Even a car park barrier can’t stop Lloyd
A LOCKED car park in Leeds failed to scupper a Gosport teenager’s hopes of winning a snooker tournament in Woking. Sympathetic organisers allowed Mark Lloyd (pictured) to arrive an hour late for the first leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour.And the 16-year-old emerged triumphant from a strong field of 17 seven hours later with the winner’s trophy and £65 prize money.
English Under-18 Championship winner Lloyd defeated fellow EASB Premier Junior Tour (PJT) player Ronnie Blake (London) 3-0 in the final. “Ronnie played well,” he said. “I played him when I was in the regionals (EASB Regional Junior Tour South) and we had a few good games in that.”
The previous day, Lloyd was competing in the first leg of the PJT at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds. After failing to qualify for the second day, his party decided to set off at 6am for the 200 mile, three-and-a-half-hour journey, down the M1 to the Parris Cues-sponsored event at Woking Snooker Centre.But they were forced to wait nearly two hours until staff unlocked the barrier to the club car park.“I was planning to get here for 9.30am,” explained Lloyd. “But they decided to put the barrier down so we couldn’t get the car out. That delayed us a bit. “You can’t really do anything about it. I was shattered before I even got here.”
Meanwhile, Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club lads Steven Hughes and Oliver Sykes made dream debuts at the higher level by reaching the semi-finals. Hughes, last season’s Silver play-off champion, had a fine 2-1 win against Bradley Cowdroy (Bournemouth) in the quarter-finals before losing 2-1 to Lloyd. All of the 15-year-old’s entry fees to Cuestars tournaments this season are being covered by sponsor Vankru Cycling. And ten-year-old Sykes beat English Under-14 Championship runner-up Jamie Wilson (Havant) and Londoner Adam Stacey to top his four-man round-robin group. The phenomenal left-hander then overcame Callum Browne (Trowbridge) 2-0 in the first knockout round before going out in a close 2-1 last-four match to Blake. Mickey Joyce, who went down 2-0 to Blake in the quarter-finals, has joined the ton-up club. The 13-year-old from Basingstoke cleared the table for 102 in a practice match two days before a “tough” debut on the PJT in Leeds.
The second leg of ten, sponsored by Attic Life, is at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, October 2.
BREAKS
Mark Lloyd: 78, 48, 44.
Callum Browne: 66, 40.
Adam Stacey: 50.
Mike Trigg: 42.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 3rd, Luke Beebe (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC). Olly Gibbs (Chandler’s Ford SC) withdrew.
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Ronnie Blake (Frames, Coulsdon); 3rd, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 4th, Arron Smith (Selsey RBL).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Adam Stacey (Legends, Leytonstone); 3rd, James Budd (Fareham SC); 4th, Jamie Wilson (Chandler’s Ford SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Lloyd 2 Stacey 0, Hughes 2 Cowdroy 1, Blake 2 Joyce 0, O Sykes 2 Browne 0.
SEMI-FINALS (£15, 15 points): Lloyd 2 Hughes 1, Blake 2 O Sykes 1.
FINAL (£65/£32.50, 25/18 points): Lloyd 3 Blake 0.
Pictures 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]