Sykes in tip-top form
OLIVER Sykes survived a tip malfunction to win the first leg of the Cuestars Under-21 Gold Tour at Salisbury Snooker Club.
The 18-year-old pocketed £100 in prize money after beating Chandlers Ford clubmate O’Shay Scott 3-1 in the final.
Sykes lost his opening round-robin group match to Scott and then was forced to borrow Asten Sahota’s cue for a short time in his game against home player Dylan Beer.
“My tip came off in my group match against Dylan,” he explained. “I didn’t think I was going to get through the group after that.
“Dave (Thomson) stuck a new one on for me and I manged to knock in a few breaks. So it wasn’t a catastrophe.”
Reflecting on the final against 15-year-old Scott, he said: “I hate playing him on club tables. Any long ball that I leave him, he knocks in and gets in the balls so easily.”
But he added: “He’s great to watch.”
Zain Jeraj (Tooting) and Will Forster (Wickham) made the last four of the event sponsored by Salisbury SC.
Before the draw, Sykes was presented with £100 and a trophy by Cuestars director John Hunter for winning the Cuestars World U21 Line Ups Challenge.
The left-hander is now preparing to face world number 95 Julien Leclercq (Belgium) in the first round of the BetVictor English Open in Brentwood on Friday after receiving a wildcard from the EPSB.
For more information about the event sponsor, visit: salisburysnookerclub.co.uk.
Frame Sports Bar, Coulsdon hosts the second leg of ten on Sunday, October 6.
BREAKS
Oliver Sykes: 88, 78, 72, 69, 59, 56, 51; Ryan Spratt: 70.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, O’Shay Scott (Chandlers Ford SC); 2nd, Oliver Sykes (Chandlers Ford SC); 3rd, Asten Sahota (Chandlers Ford SC); 4th, Riley Ellis (Chandlers Ford SC); 5th, Dylan Beer (Salisbury SC); 6th, William Thomson (Chandlers Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Will Forster (Waterlooville Sports Bar); 2nd, Zain Jeraj (London Snooker, Tooting); 3rd, William Hurley (Lanes Sports Bar, Rayleigh); 4th, Ryan Spratt (Chandlers Ford SC); 5th, Donnie Gola (Mildmay Club).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Sykes 2-0 Forster, Scott 2-0 Jeraj.
FINAL (£100/£25, 25/18 points): Sykes 3-1 Scott.