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  • Two records set in Salisbury

    A TRADEMARK comeback thwarted by a black-ball game means a regional snooker title is shared for the first time in the competition’s five-year history.

    After eight legs in eight months, nothing separates Poole potter Brad Chappell and Gosport sharpshooter Mark Lloyd at the top of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour rankings.

    Chappell, who is based at the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, led Lloyd by seven points going into the last event at Salisbury Snooker Club.

    The pair met in the final with Lloyd needing to clinch his second tournament win of the season to draw level.

    And the 14-year-old, who is based at and sponsored by Stoke Snooker Club, Gosport, took the first two frames in the best-of-five clash.

    His 19-year-old opponent, winner of the three previous legs, then launched one of his famous comebacks and forced a decider. However, an attempted safety left the final black close to a pocket and Lloyd didn’t need to be asked twice.

    “He played very well,” admitted Chappell.

    “It was very, very close (to a comeback). I seem to be 2-0 down a lot and fight my way back.”

    Lloyd simply said: “At two-all, I had to deal with it somehow.”

    The pair, who finished with 111 points each, could meet again on the EASB Premier Junior Tour next season.

    Chappell declined his place this year due to a lack of finance but hopes to be allowed back in while Lloyd, who lost in the semi-finals of the English Under-16 Championship in Leeds last month, is currently second on the EASB Regional Junior Tour South.

    “It’s just snooker to me,” shrugged Lloyd, but added: “It would be nice but I’ve got to get there first.”

    But Chappell warned: “The standard is amazing. You miss a ball, you’ve lost. It’s as simple as that.”

    The top-16 ranked players now head to Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, on Sunday, May 25, for the championship play-off.

    BREAKS

    Mark Lloyd: 60.
    Brad Chappell: 47, 41.

    GOLD RESULTS

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP: 1st, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Brad Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport).

    SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Chappell beat Stewart 3-0, Lloyd beat Budd 3-0.

    FINAL (£15/£5, 25/18 points): Lloyd beat Chappell 3-2.

    Top of the pots at the age of ten

    HE’S the youngest ever winner of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.

    Basingstoke’s ten-year-old potting machine Mickey Joyce claimed the number-one spot as the eight-leg circuit for players with a high break between 40 and 60 came to a thrilling climax at Salisbury Snooker Club.

    Joyce, who won last season’s Bronze Tour championship play-off, insisted throughout the eight-month season that he “definitely” could make history by taking the title.

    And that inner-belief in his own remarkable ability helped the Winklebury Junior School pupil secure the required points in the last leg, which came 16 days before his 11th birthday.

    Three players had realistic chances of claiming the title in Salisbury.

    Joyce, with two tournament wins under his belt, led Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport) by six points with Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC) four points further back in third place.

    Farmer’s challenge ended in a 2-1 quarter-final defeat by his stablemate Matt Gillon.

    That meant if the rankings leader lost in the last-four and Petty won the final, the pair would finish on equal points and the title would be shared.

    Joyce wrapped up the first frame against Gillon with a 38 clearance but fell victim to the sucker punch of slotting in a long pink into a black corner pocket only for the cue-ball to disappear into a middle pocket when his opponent required a snooker.

    “He went to shake my hand but I said ‘no, the white’s gone in’,” said Joyce, who was then extremely lucky to get a second bite of the cherry and prevailed 2-0.

    With the title now sewn up, Joyce, who had never lost in his five previous Cuestars finals, went down 2-0 to Petty.

    The budding green baize star is sponsored by The Academy - on the Moniton Trading Estate, Basingstoke - where he receives free practice time, and Falcon Pools - Surrey’s leading swimming pool designers and installers

    He is coached at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club where last October he set a new record by being crowned the youngest ever champion of both the Eastleigh & District Under-13 and Under-18 Leagues.

    This season he made his debut on the EASB Regional Junior Tour South and reached the last-16 of the English Under-14 Championship.

    Joyce reckons competing regionally and nationally has helped improve his game.

    “I just learn from my losses,” he said. “The EASB is really helping as well because it makes me play better when I play against better players. I know they are so good and I have to play to their ability.”

    The top-16 ranked players now head to Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, on Sunday, May 25, for the championship play-off.

    BREAKS

    Mickey Joyce: 38.
    Austen Petty: 32.

    SILVER RESULTS

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Matt Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 4th, Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Lewis Parnham (SWSA, Gloucester); 2nd, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport); 4th, Anthony Church (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth).

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Bradley Leishman (Stoke SC, Gosport).

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Thomas Holton (Woking SC); 3rd, Canberk Benning (Jesters, Swindon).

    QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Petty beat Holton 2-0, Parnham beat Sykes 2-1, Joyce beat Browne 2-0, Gillon beat Farmer 2-1.

    SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Joyce beat Gillon 2-0, Petty beat Parnham 2-0.

    FINAL (25/18 points): Petty beat Joyce 2-0.

    Storming run sees Petty clinch runners-up spot

    A STORMING run in the second half of the season sparked by a new high break saw Austen Petty clinch runners-up spot on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.

    The teenager from Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club collected his third winner’s trophy in four outings in the eighth and final leg at Salisbury Snooker Club.

    Petty, who won the Bronze Tour championship play-off in 2012, upped his personal best break to 62 in the Eastleigh & District Under-18 League a week after missing the Cuestars trip to Bournemouth in January.

    He them set himself the target of a top-four finish on the junior circuit.

    Since then, the 15-year-old from Boyatt Wood has won the events at his home club and in Swindon, knocked in a new high of 64, reached the semi-finals in Fareham and now wrapped up a remarkable season with victory in Salisbury.

    “I just started to pot more balls and become a better break builder,” he explained.

    Mickey Joyce led the rankings into the final leg, six points ahead of Nathan Farmer with Petty four points further back.

    All three progressed through the group stages but Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport) went out 2-1 in the quarter-finals to clubmate Matt Gillon.

    Joyce wrapped up the title by seeing off Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury) and Gillon while Petty secured the runners-up spot by accounting for Thomas Holton (Woking SC) and Lewis Parnham (SWSA, Gloucester). All four matches ended in 2-0 scorelines.

    Petty, who turns out for Super League outfit Chandlers Ford Central Club A, took the first frame, largely thanks to a 32 break, and led in the second by more than 20 points.

    But never-say-die Joyce clawed back the deficit, fluked the brown, doubled the blue and sunk the pink that was hanging over a pocket to take a seven-point lead.

    Petty, in his trademark calm and collected way, potted the black and then won the re-spot.

    He is now looking forward to his debut on the Gold Tour.

    “It’s going to be a hard challenge so I’ll have to try harder,” he smiled.

    And he added: “Well done to Mickey because he’s only ten and he’s won the rankings in his first season.”

    The top-16 ranked players now head to Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, on Sunday, May 25, for the championship play-off.

    Mr Consistent claims Bronze runners-up spot

    WOKING’S ‘Mr Consistent’ snatched the runners-up spot on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour in the last match of the eight-month tour.


    Edward James beat first-time finalist Lee Fitzpatrick (Totton Recreation Club) 2-0 to take maximum points in the eighth leg at Salisbury Snooker Club.

    After former rankings leader Ollie Gibbs (Stoke SC, Gosport) failed to progress from the group stages, James needed to win the final to secure second place behind champion Luke Beebe (Chandler’s Ford SC).

    First up was Beebe in the quarter-finals. James rose to the occasion and prevailed 2-0. He then defeated first-time semi-finalist Liam Ashman, son of Westbury coach Duncan Ashman, by the same scoreline.

    The 12-year-old, who had lost to Fitzpatrick in the round-robin matches, took the lead in the final thanks to a 20 break and doubled the pink into a middle pocket for a 2-0 win.

    “I didn’t think I could win against Lee after losing to him in the group stages,” said James. “There was a lot of pressure.”

    Since a group-stage exit in the first leg in Salisbury last October, James has proved to be ‘Mr Consistent’. He made one last-eight exit, was a losing semi-finalist four times and won two legs.

    After two seasons in the lower tier, James will now spend the summer practising at Woking Snooker Centre in preparation for his debut in October on the Silver Tour.

    “It’s a bit daunting,” admitted the Royal Grammar School pupil. “They’re better players and older players.”

    The top-16 ranked players now head to Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, on Sunday, May 25, for the championship play-off.

    BREAKS

    Adam Cowdroy: 22.
    Edward James: 20.

    BRONZE RESULTS

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Harry Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 5th, Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Luke Beebe (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC); 4th, Abhay Chopra (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Lee Fitzpatrick (Totton Recreation Club); 2nd, Edward James (Woking SC); 3rd, Ollie Gibbs (Stoke SC, Gosport); 4th, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC); 5th, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC).

    ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury); 3rd, Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Lewis Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).

    QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Ashman beat O’Callaghan 2-1, James beat Beebe 2-0, Fitzpatrick beat Benzey 2-0, Petty beat Hughes 2-0.

    SEMI-FINALS (15 points): James beat Ashman 2-0, Fitzpatrick beat Petty 2-0.

    FINAL (25/18 points): James beat Fitzpatrick 2-0.

    Ollie Gibbs beats the Plate specialist

    FORMER Bronze Tour rankings leader Ollie Gibbs saw off Plate specialist Canberk Benning in the final of the consolation competition for group-stage casualties at Salisbury Snooker Club.


    The ten-year-old from Gosport, who finished third in the rankings, edged Silver Tour player Benning (Jesters, Swindon) 2-1.

    It was Benning’s fourth Plate final of the season and a second defeat.

    PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)

    PRELIMS: Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC), Ollie Gibbs (Stoke SC, Gosport) beat Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC), Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport) beat Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC).

    QUARTER-FINALS: Gibbs beat Cowdroy, Kidner beat Kitchen, Canberk Benning (Jesters, Swindon) beat Abhay Chopra (Chandler’s Ford SC), Bradley Leishman (Stoke SC, Gosport) beat Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).

    SEMI-FINALS: Gibbs beat Kidner, Benning beat Leishman.

    FINAL: Gibbs beat Benning 2-1.

    Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)

    About Cuestars


    Founded 20 years ago by director John Hunter, Cuestars runs grass-root snooker tournaments across the South of England and South Wales.

    Competitions take place on Sundays between October and June, and cater for players of all ages.

    All Cuestars tournaments are played off scratch. There are no handicaps, except in the Under-21 Plate. Cuestars uses a round-robin format leading to a knockout.

    Competitions for 2013/14 include: South of England Championship Tour; Under-21 Gold, Silver and Bronze Tours; Weekend Junior Section Rankings and Seniors (40+) Tour.

    Website: cuestars.co.uk E-mail John Hunter: john@cuestars.co.uk.
    http://www.snooker-coach.co.uk
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