Kettering's Kyren so pleased to be able to do what he loves

Kyren Wilson is delighted to have so much to look forward to for the remainder of this year.

The Kettering snooker star has enjoyed an impressive last couple of weeks as he secured his fourth ranking title when defeating world number one Judd Trump in the final of the BetVictor Championship League.

Wilson was then beaten 6-5 by Mark Selby in the quarter-finals of the 888sport Champion of Champions event last week, despite having led 4-0 and 5-3 in the match.

Nonetheless, his recent efforts have seen him rise to number five in the world rankings while he sits in third in the one-year ranking list having reached the final of the World Championship in July.

The competitions are currently based at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes and will continue to be played there until at least the end of the calendar year.

And Wilson is just grateful to still be able to do what he loves.

“We have been playing a lot of snooker and it’s great that we have got them on with the current state of the world and the current state of sport in general,” he said.

“Thankfully, the World Snooker Tour and Matchroom have put on great events for us and I have managed to get my head down and put a good string of results together.

“I won the Championship League, which was brilliant, and I have had a few quarter-finals and I lost out to Mark in a tight game in the Champion of Champions.

“We have got the Northern Ireland Open and then we are straight into the UK Championship, which is one of our Triple Crown events and probably the third biggest one we play in.

“And then there is a couple after that with the Scottish Open and the World Grand Prix before the end of the year.

“There’s an awful lot of snooker to be played and it’s keeping me busy.

“When I am playing snooker I am happy so it’s nice to have plenty to look forward to.”

Wilson and Wellingborough’s Jamie O’Neill are both back in action in Milton Keynes this week in the German Masters Qualifiers.

O’Neill faces the toughest of first-round matches in the Northern Ireland Open, which begins next Monday, after he was paired with the great Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Wilson, meanwhile, will take on David Lilley in his first-round encounter.