Cowdroy’s 52-month wait is over
A BOURNEMOUTH teenage was delighted to win his first regional snooker tournament for more than four years.
Bradley Cowdroy ended a drought lasting a little over 52 months with victory in the south west section of the EASB Regional Junior Tour.
The 14-year-old defeated Dan Sykes, from Chandler’s Ford, 2-1 in the final of the first leg of six at the Ambassador Snooker Club in Poole. “It was, of course, a great feeling to win,” declared the talented left-hander. “It was something I’ve been waiting far too long for on the regional stage. “But I was also very determined to have a good run as I was quite disappointed with my performance at Woking last week (on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour).”And he added: “It was a brilliant day.”
Cowdroy, who is based at Greenbaize Snooker Club, progressed from his four-man round-robin group in second place having lost only to “good friend” Steven Hughes, also from Chandler’s Ford. Hughes had also beaten Cowdroy in the quarter-finals of the Woking Cuestars event the previous weekend. He then overcame three more Chandler’s Ford SC players in the knockout, coming back from 1-0 down to beat both Connor Benzey and ten-year-old Oliver Sykes 2-1 before prevailing in a “very close” final against Oliver’s 17-year-old brother Dan. Cowdroy said: “All my matches against (the Chandler’s Ford lads) from group stage to final were very tough and I am sure they will all be challenging for many titles throughout this season.”
Cowdroy was introduced to full-sized tables at the age of seven and made his Cuestars debut aged eight on home tables on January 9, 2011, where he reached the quarter-finals. His only two tournament wins came on the Bronze Tour in Gloucester in March, 2012, and in Swindon two months later. He had two seasons in Bronze, two seasons in Silver and is in his third season in Gold, where he has been runner-up on three occasions. He was also runner-up to Mark Lloyd, then the English Under-16 Champion, in the Gold Championship play-off in Swindon this year and received his trophy from professional Kurt Maflin.Earlier this year, Cowdroy reached the last-16 of the English Under-14 Championship. The EASB Regional Junior Tour is a feeder circuit for the national Premier Junior Tour, which is restricted to the country’s best 40 under-21 players.
Picture by Tim Dunkley: Kurt Maflin (left) and Bradley Cowdroy.
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