O’Shay, 9, wins under-13 title
HE’S not the youngest ever Eastleigh & District Under-13 Premier League champion but he’s not far off it.
O’Shay Scott, who turned nine last month, is the 55th winner of the Saturday morning competition at Chandlers Ford Snooker Club.
With one week left of the 20-week season, the pint-sized potter from Eastleigh has an unassailable lead of 23 points over Lennon Savage, seven.
Five-year-old William Thomson is three points further back in third and Lewis Aisthorpe Buckley, nine, will finish fourth.
Reflecting on the campaign, Scott said: “It was good.”
He added that he’d like to win six under-13 titles but that beating Oliver Sykes’ record of five “doesn’t bother me”.
Scott is the second youngest winner of the league that has become the breeding ground for some of the best young cueists in the country.
Jamie Wilson was five months shy of his ninth birthday when he claimed the League 40 title in 2012.
World Snooker coach Tim Dunkley, who helps to run the junior leagues and has worked with Scott for a year, said: “O’Shay so much natural talent. It’s almost frightening.
“But he races around the table like an angry wasp.
“One of the dads said he is a mix of Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White and Ronnie ‘Rocket’ O’Sullivan.”
Scott, who attends St Swithun Wells Catholic Primary School in Chandler’s Ford, has a high break in competition of 37.
He won five of the six school holiday competitions at Chandlers Ford SC in 2017, made his debut earlier this month in the English Under-14 Championship and is currently lying in fifth place on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour.
Meanwhile, Steven Hughes takes a one-point lead and a one-frame advantage over defending champion Sykes into the final week of the Under-19 League.
Sykes, 12, halved the deficit in this week’s action but Connor Benzey won the top group.
Wilson, 14, recorded the day’s highest break of 86.
New leagues start on Saturday, February 3, at Chandlers Ford SC. The under-13 session runs from 9-11am followed by the under-19s from 11am-1pm. Complete beginners are catered for.
For more information about this and other opportunities for junior snooker players, ring the club on 02380 254834.
Picture by Tim Dunkley, from left:
Name: Lennon Savage
Age: 7
High break: 15
Name: Lewis Aisthorpe-Buckley
Age: 9
High break: 22
Name: O’Shay Scott
Age: 9
High break: 37
Name: William Thomson
Age: 5
High break: 14
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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)