Eight young prospects will have the opportunity to participate at the 2025 Snooker Shoot Out after being nominated by the WPBSA.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association has selected a group of aspiring champions who will cue up alongside some of the game’s best players in the quick-fire ranking event.
This year’s Snooker Shoot Out, scheduled for the middle of December from the 10th to the 13th, will return to Blackpool at the Tower Circus.
Five underage national champions from across the UK and Ireland have been invited to compete, including English under-18 champion Vladislav Gradinari.
Welsh under-18 champion Riley Powell will also be in the field alongside Steven Wardropper, Joel Connolly, and Jack O’Brien who have domestic glories in the same age group in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland respectively.
Joining them are WSF Junior Championship finalist Kaylan Patel and European Under-18 Championship runner-up Ethan Llewellyn.
Completing the octet is Ellise Scott, who aged 14 currently tops the World Women’s Snooker Tour under-21 rankings as its world number one developing star.
“The WPBSA Group continues to work alongside its global partners to deliver inspirational opportunities for elite juniors to showcase their talent on the World Snooker Tour,” the WPBSA statement read.
Powell and Gradinari are no strangers to the Shoot Out, the pair both winning games as 14 year-olds at the 2023 editions.
Gradinari became the youngest-ever winner of a televised match when he beat Ng On Yee in the first round before Powell stunned Kyren Wilson a day later to also reach the second round.
WPBSA nominations for the 2025 Snooker Shoot Out
- Kaylan Patel – 2025 WSF Junior Championship Runner-Up
- Ethan Llewellyn – 2025 EBSA European Under-18 Championship Runner-Up
- Ellise Scott – WWS Tour Under-21 World Number 1
- Joel Connolly – Northern Ireland Under-21 Championship Winner
- Vladislav Gradinari – English Under-18 Championship Winner
- Steven Wardropper – Scottish Under-18 Championship Winner
- Jack O’Brien – Ireland Under-18 Championship Winner
- Riley Powell – Welsh Under-18 Championship Winner
Tom Ford, meanwhile, will be the defending champion after the Leicester potter got his hands on ranking event silverware for the first time in his career last year.
Ford beat Liam Graham in the final to collect the £50,000 top prize and a potentially lucrative ticket to the upcoming Champion of Champions in Leicester.
Previous winners of the Snooker Shoot Out include Mark Allen, Barry Hawkins, Ryan Day, and Anthony McGill.
But the event, with its variation of the traditional rules including shot clocks and a rapid format, has often given opportunities for unheralded players to make a name for themselves.
Finland’s Robin Hull memorably won the title in 2016 while 2018 champion Michael Georgiou arguably represents the biggest surprise winner of them all.
As a ranking event and as a concept generally, the Shoot Out continues to divide opinion, but it has become a permanent annual fixture on the calendar.
The 2025 tournament will be going back to Blackpool, which hosted the tournament for five years from its inception in 2011.
Featured photo credit: WST
