Gary Wilson is swapping snooker for pool this week (Image: Getty)
Gary Wilson is keen to escape from his snooker nightmare after entering the European Open Pool Championship. The Englishman will travel to Bosnia this week in a brief hiatus from his day job.
Wilson has previously beaten top pool stars Naoyuki Oi and Tomasz Kaplan. He reached the last 16 of the UK Open in 2023. He is hoping this week will help him overcome a tough year at the snooker table, having dropped out of the world’s top 16. The 39-year-old will be forced to go through qualifying when he returns from Bosnia.
Asked about his snooker exploits, Wilson told the : “To be honest I’ve probably done roughly what I thought would happen and what is possible. I thought I’d be capable of beating any name because it is pool, I’m obviously going to be good at certain parts of it and you can beat anyone.
“But at the same time I’m actually a touch disappointed, I’ve only had one last 16. I thought I’d have had a couple or maybe a quarters.”
While Wilson has heard his snooker rivals insist they would breeze their way to success in pool, he insists that is not quite so simple.
“We know that you can’t just swan in to a top level professional sport of any kind and start beating everybody. I never thought that. There are a few on tour who think that. I do hear that,” Wilson confessed.
Gary Wilson admits his recent snooker performances have not been up to scratch (Image: Getty)
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“If I played for a month solid then I’d fancy being very competitive because I’m used to big occasions and playing on TV. I’d still be lacking years of experience but I do fancy being very competitive if I played solid for a month.”
Wilson’s results have stumbled since he won two ranking titles last season. He has reached only one quarter-final this term and accepts that his performances have not been up to his usually high standards.
“A lot of the games I haven’t played up to scratch. Even though I’ve lost a lot of close games, I feel that if I’d even played somewhat of my game it’d probably have been the other way round, even if it had been a decider,” Wilson said.
“I’ve had periods in the past where I’ve been pretty decent and kept coming out the wrong end of them and they’re a bit more frustrating because I’m not playing bad and getting beat. But a lot of matches this season the results have not gone my way and that’s down to me not being up to standard.”