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LONDONER Ronnie Blake reckons there was no home advantage after claiming the fourth leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour.
The 20-year-old from Carshalton defeated Connor Benzey 2-1 on one of the professional standard tables at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon.
Benzey just needed the brown to win the first frame but lost on the black. The 14-year-old first-time finalist from Eastleigh forced a decider on the blue but Blake cruised to victory by a distance in the third.
Blake, who climbed to third in the rankings, said: “It’s been a struggle but I came through.
“It was scrappy. I didn’t feel as if I was cueing well.”
And he added that he rarely practises on the Star tables at his home club.
Rankings leader Mark Lloyd (Gosport), beaten 2-1 from 1-0 up by his Premier Junior Tour colleague Blake in the semi-finals, extended his lead to 16 points over Anthony Rice (Fordingbridge).
Blake, who insists he’s not bothered about going a frame or two behind, admitted: “(Lloyd) can play a bit and he can knock in a few.”
Ten-year-old Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford) won all three group games against Blake, Rice and Arron Smith (Chichester) before going out 2-1 to Benzey in the last-eight.
Mickey Joyce, appearing in his first Gold semi-final, lost 2-1 on the final black to Benzey. The 13-year-old from Basingstoke was promoted in 2014 after winning the Silver rankings title 16 days before his 11th birthday.
Blake knocked in the day’s highest break of 65 in his 2-0 quarter-final victory over Callum Browne (Trowbridge).
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
BREAKS
Ronnie Blake: 65.
Anthony Rice: 50, 45, 44.
Connor Benzey: 50.
Reece King: 47.
Mickey Joyce: 41, 41.
Callum Browne: 40.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 5th, Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Olly Gibbs (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, James Budd (Fareham SC); 5th, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C); 1st, Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Ronnie Blake (Frames, Coulsdon); 4th, Arron Smith (Selsey RBL, Chichester).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Lloyd 2 Gibbs 0. Blake 2 Browne 0, Benzey 2 O Sykes 1, Joyce 2 Rice 1.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Blake 2 Lloyd 1, Benzey 2 Joyce 1.
FINAL (£70/£35 25/18 points): Blake 2 Benzey 1.
Cuestars record breaker
RYAN Hughes has earned himself a place in the Cuestars records book.
The 14-year-old from Chandler’s Ford won the fourth leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon.
And that was an incredible sixth tournament win in seven outings on the junior circuit.
A trawl through the archives revealed that no player has matched or beaten that run since the Gold, Silver and Bronze Tours replaced the handicapped events in 2009.
Hughes - who, in fact, has now won eight out of 12 - kept his nerve to edge home player Evan Plummer on two black-ball games in the final. And he was 20 points behind with 25 on in the second frame.
Despite competing in such an important match, Hughes maintained his trademark outwardly calm persona and strode around the professional standard Star table, equipped with TV-style high lighting, as if he owned it.
He insisted he was not fazed by the pressure of the occasion or by his friends and family standing in the shadows.
“It’s nice to know that people are watching,” he said.
Although the teenager described Plummer as “a very good player”, he added: “It doesn’t matter who I play. You don’t play the player, you play the table.”
The rankings leader only lost one frame, to Nat Kidner (Ferndown) in the group stages, out of 13 throughout the event.
“I played pretty well all day,” he said. “It’s been good. I enjoyed it.”
Hughes won the final two legs last season to secure the Bronze Tour rankings title, clinched the Bronze championship play-off in May and has now collected three winner’s trophies from the first four Silver legs this season.
In the last-four, Hughes overcame his Chandler’s Ford SC clubmate Bowen Zhu 2-0 while Plummer beat Charlie Pringle, also from Chandlers Ford, by the same scoreline.
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
BREAKS
Evan Plummer: 38.
Bowen Zhu: 34.
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Charlie Pringle (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Drew Hampshire (147, Swindon); 4th, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 5th, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC); 6th, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Evan Plummer (Frames, Coulsdon); 3rd, David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Harry Jones (Frames, Coulsdon); 5th, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Plummer 2 Pringle 0, Hughes 2 Zhu 0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Hughes 2 Plummer 0.
Kearns edges further ahead
SWINDON teenager Shane Kearns survived a nail-biting group stage to edge further ahead in the race for the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour rankings title.
Kearns collected his second winner’s trophy of the season after beating Chloe White 2-0 in the final of the fourth leg at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, south London.
But the 15-year-old admitted that he “just about scraped” through to the knockout.
Although he recorded his highest break of 30 against the home club’s Ronnie Sullivan in the group stages, he lost 2-1 to White (Havant) and then 2-1 to Will Forster (Gosport) in his fourth and last match. And that one frame took him through to the quarter-finals.
“One minute it was good and then it was shocking, all over the place,” he said. “I just about scraped through by one frame.”
Kearns dispatched his Jesters clubmate Riley Ellis 2-0 in the last-four and White by the same scoreline in the final on one of the club’s professional standard tables.
Reflecting on the Star table, he said: “It’s fast. I’ve played on it once before (in last year’s final) but it’s tough getting used to it.”
Kearns won the first leg in Woking, was runner-up to Chloe’s brother Callum in Salisbury and was knocked out in the semi-finals in Swindon by Chloe, whom he leads in the rankings by 16 points. Ellis is third and Callum is fourth.
Sullivan had a day to remember on his Cuestars debut. The 12-year-old took a frame off the eventual tournament winner and recorded his highest break of 24 against Harry Joyce (Eastleigh).
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
BREAKS
Chloe White: 34.
Shane Kearns: 30.
Callum White: 27.
Ronnie Sullivan: 24.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Shane Kearns (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Will Forster (Mayfair, Gosport); 4th, Harry Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Ronnie Sullivan (Frames, Coulsdon).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Riley Ellis (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Thomas Saunders (Stepfield SC, Witham, Essex).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Chloe White 2 Petty 0, Kearns 2 Ellis 0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Kearns 2 Chloe White 0.
Rare Plate appearance
BRADLEY Cowdroy made a rare appearance in the Plate competition and took home the winner’s trophy.
It was more than two years ago that the Bournemouth potter won promotion from the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour to the Gold Tour.
Since then, the 14-year-old has played in 18 tournaments and qualified from the round-robin group stages in all but three.
Three defeats out of four during the fourth leg at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, south London, meant Cowdroy missed out on a place in the last-eight.
But he went on to beat Callum White (Havant) in the Plate final.
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
PRELIMS: James Budd (Fareham SC) beat Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC), Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Will Forster (Mayfair, Gosport), Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat Harry Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC).
QUARTER-FINALS: King beat Budd, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Reed, Thomas Saunders (Stepfield SC, Witham, Essex) beat Ronnie Sullivan (Frames, Coulsdon), Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Nat Kidner. (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
SEMI-FINALS: White beat King, Cowdroy beat Saunders.
FINAL: Cowdroy beat White.
Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)
The 20-year-old from Carshalton defeated Connor Benzey 2-1 on one of the professional standard tables at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon.
Benzey just needed the brown to win the first frame but lost on the black. The 14-year-old first-time finalist from Eastleigh forced a decider on the blue but Blake cruised to victory by a distance in the third.
Blake, who climbed to third in the rankings, said: “It’s been a struggle but I came through.
“It was scrappy. I didn’t feel as if I was cueing well.”
And he added that he rarely practises on the Star tables at his home club.
Rankings leader Mark Lloyd (Gosport), beaten 2-1 from 1-0 up by his Premier Junior Tour colleague Blake in the semi-finals, extended his lead to 16 points over Anthony Rice (Fordingbridge).
Blake, who insists he’s not bothered about going a frame or two behind, admitted: “(Lloyd) can play a bit and he can knock in a few.”
Ten-year-old Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford) won all three group games against Blake, Rice and Arron Smith (Chichester) before going out 2-1 to Benzey in the last-eight.
Mickey Joyce, appearing in his first Gold semi-final, lost 2-1 on the final black to Benzey. The 13-year-old from Basingstoke was promoted in 2014 after winning the Silver rankings title 16 days before his 11th birthday.
Blake knocked in the day’s highest break of 65 in his 2-0 quarter-final victory over Callum Browne (Trowbridge).
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
BREAKS
Ronnie Blake: 65.
Anthony Rice: 50, 45, 44.
Connor Benzey: 50.
Reece King: 47.
Mickey Joyce: 41, 41.
Callum Browne: 40.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 5th, Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Olly Gibbs (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, James Budd (Fareham SC); 5th, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C); 1st, Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Ronnie Blake (Frames, Coulsdon); 4th, Arron Smith (Selsey RBL, Chichester).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Lloyd 2 Gibbs 0. Blake 2 Browne 0, Benzey 2 O Sykes 1, Joyce 2 Rice 1.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Blake 2 Lloyd 1, Benzey 2 Joyce 1.
FINAL (£70/£35 25/18 points): Blake 2 Benzey 1.
Cuestars record breaker
RYAN Hughes has earned himself a place in the Cuestars records book.
The 14-year-old from Chandler’s Ford won the fourth leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon.
And that was an incredible sixth tournament win in seven outings on the junior circuit.
A trawl through the archives revealed that no player has matched or beaten that run since the Gold, Silver and Bronze Tours replaced the handicapped events in 2009.
Hughes - who, in fact, has now won eight out of 12 - kept his nerve to edge home player Evan Plummer on two black-ball games in the final. And he was 20 points behind with 25 on in the second frame.
Despite competing in such an important match, Hughes maintained his trademark outwardly calm persona and strode around the professional standard Star table, equipped with TV-style high lighting, as if he owned it.
He insisted he was not fazed by the pressure of the occasion or by his friends and family standing in the shadows.
“It’s nice to know that people are watching,” he said.
Although the teenager described Plummer as “a very good player”, he added: “It doesn’t matter who I play. You don’t play the player, you play the table.”
The rankings leader only lost one frame, to Nat Kidner (Ferndown) in the group stages, out of 13 throughout the event.
“I played pretty well all day,” he said. “It’s been good. I enjoyed it.”
Hughes won the final two legs last season to secure the Bronze Tour rankings title, clinched the Bronze championship play-off in May and has now collected three winner’s trophies from the first four Silver legs this season.
In the last-four, Hughes overcame his Chandler’s Ford SC clubmate Bowen Zhu 2-0 while Plummer beat Charlie Pringle, also from Chandlers Ford, by the same scoreline.
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
BREAKS
Evan Plummer: 38.
Bowen Zhu: 34.
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Charlie Pringle (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Drew Hampshire (147, Swindon); 4th, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 5th, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC); 6th, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Evan Plummer (Frames, Coulsdon); 3rd, David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Harry Jones (Frames, Coulsdon); 5th, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Plummer 2 Pringle 0, Hughes 2 Zhu 0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Hughes 2 Plummer 0.
Kearns edges further ahead
SWINDON teenager Shane Kearns survived a nail-biting group stage to edge further ahead in the race for the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour rankings title.
Kearns collected his second winner’s trophy of the season after beating Chloe White 2-0 in the final of the fourth leg at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, south London.
But the 15-year-old admitted that he “just about scraped” through to the knockout.
Although he recorded his highest break of 30 against the home club’s Ronnie Sullivan in the group stages, he lost 2-1 to White (Havant) and then 2-1 to Will Forster (Gosport) in his fourth and last match. And that one frame took him through to the quarter-finals.
“One minute it was good and then it was shocking, all over the place,” he said. “I just about scraped through by one frame.”
Kearns dispatched his Jesters clubmate Riley Ellis 2-0 in the last-four and White by the same scoreline in the final on one of the club’s professional standard tables.
Reflecting on the Star table, he said: “It’s fast. I’ve played on it once before (in last year’s final) but it’s tough getting used to it.”
Kearns won the first leg in Woking, was runner-up to Chloe’s brother Callum in Salisbury and was knocked out in the semi-finals in Swindon by Chloe, whom he leads in the rankings by 16 points. Ellis is third and Callum is fourth.
Sullivan had a day to remember on his Cuestars debut. The 12-year-old took a frame off the eventual tournament winner and recorded his highest break of 24 against Harry Joyce (Eastleigh).
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
BREAKS
Chloe White: 34.
Shane Kearns: 30.
Callum White: 27.
Ronnie Sullivan: 24.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Shane Kearns (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Will Forster (Mayfair, Gosport); 4th, Harry Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Ronnie Sullivan (Frames, Coulsdon).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Riley Ellis (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Thomas Saunders (Stepfield SC, Witham, Essex).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Chloe White 2 Petty 0, Kearns 2 Ellis 0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Kearns 2 Chloe White 0.
Rare Plate appearance
BRADLEY Cowdroy made a rare appearance in the Plate competition and took home the winner’s trophy.
It was more than two years ago that the Bournemouth potter won promotion from the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour to the Gold Tour.
Since then, the 14-year-old has played in 18 tournaments and qualified from the round-robin group stages in all but three.
Three defeats out of four during the fourth leg at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, south London, meant Cowdroy missed out on a place in the last-eight.
But he went on to beat Callum White (Havant) in the Plate final.
For more information about event sponsor Frames Sports Bar, go to www.framessportsbar.co.uk and also visit www.cuesports.club, the new home of snooker.
The fifth leg of ten is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 8.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
PRELIMS: James Budd (Fareham SC) beat Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC), Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Will Forster (Mayfair, Gosport), Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat Harry Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC).
QUARTER-FINALS: King beat Budd, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Reed, Thomas Saunders (Stepfield SC, Witham, Essex) beat Ronnie Sullivan (Frames, Coulsdon), Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Nat Kidner. (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
SEMI-FINALS: White beat King, Cowdroy beat Saunders.
FINAL: Cowdroy beat White.
Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)
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