Shane Castle 4-6 Mark Selby

SHANE Castle looked relaxed and at home during his BBC TV debut in the UK Championship last night.

This is the stage the 15-year-old former Cuestars member (pictured left) has been destined for since he made his first competitive appearance in the junior leagues at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club just over eight years ago.

Although world number two and defending champion Mark Selby took the first frame at the York Barbican, Castle delighted the audience, commentators, and friends and family back home by taking a 3-1 lead into the mid-session interval.

Selby then won three on the bounce. Castle levelled at 4-4 but lost the next two.

Some said he went for too many shots. Didn’t they say the same thing about Judd Trump?

Castle, who is based at Cue T’s Snooker Lounge in Marchwood, was one of seven amateurs whose performances at Q School in May earned invitations from World Snooker to fill places not taken up by all of the 128 professionals.

His last appearance in a Cuestars event was on October 23, 2011, in a Championship Tour leg at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon.

Then aged 13, Castle compiled breaks of 135, 81, 79, 72 and 68 before losing in the final to his cousin Billy.

Picture by Monique Limbos