Qualifying tournament will decide final participant in first ever boys’ Junior Power League

The JDC has confirmed an innovative way to decide the eighth and final player to compete in the inaugural boys’ Junior Power League over the coming months – a qualifying tournament.

After racking their brains before, during and since the Advanced Tour Q-School last weekend, the competition’s committee were unable to agree on the eighth player to complete the JPL line-up.

They have decided the fairest way to decide the final spot is a qualifier, played on the opening night of the JPL on Friday 7 February in Coventry.

JDC chairman Steve Brown explained: “We had a final shortlist of 25 players and we’ve had some fun on social media announcing the shortlist over the past few weeks.

“But when we sat down to decide the final eight players, as a committee we could agree on seven of them but there were lots of different names in the frame for that eighth spot.

“The good thing is that all of those players discussed had strong cases to be included in the final line-up – so we agreed the best way to pick the eighth player is effectively to let them earn it via a qualifier.

“We want everyone on that shortlist to have the same opportunity to play in the JPL in 2025, because we are talking about good opportunities, a strong prize fund, and a full-production show with recognisable voices in the commentary box.

“The 18 players will all be in town for the Advanced Tour anyway, so there’s now something extra to play for on the Friday night, before the JPL kicks off later that evening and the tour gets underway on the Saturday.”

The first seven players for the boys’ JPL will be announced in early February.

The JDC is also injecting a further £2,000 into the Advanced Tour prize fund for 2025 to take it to £20,000 for the season.

“It was already the most lucrative junior tour in the world – and we will continue to invest in it,” added Brown.