Dan’s the man
DAN Sykes has ended a “character building” season on a high.
The Cuestars Silver Tour teenager (pictured left) from Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club now has his name on a winner’s trophy for the first time.
After a long, hard campaign slogging away on the EASB Regional Junior Tour, Sykes proved his undoubted talent on the longest day by landing the Tim Dunkley Cup at his home club.
And he beat a player in the final whom he’d lost to twice this season on the RJT.
The 15-year-old – who lives just a yellow skateboard’s trip from the Chandler’s Ford club – accounted for Jonny Mutch 2-1.
Sykes cruised through the first frame 71-6. But having laid the foundations for a sizeable break in the next, he missed the black off its spot and his 14-year-old opponent from Cambridge made him pay.
Reflecting on the miss, Sykes said: “I knew that would boost his confidence. Then I started missing more so he deserved to win that one.
“I knew he was getting into gear so I had to start thinking about what shots I was going to play and make sure they were correct.”
A nip-and-tuck decider was wrapped up when the left-hander drilled a medium-length brown into the black corner pocket with lashings of top spin off the top cushion to land perfectly on the match-ball blue into the middle.
“I was so determined,” he declared, clutching the trophy named after his coach. “That was the chance. I had to take it.”
Dunkley said: “I was delighted for Dan. He’s come through a character building season.
“He had a few knocks but he always got up and was ready for more. It would have been so easy to pack in the regional circuit halfway through the season and retreat to the comfort zone of his own club. But he didn’t.”
And the World Snooker coach added: “The brown to blue was the shot of the match. He cued it beautifully.”
Sykes missed only one of the eight legs on the EASB Regional Junior Tour because it clashed with a Cuestars event. Towards the end of his debut campaign he won two matches and finished in 25th spot.
He competed in all eight events on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour, losing three semi-finals, collecting a runners-up trophy in Fareham and finishing a creditable fifth in his first season.
In the last-four, Mutch had knocked out defending champion Luke Beebe (resplendent in a new pink-backed waistcoat and pink bow-tie) 2-1 on the black and Sykes beat Austen Petty by the same score.
Petty recorded the day’s top break of 51 against Steven Hughes in the group stages. The ever-improving Charlie Pringle, hoping to make his Cuestars debut in October, won the Plate.
KNOCKOUT RESULTS (H/CAPS)
Quarter-finals: Luke Beebe (0) 2 Oli Line (16) 0, Jonny Mutch (0) 2 Lee Fitzpatrick (0) 0, Austen Petty (0) 2 Oliver Sykes (25) 1, Dan Sykes (0) 2 Steven Hughes (8) 0. Semi-finals: Mutch 2 Beebe 1, D Sykes 2 Petty 1.Final: D Sykes 2 Mutch 1. Frame scores: 71-6, 37-76, 50-28.Final referee: Steven Hughes.Aggregate-points Plate: Charlie Pringle (14) 260, Luke Oliver (13) 171, Bowen Zhu (15) 163.
Breaks: Petty 51 & 30, Beebe 40.
Report and picture by Tim Dunkley.