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WATCH out Mark Selby – there’s a new Jester from Leicester coming up on the rails.
Teenager Kieran Phillips reckons his safety game en route to a third leg win of the season on the Midlands section of the Regional Junior Tour was akin to the newly-crowned world champion’s.
Phillips collected £80 after his 2-0 victory over Richard Haney (Dudley) in the final of the eighth leg on the professional Star tables at the Midlands Snooker Academy, Walsall.
Now top of the rankings with one event to play, the 16-year-old is poised to gain promotion to the English Association of Snooker & Billiards Premier Junior Tour, which is restricted to the best 48 under-21s in the country.
“I’m buzzing,” declared Phillips. “I gave myself the target to get off the Regional Tour this year.
“I started off in my group stage a bit scrappy because of how tight the pockets were but once I got going I started to play some really good stuff and managed to win three out of four matches.
“In the knockout stage, I didn’t really miss much and felt like my safety was just as good as Mark Selby’s against Ronnie (O’Sullivan) in the final of the world championship.”
Haney has entered four events this season, won two and been runner-up twice.
Phillips added: “I know he is a really good player so I knew I had to take my chances - but thankfully I did.”
Only five breaks of more than 40 were recorded on the tight tables. Deposed rankings leader Callum Costello took £20 home to Leicester for compiling the highest of 57 in the group stages.
In fact, Costello appeared to settle better than most, only dropping two frames in his round-robin matches before going out 2-0 to Haney in a semi-final match noted for its exemplary safety play.
Another player quick out of the blocks was the ever improving Hamim Hussain (Birmingham), who dropped just three frames in his four round-robin matches.
The English Under-14 Championship finalist made a 42, the only break in all the knockout matches, in a 2-1 quarter-final win against Daniel Bagley (Dronfield) before going down 2-1 to Phillips.
The postponed seventh leg, which was to be held at Barratts SC, Northampton, on April 20, has yet to be rearranged.
Tim Dunkley
EASB Media Officer South and World Snooker coach
The English Association of Snooker & Billiards is the national governing body for the amateur game in this country. For more information about competitions, rankings lists and results, see www.easb.co.uk.
Teenager Kieran Phillips reckons his safety game en route to a third leg win of the season on the Midlands section of the Regional Junior Tour was akin to the newly-crowned world champion’s.
Phillips collected £80 after his 2-0 victory over Richard Haney (Dudley) in the final of the eighth leg on the professional Star tables at the Midlands Snooker Academy, Walsall.
Now top of the rankings with one event to play, the 16-year-old is poised to gain promotion to the English Association of Snooker & Billiards Premier Junior Tour, which is restricted to the best 48 under-21s in the country.
“I’m buzzing,” declared Phillips. “I gave myself the target to get off the Regional Tour this year.
“I started off in my group stage a bit scrappy because of how tight the pockets were but once I got going I started to play some really good stuff and managed to win three out of four matches.
“In the knockout stage, I didn’t really miss much and felt like my safety was just as good as Mark Selby’s against Ronnie (O’Sullivan) in the final of the world championship.”
Haney has entered four events this season, won two and been runner-up twice.
Phillips added: “I know he is a really good player so I knew I had to take my chances - but thankfully I did.”
Only five breaks of more than 40 were recorded on the tight tables. Deposed rankings leader Callum Costello took £20 home to Leicester for compiling the highest of 57 in the group stages.
In fact, Costello appeared to settle better than most, only dropping two frames in his round-robin matches before going out 2-0 to Haney in a semi-final match noted for its exemplary safety play.
Another player quick out of the blocks was the ever improving Hamim Hussain (Birmingham), who dropped just three frames in his four round-robin matches.
The English Under-14 Championship finalist made a 42, the only break in all the knockout matches, in a 2-1 quarter-final win against Daniel Bagley (Dronfield) before going down 2-1 to Phillips.
The postponed seventh leg, which was to be held at Barratts SC, Northampton, on April 20, has yet to be rearranged.
Tim Dunkley
EASB Media Officer South and World Snooker coach
The English Association of Snooker & Billiards is the national governing body for the amateur game in this country. For more information about competitions, rankings lists and results, see www.easb.co.uk.