Lloyd faces top professionals in Pink Ribbon

MARK Lloyd disposed of one professional and acquitted himself well against two others in the prestigious Pink Ribbon tournament in Gloucester.

The English Under-21 Champion was eventually knocked out by household names Stuart Bingham and Mark Allen.

A record 397 entries, each player could enter twice, were received for the tenth running of the breast cancer charity event at the South West Snooker Academy.

Lloyd won three matches in the top half of the draw and three in the bottom half to reach the round where the professionals entered.

The 19-year-old from Gosport then lost 3-0 to former world champion Bingham, who went on to win the final, but insisted the scoreline didn’t reflect the match.

“It was a great experience,” he said.

“We had good safety battles and the first two frames were decided on the pink and a re-spotted black, both going in Stuart’s favour.”

In the bottom half, Lloyd beat rookie professional Riley Parsons 3-0 but went down 4-1 to Allen, who lost in the final.

He took the first frame against the 2018 Masters champion, didn’t have the run of the balls in the next and lost the third to a 132 clearance.

“I was pleased to have got drawn against a former Masters and former world champion,” said Lloyd.

“Both players deserved to get to the final of the event from what I witnessed.

“Hopefully, I’ll get more experiences of playing players that are of that class again at some point soon.”

Picture by Tim Dunkley

Have you got any snooker news?

Send me your snooker news now. It doesn’t have to be from a Cuestars tournament. E-mail me details or contact me via Facebook and you could be on the Cuestars website and in your local newspaper. E-mail: [email protected]

Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)