EVENT-one winner Stewart Ball secured his second Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour winner’s trophy at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, near Southampton.
In a repeat of the first-leg final in Salisbury last October, the 16-year-old from the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, saw off his nine-year-old clubmate Bradley Cowdroy.
Ball admitted that a “crucial” fluke halted his young opponent’s charge towards the end of the frame.
Cowdroy had clawed back the deficit to just 12 points and left Ball snookered on the final red.
But the teenager fluked a pot AND landed perfectly on the black.
Ball climbed to second place behind Matthew Bellinger (Jesters, Swindon), who finished fourth in the group of death that provided both left-handed finalists.
Just two qualifiers from each round-robin group of seven meant heartbreak for some as organisers battled to fit in the final games.
Liam Day, making his Cuestars debut on his home tables, remarkably won all six matches. The 14-year-old’s sensational run eventually ended in quarter-final defeat by Cowdroy.
And Cowdroy’s victory over Olly Clark, 12, also from Chandler’s Ford SC, meant that although the pair finished on level points, Clark missed out on a quarter-final spot.
Woking’s Jasmine Bolsover, 12, was beaten in the quarter-finals for the fourth time this season, thanks to a 22 clearance by Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC) who went out to Cowdroy in the last-four.
And a fifth semi-final place this season for Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC) was denied by Karl Eggar (Stoke SC, Gosport), who clinically cleared the last three colours after his opponent missed four attempts at the match-ball blue.
Ball, who knocked out Spike Hull (Chandler’s Ford SC) in the quarter-finals, ended Eggar’s hopes of a first final
The sixth of the eight legs is at the South West Snooker Academy, Gloucester, on Sunday, March 4.
BREAKS
Olly Clark: 30.
Bradley Cowdroy: 22.
Mike Trigg: 22.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 2nd, Karl Eggar (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Ashley Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); joint 4th, Luke Day (Chandler’s Ford SC), Arnie Petty (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 7th, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Liam Day (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Spike Hull (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Keiran Murray (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Matthew Boudier (Stoke SC, Gosport); 5th, Bradley Redmond (Chandler’s Ford SC); 6th, Corey Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury); 7th, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Olly Clark (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Matthew Bellinger (Jesters, Swindon); joint 5th, Bradley Lane (Copnor SC, Portsmouth), Mitchell Snook (Chandler’s Ford SC); 7th, Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Thomas Holton (Woking SC); joint 4th, Joseph Richardson (Crucible, Newbury), Daniel Compton (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 6th, Kaine Petty (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 7th, Bradley Wrench (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
QUARTER-FINALS (8 points): Trigg beat Bolsover 1-0, Cowdroy beat Liam Day 1-0, Ball beat Hull 1-0, Eggar beat Austen Petty 1-0.
SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Cowdroy beat Trigg 1-0, Ball beat Eggar 1-0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Ball beat Cowdroy 1-0.
About Cuestars
Founded 18 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 aged eight to 80 - and in some cases even older!
All Cuestars tournaments, apart from the Team Championship, are played off scratch. There are no handicaps. Cuestars uses a round-robin format leading to a knockout.
Competitions for 2011/12 include: South of England Championship Tour; Under-21 Gold, Silver and Bronze Tours; Weekend Junior Section Rankings and Masters Tour (40+).
Website: cuestars.uk.com. E-mail John Hunter: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.