Bruges Delivers Champions Across the Board as WDBS Tour Roars Into 2026
The Trickshot Plays Host to a Weekend of Memorable Moments
There is something fitting about a snooker club called The Trickshot staging an event full of unlikely comebacks, flawless dominance and milestone moments. Last weekend, the Belgian city of Bruges welcomed the World Disability Billiards and Snooker Tour back for the seventh time since 2018, and the tournament — the first world ranking event of the 2026 calendar — delivered the kind of drama that reminds you why this circuit matters so much to the players who compete on it.
With 45 players making the trip to Belgium, the entry was strong and the competition fierce across every classification group. By Sunday evening, new and returning champions had emerged from each category, and the WDBS Tour had announced itself for 2026 in emphatic fashion.
Southern Reclaims His Crown with Ruthless Efficiency
In the wheelchair classification — Groups 1 and 2 — Tony Southern produced the kind of performance that makes opponents feel as though they were never truly in the contest. The Englishman breezed through his round robin group without conceding a single frame, and he carried that momentum into the final against Belgian hopeful Kurt Deklerck, despatching the home favourite 3-0 to claim the title for the third time in his career.
It was a victory made all the more significant by the six-year wait since his last Belgian Open triumph in 2020. The crowd at The Trickshot had been willing Deklerck on, and there is always an extra edge to these moments when a local player reaches a final on home soil — but Southern was simply immovable. Clinical, composed and completely in control.
Bolton Back on Top — and Closing in on History
If Southern's victory was a statement of authority, then Dave Bolton's triumph in Group 5 of the ambulant competition was a story of redemption. Twelve months ago, Bolton stood in this very final and lost to Belgium's Cedric Van Wassenhove. This time, there was no such setback. The top-ranked player in his group dropped just one frame throughout the entire event on his way to reclaiming the Belgian Open crown.
The win moves Bolton to 15 career ranking titles, leaving only Daniel Blunn ahead of him on 18. It is a number that speaks to years of sustained excellence on the tour, and Bolton will be well aware that the gap to the all-time record is very much closeable.
Hull and Thomson Stage Remarkable Comebacks
Not every path to glory in Bruges was so straightforward. In Group 3, Peter Hull found himself staring down the barrel at 0-2 against Joe Hardstaff before staging a composed and gutsy recovery to take the match. The victory made Hull the only player to successfully defend his title at the Belgian Open and secured his second career ranking title — a landmark that will feel enormous to a player who knows how hard-fought every frame on this tour can be.
Equally dramatic was the Group 4 final, where William Thomson came from 0-2 down against Carl Gibson to claim victory and his tenth career crown. It was Thomson's first ranking title since the 2025 Hull Open, and there is a certain symmetry in the fact that his next ranking event is the Wilson Interiors Hull Open in May. The Scotsman will no doubt arrive there with renewed confidence coursing through him.
Faisal Butt, Leroy Williams and a Sensory Thriller
The intellectual classification groups produced significant milestones of their own. Mohamed Faisal Butt finally got his hands on Belgian Open gold at the fourth attempt, adding a Group 6A title to his growing collection for a tenth WDBS win overall. In Group 6B, Leroy Williams maintained his extraordinary record in Bruges — three visits, three titles — joining Dave Bolton on 15 career ranking victories. Some players simply have a city that belongs to them, and for Williams, Bruges is very much that place.
The sensory category served up arguably the most gripping finale of the weekend. Lewis Knowles defeated Mike Gillespie in a deciding frame to claim his third consecutive ranking title on the WDBS Tour — ninth in total — and in doing so, he will reclaim the world number one position in his classification group. Three titles in a row is the kind of run that defines a player's identity on a tour, and Knowles is clearly in the form of his life.
The weekend was rounded off by Dalton Lawrence, who took the Challenge Cup with victory over fellow Group 5 player Gerdy Dupont in the final — a pleasing note on which to close proceedings at The Trickshot.
Hull Calls Next
The WDBS Tour now has a moment to breathe before the Wilson Interiors Hull Open from 15–17 May 2026, with entries open now via WPBSA SnookerScores. If Bruges is anything to go by, the season ahead promises to be a memorable one. This tour has a habit of delivering stories that deserve to be told — and The Trickshot, for the seventh time, gave them the perfect stage on which to unfold.
