a top run of 254.

Robs next event was the regional qualifying round of the English Championships on Sunday 6th November at Boston Snooker Centre, Boston, UK. Rob qualified comfortably for the Last 32 stage which takes place in February 2023. After a day of solid and consistent scoring Rob made 5 century breaks.

On Sunday 13th November at the Atak Snooker Club in Nuneaton, UK Rob won the third ranking event of the EABA series of events and his second of the season. With many of the big guns falling in the earlier rounds it left a relatively straight forward run to the title for Rob  in the final Rob defeated Norfolk’s Nathan Mann 370-86. Rob took the top break of the event with a well crafted 252 against Gary Norman.

After making the long trip to the Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy (ROSSA), Singapore Rob played in the Singapore Open (a warm up to the World Championships that followed). After a somewhat average performance in the group stages Rob ended up as seed 7 for the knockout stages. After beating Chris Taylor 305-202 Rob ran into Peter Gilchrist in the quarter final and got beat 181-593. In the event Steve Mifsud played very well to reach the final and en route beat Dave Causier in the Last 16. Congratulations to Peter Gilchrist on winning the 2022 Singapore Open.

The ‘big one’, the WBL World Championships was also played at ROSSA, Singapore. Rob topped his group after two days solid scoring. Other players in his group were, Wayne Carey (New Zealand), Peter Tankard (Australia), Akhileah Mohan (France) and Christopher Abiodun (Nigeria). Rob finished as third seed for the knockout stage and therefore got a bye straight into the Last 16 where he beat Aiden Murray 684-403. Rob then played and beat Martin Goodwill 729-572 in the quarter finals after a closely contested match. He then ran into his old foe Peter Gilchrist. After falling over 350 behind Rob made a spirited comeback to get with 30 of Peter befor narrowly missing a cushion cannon with 12 minutes to go. Peter stepped up and ran out time with a century break to claim the win 1002-854. Dave Causier became the 2022 World Billiards Champion defeating Gilchrist in the final. Rob made 8 century plus breaks during the event. The ROSSA venue is a wonderful place to play with the best playing conditions and atmosphere you could ever wish for.

Over the weekend of 3rd and 4th December after the long trip back from Singapore Rob made the journey over to Dublin, Ireland where he made the absolute honour on captaining the England team for the Four Nations event. The England team players were Rob Hall (captain), Peter Sheehan, Nathan Mann, Chris Mitchell, Gary Norman and Dean Manders. After two long days play England showed their class with a dominant performance to comfortably retain the Four Nations trophy. A few pints of the ‘black stuff’ were sunk to celebrate on the Sunday night with the team. The other nations involved in the event were Republic of Ireland (hosts), Northern Ireland and Austria. The final standings were England 58, ROI 35, NI 33, Austria 18. Rob made seven 100+ breaks during the event. Peter Sheehan made the highest break with 218.

Rob would like to express his sincere thanks for all the messages support he’s received during these events and also express huge thanks to Eco Footprint Ltd. for their continued support as his main sponsor this season.

The season now breaks for Christmas and Rob will look forward getting back on the table in January.

Share this post