Eight-year-old is youngest champion
AN EIGHT-year-old Cuestars Bronze Tour lad has become the youngest champion in the history of a junior snooker league.
Pint-sized potter Jamie Wilson clinched the Eastleigh & District Under-13 Premier League title by 11 points from second-placed Luke Beebe.
Wilson, who first picked up a cue aged five, has a top break in competition of 31 and travels up to Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club every Saturday morning from his Portsmouth home.
The rapidly improving Beebe, who is targeting next season’s Bronze Tour, actually defeated Wilson in each of the last three weeks of the 16-week season.
After claiming his first major trophy, the newly-crowned champion paid tribute to the ten-year-old runner-up from Eastleigh.
“It was a little bit tricky when I played Luke Beebe,” admitted Wilson. “Luke has been my biggest rival.”
Alex White, nine, finished third ahead of Connor Benzey, ten, and Charlie North, 12.
Elsewhere, ten-year-old Steven Hughes edged Albert Rogers, also ten, in a crunch match to clinch the Division 1 title.
League 41 started at 9am last Saturday. New players are welcome to join any week. A World Snooker coach attends every session. For more details, contact league organiser Jim Everett on 023 8025 4834.
Picture by Kevin Legg: Eastleigh & District Under-13 League, top five, from left: Luke Beebe, Alex White, champion Jamie Wilson, Charlie North, Connor Benzey.