England number 5 Darius Knight is the big draw for the Bribar Bristol Grand Prix (November 10/11th) after the schedule has been released for the fourth Grand Prix of the season at the Bristol UWE Frenchay Campus, BS16 1QY.
With three different Men’s Singles winners already in 2012, can Knight provide the fourth victor in the final Grand Prix of the year?
The season kicked off in the North-West with a surprise title for current overall Grand Prix leader, Paul McCreery, after Grand Prix King Ryan Jenkins was knocked-out in the quarter-finals at the Tees Sport City of Liverpool Grand Prix. Things got back on track for the Welshman at the Bribar Guildford Grand Prix when he beat great rival Gavin Rumgay in the final to secure another singles title.
At the Tees Sport Newcastle Grand Prix the singles crown changed hands once again as Chris Doran battled his way to the final before waltzing past Jenkins in the third and fourth games on Tyneside.
Doran will attempt to defend his title in the South-West as the third seed behind Knight (2nd seed) and Scotsman Gavin Rumgay (1st seed). With no Jenkins or McCreery at the Bribar Bristol Grand Prix there’s a real chance of a fourth Men’s Singles victor of the season.
Also hunting for the title will be Matt Ware, while Lewis Gray (back from Germany) and David Wetherill (back from cloud 9 after the Paralympics) will make their respective bows in this season’s competition.
In the Women’s Singles top seed will be Emma Vickers who has had a tough start to the season with no final appearances so far despite playing in both Liverpool and Newcastle.
She will find a tough challenge in the form of Yolanda King who beat her 3-0 in the Tees Sport Newcastle Grand Prix semi-finals and will line-up in Bristol as the second seed.
Both will be chasing overall Grand Prix leader Karina Le Fevre whose two wins keep her top of the current rankings, although she will not be present in Bristol. This may be an opportunity for some of the other top seeds to secure a final place in the South-West with Natalie Slater (3rd seed), Tressa Armitage (4th seed), Sanja Clements (5th seed) and Sue Collier (6th seed) all hopeful of progressing this weekend.
* please note that the schedule for the Bribar Bristol Grand Prix is tight and scratch entries to the event are very unlikely.