Sykes claims Q School place in Joe Perry Super Series

OLIVER Sykes has won all three legs of the Cuestars Joe Perry Under-21 Super Series and secured the free Q School place.

The 18-year-old from Chandler’s Ford banked another £500 after beating the 2022/23 champion Aidan Murphy (Bristol) 3-2 in the third final at Waterlooville Sports Bar.

Sykes wrapped up a “very twitchy decider” with a 79 clearance.

It came six days after his last-32 exit from the European Under-21 Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Evan Plummer (Coulsdon) recorded the day’s highest break of 102 in the round-robin group stages.

But Sykes’s 123 in the first leg in Newbury bagged the series high-break prize of a pound a point sponsored by Michael Waring from snookerhub.co.uk.

Zain Jeraj (Tooting) topped his six-man group, which included Plummer, and progressed to the semi-finals for the first time.

And a fortnight before his English Under-14 Championship final in Tamworth, 11-year-old William Thomson qualified for the knockout for the first time after coming back from 1-0 down to beat Harry Wyatt (Ferndown) 2-1 in a match that decided who finished second in the group.

That completes the second year of this ground-breaking junior series. Three legs. £40 entry. Guaranteed prize money of £960 at each event. Series high-break prize. Free Q School place provided by Joe Perry for the overall winner. And a round-robin format. To be eligible, you only have to be a Cuestars member which costs £10 a year.

The season finale was sponsored by snookercrazy.com, Pitman Training and Waterlooville Sports Bar.

BREAKS

Evan Plummer: 102, 61, 59, 50.
Aidan Murphy: 91, 64.
Oliver Sykes: 84, 79, 74, 55, 51.
Ronnie Sullivan: 68, 65.
O’Shay Scott: 65, 54.
William Thomson: 51.

RESULTS

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Oliver Sykes; 2nd, William Thomson; 3rd, Harry Wyatt; 4th, Jamie Hogg; 5th, Asten Sahota.

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Aidan Murphy; 2nd, Simon Bubb; 3rd, O’Shay Scott; 4th, Jack Squires; 5th, Noah Gartell.

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Ronnie Sullivan; 2nd, Dylan Smith; 3rd, John Donovan; 4th, Brandon Nguyen; 5th, Navraj Landa.

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Zain Jeraj; 2nd, Evan Plummer; 3rd, Lee Whaley; 4th, Will Forster; 5th, Tom McEvoy; 6th, Lee Clayden.

QUARTER-FINALS (£30): Sykes 3-0 Smith, Jeraj 3-1 Bubb, Murphy 3-2 Plummer, Sullivan 3-2 Thomson.

SEMI-FINALS (£70): Sykes 3-0 Jeraj, Murphy 3-1 Sullivan.

FINAL (£500/£200): Sykes 3-2 Murphy.

Picture, from left: Referee Phil Watson, Marc Lockley from snookercrazy.com, champion Oliver Sykes.

By Tim Dunkley and Chris Wyatt