National heartbreak for Cuestars trio
HAMPSHIRE’S three young stars were sent packing by northern lads in the final stages of the national junior championships at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds.
But at least the trio all went out to eventual finalists.
Shane Castle’s bid to retain the English Under-14 Championship ended in semi-final defeat.
The hot favourite (left), from Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, was beaten 4-2 by Sheffield’s Nico Elton.
Castle had taken the first frame but lost the next two on the final blacks.
The 13-year-old from Marchwood kicked off the knockout stage with a 66 break as he brushed aside Hugo Tomas (Lincoln) 4-0.
And he opened his match against Aaron Davies (Oldham) with a 96, which his coach Dave Mumford described as “a joy”.
But Castle was up against it at 2-1 down and trailing by 25 points with five reds left. He responded with a superb 43 to level and ran out a 4-2 winner.
Mumford said: “He showed real bottle in the fourth frame.”
The following day, Castle made a last-eight exit in the English Under-16 Championship.
Former Cuestars member Adam Bobat (Fareham Snooker Club) and Castle’s club-mate Jordan Winbourne lost in the last-16.
Castle made short work of seeing off Toby Simpson (Nottingham) 4-0.
But he met his match against 15-year-old Liam Clark (Hartlepool), a semi-finalist at the European Under-17 Open in Malta in January.
Trailing 2-0, Castle sparked a two-frame comeback with a break of 56. After levelling again with a 66, he lost the seventh-frame decider.
Clark accounted for last year’s semi-finalist Bobat, 15, 4-3 and Winbourne, 15, fashioned a 52 break against Darryl Hill (Isle of Man) but went out 4-1.
It was the second year running the south coast trio had all qualified for the last-16. They progressed through a qualifying tournament in Swindon last November.
Picture by Kevin Legg