Pool ace Gray in the money again, but Court Club snooker legends event will test him on Sunday

​Gray won the CueBall Promotions 9-Ball Grand Finals played at Rack & Roll in Leicester to claim the first prize of £335 and the trophy.

The Bourne Snooker Centre professional qualified for finals day even though he’d only played two of six events because of injury.

But he tore through the field beating number one seed Benji Buckley twice, including a 7-3 semi-final success.

He beat Buckley 5-3 in the group stages before reeling off 5-2, 5-0 and 5-1 wins to reach the quarter-finals where he defeated Adam Lewis 7-1.

Gray beat Ashik Nathwani (Leicester) 7-5 in the final from 3-4 down in a very high standard final.

Gray finished off his Ultimate Pool season 23 ranking after last-16 and quarter-final, out of 288 entrants, finishes in his last two events.

COURT CLUB EVENT

Gray is not confident of ending 2023 on a high when the Snooker Q Store Legends League gets underway on Sunday at the Court Club, Bretton.

The star man’s hand injury makes snooker difficult, but he will pick up £100 just for playing as he secured the number one ranking for the year.

The top eight players of the year will compete across two groups, playing four frame matches against each other, with the winners of both progressing through to the best-of-five frame final in the hope of collecting the £400 top prize and the trophy.

Gray is in Group A alongside Northampton's former professional Harvey Chandler, Alex Clenshaw, who defeated 'Granite' 3-0 in the recent Players Championship final, and city cueman Vaughan Lutkin.

Group B sees second seed Steve Martin joined by reigning Masters Cup champion Jamie Turner, former number one Russell Huxter and Peterborough's Rob Petch. The action starts at 10am.