Connor leads race for Premier Tour place

EASTLEIGH teenager Connor Benzey leads the EASB Regional Junior Tour (South West) after winning a second successive tournament on the under-20 circuit.

The 14-year-old defeated his Chandler’s Ford clubmate Dan Sykes 2-1 from 1-0 down in the final of the third leg at Fareham Snooker Club.

It was a repeat of the scoreline in the second leg in Gloucester.

Trademark break building coupled with clever matchplay put Benzey in pole position in the race for a place on the Premier Junior Tour, a national circuit for the country’s top-40 under-21 players.

He has a narrow eight-point lead over Sykes, 18, with three events left.

In the round-robin group stages, Benzey overcame Anthony Rice (Fordingbridge) 3-0, Lewis Parnham (Gloucester) 3-0 and Bradley Cowdroy (Bournemouth) 2-1.

He then defeated Rice, again, 2-0 in the last-four.

Reflecting on the day, Benzey, who prefers to let his cue do the talking, simply said: “It was good.”

The Cuestars Gold Tur player is sponsored by Pitman Training Winchester, Hillcrest Structural and GH Property Management.

Picture by Tim Dunkley

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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)