Eight-year-old wins marathon Rotary Summer Cup
AN EIGHT-year-old spent a fruitful 108 hours on the green baize during a school holiday competition at Chandlers Ford Snooker Club.
Pocket dynamo O’Shay Scott is the fifth name on the Rotary Summer Cup trophy after missing just one of the 28 days of snooker-based activities.
During the marathon five-and-a-half-week event, Scott increased his highest break to 37 in an Open Series match against English Under-14 Champion Olly Gibbs.
And the Eastleigh lad, who is a nephew of former professional Danny Zagaroli, made an 84 on the line-up – a popular practice routine known to snooker players across the world – and passed the fifth and sixth levels of the Cuestars Coaching Programme.
World Snooker coach Tim Dunkley, who runs the school holiday competitions and works with the budding star, said: “What O’Shay has achieved this summer is great.
“A high break of 37 and a line-up score of 84 is extremely rare for an eight-year-old.
“But if he could just slow his cue action down, he could be doing even better.”
The highest break of the competition was a 94 compiled by 11-year-old Oliver Sykes against sixth-placed Lee Cooper in the fourth week.
It was one of ten new high breaks recorded by the players over the summer.
The next event is the Autumn Half-Term Cup which runs from October 23-27.
Scott begins his second season on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour at Waterlooville Sports Bar next Sunday (September 10).
Top 10: O’Shay Scott 276 pts, Riccardo Drayton 190, Oliver Sykes 185, Joe Hampson 104, Ryan Hughes 64, Lee Cooper 59, Dominic Elkin 57, Lennon Savage 50, Connor Benzey 46, William Thomson 41.
Picture by Tim Dunkley
Final day line-up, from left: Joe Hampson, Byron Tolliday-Watts, Riccardo Drayton, O’Shay Scott, Lee Cooper, Oliver Sykes.
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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)