Ten-year-old wins £500

A TEN-year-old Cuestars member has won £500 in a six-month snooker competition.

Silver Tour player Asten Sahota (pictured) scooped the massive jackpot for finishing top of the Open Series rankings at Chandlers Ford Snooker Club.

Eleven-year-old Dylan Beer claimed second place and £430 after a remarkable run in the last month which saw three tournament wins in four weeks and four finals on the trot. Will Forster will receive £340 for finishing third.

A new 26-week series starts at 1pm on Saturday (July 16). There is £2,235 in prize money up for grabs for the top-12 ranked players.

The format is a handicapped straight knockout with a plate for those players losing their first match. Cost is £12 for club members. There is a guest fee for non-members. Handicaps are automatically adjusted weekly by a clever spreadsheet. No age limit. No pre-registration. No dress code. No miss rule.

Free practice tables are available, subject to customer bookings, until both finals end around 6-7pm. That means up to six hours snooker for £12.

We get an average of 20 runners each week. A typical week’s entry would include four or five of our new generation of exciting young players aged nine to 11, a handful of Cuestars Silver or Gold Tour players, a sprinkling of recognised century breakers, some older but experienced club players (Cuestars Seniors Tour standard, for example), maybe one or two from the World Women’s Tour and perhaps a couple of players of 20 break standard who want a bit more than just social snooker.

It’s this mix that has made the Open Series so popular over the last 12 years.

The Series 30 presentation will take place on Saturday before play commences.

Other Cuestars money winners are: Jack Dady £202.50, Riley Ellis £202.50, O’Shay Scott £108.33, William Thomson £108.33, Neil Carroll £108.33, Caden Read £70, Steve Read £60, Phil Morgan £55, Austen Petty £50.