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ELVIS Presley tribute act Brad Chappell left England Under-16 snooker champion Mark Lloyd all shook up after a tournament in Woking.
The 21-year-old from Poole admitted it’s now or never in his bid to land the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour rankings title in his final season.
Chappell toppled Lloyd from the number-one position after seeing off the 16-year-old from Gosport 2-1 in the final of the fifth leg at Woking Snooker Centre.
Lloyd extracted the penalty points from a required snooker to force a re-spotted black in the first frame. But the Dorset cueman and part time disc jockey won that and took the decider on the pink.
“I beat him in the group stages and felt really going into the final,” said Chappell. “It could have gone either way in all three frames.
“I’ve played in Cuestars for ten years and I want to win it in my last year in (junior events).”
He added that anyone getting out of the group of death (himself, Lloyd, James Budd, Dan Sykes and Jamie Wilson) deserved to win the tournament.
Earlier in the group stages, Chappell matched his highest break in Cuestars competitions with a 97 clearance against Wilson (Havant).
He said: “I was gutted there wasn’t enough on the table to make the ton. Hopefully, it will come before the end of the season.”
On his first outing of the season, Stewart Ball (Bournemouth) won his five-man group but went out 2-0 to Lloyd in the last-eight to start his campaign way down the rankings in 17th place.
Beaten quarter-finalist Callum Browne (Trowbridge), winner of the previous leg in Bournemouth, dropped one place to third.
Chappell, who shared the Gold rankings title with Lloyd in 2013/14 and won it outright last season, is pursuing a career as a tribute act to the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, who, like his son Ethan, is always on his mind.
Alan Connell, a member of dance band Haywire, has agreed to give his time for free to help him produce a demo CD at his private recording studio in Broadstone. So that’s all right.
To people with suspicious minds and a wooden heart who receive the CD in the post, don’t be cruel and scribble ‘return to sender’.
The sixth leg of eight is at Fareham Snooker Club on Sunday, March 13.
BREAKS
Brad Chappell: 97, 50, 44.
Anthony Rice: 55, 50, 46, 41.
Mark Lloyd: 54, 49, 46, 41.
Bradley Cowdroy: 54.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Jonny Mutch (Cambridge SC); 3rd, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 4th, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Arron Smith (Selsey RBL).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Brad Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, James Budd (Fareham SC); 4th, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Jamie Wilson (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 5th, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Cowdroy 2 Joyce 0, Chappell 2 Browne 1, Lloyd 2 Ball 0, Rice 2 Mutch 1.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Chappell 2 Cowdroy 0, Lloyd 2 Rice 0.
FINAL (£50/£25 25/18 points): Chappell 2 Lloyd 1. Frame scores: 52-45, 17-56, 66-57.
Snooker heaven for Beaven
A WET and windy day in Woking was brightened by the smile of an 11-year-old potter from Banstead.
James Beaven collected his first winner’s trophy after defeating Jasmine Bolsover 2-0 in the final of the fifth leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.
“I’ve never won anything before,” declared Beaven. “It feels great.
“I have won a few handicap tournaments but they don’t really count.”
The demon left-hander, who is based at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, took the opening frame at Woking Snooker Centre on the black and left home player Bolsover chasing snookers on the colours in the second.
Earlier, he won his round-robin group - despite a 2-1 defeat by Keegan Reed (Salisbury) - before accounting for leg-two winner Aidan Murphy (Bristol) 2-0 in the last-eight and his Frames clubmate Evan Plummer 2-0 in the semi-finals.
Reflecting on his day’s performance, he said: “It’s been good. I played pretty well.”
A Year 6 pupil at Priory Preparatory School, Beaven first picked up a cue four years ago. He climbed to seventh on the Cuestars rankings and also competes on the EASB Regional Junior Tour South.
The previous day, Bolsover, 16, lost 3-0 to ten-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans in the semi-finals of the Connie Gough Memorial in Dunstable.
Only 15 points (a semi-final place) separate the top five in what is proving to be a very close title race. In fact, each of the five legs has produced a different winner.
Last season’s Bronze rankings winner Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford) maintains his six-point lead over Murphy. The top two both made quarter-final exits. Beaten semi-finalist Connor Benzey (Eastleigh) is three points further back in third. Olly Gibbs (Gosport) is fourth, one point ahead of David Rice (Fordingbridge).
The sixth leg of eight is at Fareham Snooker Club on Sunday, March 13.
BREAKS
Jasmine Bolsover: 45.
Oliver Sykes: 40.
Connor Benzey: 38, 36, 32.
Charlie Pringle: 37.
James Beaven: 34.
Aidan Murphy: 32.
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Drew Hampshire (147 SC, Swindon); 2nd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 5th, Harry Cook (Woking SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, James Beaven (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon); 2nd, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, David Rice (Salisbury SC); 4th, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 5th, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 2nd, Aidan Murphy (Bristol Conservative Club); 3rd, Olly Gibbs (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Harry Jones (Frames, Coulsdon); 5th, Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Charlie Pringle (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Evan Plummer (Frames, Coulsdon); 3rd, Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Plummer 2 Hampshire 0, Beaven 2 Murphy 0, Bolsover 2 Hughes 1, Benzey 2 Pringle 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Beaven 2 Plummer 0, Bolsover 2 Benzey 1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Beaven 2 Bolsover 0.
Hughes calmly takes pole position
RYAN Hughes has hit the front on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour for the first time.
A second tournament win this season took the 13-year-old from Chandler’s Ford two points clear of Ben Tillison.
Hughes warmed up for Sunday’s qualifier for the English Under-14 Championship by defeating his title rival from Portsmouth 2-1 in the final of the fifth leg at Woking Snooker Centre.
The pair shared the first two frames but 15-year-old Tillison was left chasing snookers with two reds remaining in the decider.
Hughes, who also won in Swindon in November, said his success this season was down to keeping his composure.
“I used to get really angry,” he explained. “But now I stay calm because I know it doesn’t help.”
Hughes won four of his five group matches, only losing to fourth-placed Chloe White (Portsmouth), while Tillison was forced to qualify via a three-way play-off.
“In my first game against Shane (Kearns), I played pretty well,” said Hughes, a Year 9 pupil at Thornden School.
“In my next game against Chloe, she slaughtered me. Afterwards, I found what was wrong and started playing well again.”
He then beat first-time semi-finalist Riley Ellis (Swindon) 2-0 to progress to the final as Tillison was accounting for his clubmate White by the same score.
With three legs remaining, the top two have opened up a 22-point gap over third-placed Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford).
Rio Smith had what can only be described as an up-and-down day. The Portsmouth potter missed out on qualifying for the knockout by one point in a three-way, three-reds, aggregate-points play-off.
He then recorded his highest break of 37 against Nat Kidner (Ferndown) in the last-eight of the Plate before picking the balls out in the semi-finals as ten-year-old Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford) went on a run of 41.
The sixth leg of eight is at Fareham Snooker Club on Sunday, March 13.
BREAKS
Bowen Zhu: 25, 22, 20.
Ben Tillison: 25.
Riley Ellis: 25.
Callum White: 23.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); joint 3rd, Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC) & Shane Kearns (Jesters, Swindon); 5th, Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford SC); 6th, Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Riley Ellis (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 5th, Ben Hatch (Southampton).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Hughes 2 Ellis 0, Tillison 2 Chloe White 0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Hughes 2 Tillison 1.
Sibling rivalry in Plate final
TWO Chandler’s Ford brothers battled out the Plate final in Woking.
Ten-year-old Oliver Sykes, receiving a 14-point start, beat his sibling Dan 2-1 on the final pink.
It was 17-year-old Dan’s third Plate final this season. He had finished fourth in the Gold group of death that contained both finalists.
Oliver, who progressed to the final thanks to a 41 break against Rio Smith (Portsmouth), had missed out on the Silver knockout by one frame.
BREAKS
Oliver Sykes: 41.
Rio Smith: 37.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
LAST-16: Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), James Budd (Fareham SC) beat Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC), Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth), Arron Smith (Selsey RBL) beat Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC), Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat David Rice (Salisbury SC), Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS: R Smith beat Kidner, O Sykes beat Budd, Reed beat A Smith, D Sykes beat Shaw.
SEMI-FINALS: O Sykes beat R Smith, D Sykes beat Reed.
FINAL: O Sykes 2 D Sykes 1.
Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)
About Cuestars
Founded more than 25 years ago by director John Hunter, Cuestars runs grass-root snooker tournaments across the South of England.
Competitions take place on Sundays between October and May, and cater for players of all ages.
All Cuestars tournaments are played off scratch. There are no handicaps, except in the Under-21 Plate, the Under-21 team event and the Under-21 Handicap Championship. Cuestars uses a round-robin format leading to a knockout.
Competitions for 2015/16 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.
The 21-year-old from Poole admitted it’s now or never in his bid to land the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour rankings title in his final season.
Chappell toppled Lloyd from the number-one position after seeing off the 16-year-old from Gosport 2-1 in the final of the fifth leg at Woking Snooker Centre.
Lloyd extracted the penalty points from a required snooker to force a re-spotted black in the first frame. But the Dorset cueman and part time disc jockey won that and took the decider on the pink.
“I beat him in the group stages and felt really going into the final,” said Chappell. “It could have gone either way in all three frames.
“I’ve played in Cuestars for ten years and I want to win it in my last year in (junior events).”
He added that anyone getting out of the group of death (himself, Lloyd, James Budd, Dan Sykes and Jamie Wilson) deserved to win the tournament.
Earlier in the group stages, Chappell matched his highest break in Cuestars competitions with a 97 clearance against Wilson (Havant).
He said: “I was gutted there wasn’t enough on the table to make the ton. Hopefully, it will come before the end of the season.”
On his first outing of the season, Stewart Ball (Bournemouth) won his five-man group but went out 2-0 to Lloyd in the last-eight to start his campaign way down the rankings in 17th place.
Beaten quarter-finalist Callum Browne (Trowbridge), winner of the previous leg in Bournemouth, dropped one place to third.
Chappell, who shared the Gold rankings title with Lloyd in 2013/14 and won it outright last season, is pursuing a career as a tribute act to the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, who, like his son Ethan, is always on his mind.
Alan Connell, a member of dance band Haywire, has agreed to give his time for free to help him produce a demo CD at his private recording studio in Broadstone. So that’s all right.
To people with suspicious minds and a wooden heart who receive the CD in the post, don’t be cruel and scribble ‘return to sender’.
The sixth leg of eight is at Fareham Snooker Club on Sunday, March 13.
BREAKS
Brad Chappell: 97, 50, 44.
Anthony Rice: 55, 50, 46, 41.
Mark Lloyd: 54, 49, 46, 41.
Bradley Cowdroy: 54.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Jonny Mutch (Cambridge SC); 3rd, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 4th, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Arron Smith (Selsey RBL).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Brad Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, James Budd (Fareham SC); 4th, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Jamie Wilson (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 5th, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Cowdroy 2 Joyce 0, Chappell 2 Browne 1, Lloyd 2 Ball 0, Rice 2 Mutch 1.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Chappell 2 Cowdroy 0, Lloyd 2 Rice 0.
FINAL (£50/£25 25/18 points): Chappell 2 Lloyd 1. Frame scores: 52-45, 17-56, 66-57.
Snooker heaven for Beaven
A WET and windy day in Woking was brightened by the smile of an 11-year-old potter from Banstead.
James Beaven collected his first winner’s trophy after defeating Jasmine Bolsover 2-0 in the final of the fifth leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.
“I’ve never won anything before,” declared Beaven. “It feels great.
“I have won a few handicap tournaments but they don’t really count.”
The demon left-hander, who is based at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, took the opening frame at Woking Snooker Centre on the black and left home player Bolsover chasing snookers on the colours in the second.
Earlier, he won his round-robin group - despite a 2-1 defeat by Keegan Reed (Salisbury) - before accounting for leg-two winner Aidan Murphy (Bristol) 2-0 in the last-eight and his Frames clubmate Evan Plummer 2-0 in the semi-finals.
Reflecting on his day’s performance, he said: “It’s been good. I played pretty well.”
A Year 6 pupil at Priory Preparatory School, Beaven first picked up a cue four years ago. He climbed to seventh on the Cuestars rankings and also competes on the EASB Regional Junior Tour South.
The previous day, Bolsover, 16, lost 3-0 to ten-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans in the semi-finals of the Connie Gough Memorial in Dunstable.
Only 15 points (a semi-final place) separate the top five in what is proving to be a very close title race. In fact, each of the five legs has produced a different winner.
Last season’s Bronze rankings winner Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford) maintains his six-point lead over Murphy. The top two both made quarter-final exits. Beaten semi-finalist Connor Benzey (Eastleigh) is three points further back in third. Olly Gibbs (Gosport) is fourth, one point ahead of David Rice (Fordingbridge).
The sixth leg of eight is at Fareham Snooker Club on Sunday, March 13.
BREAKS
Jasmine Bolsover: 45.
Oliver Sykes: 40.
Connor Benzey: 38, 36, 32.
Charlie Pringle: 37.
James Beaven: 34.
Aidan Murphy: 32.
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Drew Hampshire (147 SC, Swindon); 2nd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 5th, Harry Cook (Woking SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, James Beaven (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon); 2nd, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, David Rice (Salisbury SC); 4th, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 5th, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 2nd, Aidan Murphy (Bristol Conservative Club); 3rd, Olly Gibbs (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Harry Jones (Frames, Coulsdon); 5th, Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Charlie Pringle (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Evan Plummer (Frames, Coulsdon); 3rd, Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Plummer 2 Hampshire 0, Beaven 2 Murphy 0, Bolsover 2 Hughes 1, Benzey 2 Pringle 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Beaven 2 Plummer 0, Bolsover 2 Benzey 1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Beaven 2 Bolsover 0.
Hughes calmly takes pole position
RYAN Hughes has hit the front on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour for the first time.
A second tournament win this season took the 13-year-old from Chandler’s Ford two points clear of Ben Tillison.
Hughes warmed up for Sunday’s qualifier for the English Under-14 Championship by defeating his title rival from Portsmouth 2-1 in the final of the fifth leg at Woking Snooker Centre.
The pair shared the first two frames but 15-year-old Tillison was left chasing snookers with two reds remaining in the decider.
Hughes, who also won in Swindon in November, said his success this season was down to keeping his composure.
“I used to get really angry,” he explained. “But now I stay calm because I know it doesn’t help.”
Hughes won four of his five group matches, only losing to fourth-placed Chloe White (Portsmouth), while Tillison was forced to qualify via a three-way play-off.
“In my first game against Shane (Kearns), I played pretty well,” said Hughes, a Year 9 pupil at Thornden School.
“In my next game against Chloe, she slaughtered me. Afterwards, I found what was wrong and started playing well again.”
He then beat first-time semi-finalist Riley Ellis (Swindon) 2-0 to progress to the final as Tillison was accounting for his clubmate White by the same score.
With three legs remaining, the top two have opened up a 22-point gap over third-placed Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford).
Rio Smith had what can only be described as an up-and-down day. The Portsmouth potter missed out on qualifying for the knockout by one point in a three-way, three-reds, aggregate-points play-off.
He then recorded his highest break of 37 against Nat Kidner (Ferndown) in the last-eight of the Plate before picking the balls out in the semi-finals as ten-year-old Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford) went on a run of 41.
The sixth leg of eight is at Fareham Snooker Club on Sunday, March 13.
BREAKS
Bowen Zhu: 25, 22, 20.
Ben Tillison: 25.
Riley Ellis: 25.
Callum White: 23.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); joint 3rd, Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC) & Shane Kearns (Jesters, Swindon); 5th, Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford SC); 6th, Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Riley Ellis (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 5th, Ben Hatch (Southampton).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Hughes 2 Ellis 0, Tillison 2 Chloe White 0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Hughes 2 Tillison 1.
Sibling rivalry in Plate final
TWO Chandler’s Ford brothers battled out the Plate final in Woking.
Ten-year-old Oliver Sykes, receiving a 14-point start, beat his sibling Dan 2-1 on the final pink.
It was 17-year-old Dan’s third Plate final this season. He had finished fourth in the Gold group of death that contained both finalists.
Oliver, who progressed to the final thanks to a 41 break against Rio Smith (Portsmouth), had missed out on the Silver knockout by one frame.
BREAKS
Oliver Sykes: 41.
Rio Smith: 37.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
LAST-16: Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), James Budd (Fareham SC) beat Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC), Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth), Arron Smith (Selsey RBL) beat Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC), Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat David Rice (Salisbury SC), Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS: R Smith beat Kidner, O Sykes beat Budd, Reed beat A Smith, D Sykes beat Shaw.
SEMI-FINALS: O Sykes beat R Smith, D Sykes beat Reed.
FINAL: O Sykes 2 D Sykes 1.
Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)
About Cuestars
Founded more than 25 years ago by director John Hunter, Cuestars runs grass-root snooker tournaments across the South of England.
Competitions take place on Sundays between October and May, and cater for players of all ages.
All Cuestars tournaments are played off scratch. There are no handicaps, except in the Under-21 Plate, the Under-21 team event and the Under-21 Handicap Championship. Cuestars uses a round-robin format leading to a knockout.
Competitions for 2015/16 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.