World titles were won across a variety of categories in Ireland at the 2022 WEPF World 8-Ball Pool Federation Championships.

England’s Evan Plummer made it a brilliant double in Killarney as he won both the Under-20s Team and Individual Championships.

Plummer dropped just two frames in his opening two matches before wins over Jake Lloyd (England) 7-5, Ownie McMenamin (Northern Ireland) 7-5 and then Piotr Samulewicz (Northern Ireland) 8-2 in the final.

Scott Muscat took the Under-25s Championship trophy back with him to Malta after a thrilling conclusion to the competition.

Muscat enjoyed a largely dominant run to the final, relinquishing just nine frames in five matches, and defeating Ben Doyle (Ireland) 7-1 in the semi-finals.

In title match he faced defending champion Luke Gilbert (England) - albeit that was the under-23 version which has since been temporarily raised due to COVID-19 event cancellations since – and in a grandstand finish that grabbed a lot of attention in the arena, Muscat succeeded in a deciding frame.

In the Wheelchair Singles Championship, Roy Kimberley claimed the title for the first time.

The Englishman qualified third from the round robin phase and then defeated fellow countrymen Frankie Gillen 4-1 in the last four before ousting David Beaumont 5-4 in the final.

One of the sport’s all-time greats, Keith Brewer added yet another big title to his 8-ball CV with victory in the Over-50s Championship.

Regaining the WEPF’s premier seniors singles title he last won in 2016, England’s Brewer needed to survive a 6-5 deciding frame finish in the last 16 against Antione Aquilina (Malta) before victories over Vikh Makh (India) 7-3, Paddy Clarke (Northern Ireland) 7-4 and then Pat Ward (England) 8-2 in the final.

Ward was aiming to complete a unique double at The Gleneagle Hotel having triumphed in the World Seniors Masters a few days before.

In the new Over-60s Championship, Nick Burton was another world champion for England on the Emerald Isle.

However, Burton was made to work extremely hard for the accolade, with all his matches either going very close or to the wire in a deciding frame.

After a 5-3 opening round win, he emerged on the right side of two 6-5 scorelines before 7-5 victories over John Russell (Australia) and Michael Fortune (Ireland) in the semi-finals and final respectively.

Jason Owen Cues Scotch Doubles Championships

A new series of events to the WEPF World 8-Ball Pool Championships, the Scotch Doubles competitions – sponsored by Jason Owen Cues – proved to be exciting additions to the programme.

In the Men’s, the English pairing of Aaron Davies & Mike King came from three frames down in the final to defeat Callum Singleton & Dylan Leary (Northern Ireland) 8-5.

Sophie Gibbs-Nicholls & Katie Martyn (England) took top honours in the Ladies, but had to come through a grueling, but compelling, final against Carrie & Megan Randle (Ireland), 7-4, who were cheered on by raucous home support.

And there was yet more glory in the Seniors, as Liam Stanley & Gareth Owen pipped the Maltese duo of Antione Aquilina & Ray Caruana 7-6 in the final.