Champion Hughes survives two black-ball dramas

RYAN Hughes may want to take home the black ball from table eight at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club and mount it on a pedestal on his mantelpiece.

The 14-year-old (pictured) clinched the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour rankings title with a staggering fourth tournament win of the eight-leg circuit.

But the drama which was expected to occur in the latter stages of the knockout erupted in the round-robin group stages.

Hughes led title-rival Ben Tillison by five points going into the final leg. The pair were drawn in the same five-man group and managed only two wins apiece. And if Hughes hadn’t knocked in a long black to edge Tillison, his title chances would have evaporated.

They were then forced into a three-way aggregate-points six-reds play-off with Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford) for the two qualification places behind group winner Shane Kearns (Swindon).

In the third game, Tillison needed to pot the final back against Zhu to keep his title hopes alive. But he went in-off.

Credit to the 15-year-old from Portsmouth, he immediately turned round and shook Hughes’ hand and said: “Well done.”

Hughes admitted: “I didn’t play that well in the groups. Then it was a three-way tie and Bowen got more points than Ben so that meant I’d won Bronze.

“In the rest of the tournament, I just enjoyed myself.”

For the record, Hughes beat clubmate Oli Line 2-0 in the last-eight, Riley Ellis (Swindon) 2-1 in the semis and Callum White (Portsmouth) 2-0 in the final.

Hughes said he “enjoyed” the season-long tussle with Tillison as the pair took it in turns to lead the rankings.

Dad Grahame said: “It was a fantastic achievement.”

It was definitely a season of two halves. Tillison won two of the first three legs and the sixth one. Hughes won the second event and three of the last four. Zhu won the fourth leg.

Perhaps the writing was on the wall earlier in a long day when Hughes knocked in a personal best 46 break in a warm-up frame with Silver rankings winner Connor Benzey before the draw was made.

The top-16 ranked players qualify for the championship play-off on Finals Day at Jesters Snooker Club, Swindon, on Sunday, May 15. Professional Kurt Maflin will present prizes and play exhibition frames against all the rankings winners, weekend section champions and play-off champions.

BREAKS

Bowen Zhu: 24, 20.
Shane Kearns: 21.

BRONZE RESULTS

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Dan Johnston (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 5th, William Forster (Mayfair, Gosport).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Shane Kearns (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 5th, Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Oli Line (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Riley Ellis (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Harry Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC).

QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Zhu 2 Smith 1, Callum White 2 Kearns 1, Hughes 2 Line 0, Ellis 2 Johnston 1.

SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Callum White 2 Zhu 1, Hughes 2 Ellis 1.

FINAL (25/18 points): Hughes 2 Callum White 0.

Report and pictures by Tim Dunkley