Ryan makes Cuestars history
A CHANDLER’S Ford teenager has made Cuestars history after two glorious years of success on the South of England Under-21 circuit.
Ryan Hughes is the first player to achieve back-to-back promotions as rankings champion since the new structure was launched in 2009/10.
The 15-year-old won four of the eight legs last season to claim the Bronze title and clinched the 2016/17 Silver title with five winner’s trophies from ten events.
Needing to reach the semi-finals of the Attic Life-sponsored last leg at Salisbury Snooker Club to be crowned champion, Hughes got off to the worst possible start.
He lost his first group-stage match 2-1 to Brett Wallace (Gosport), the eventual tournament winner.
Hughes admitted at one point he didn’t believe it would be his day.
“I was tense and nervous, especially against Brett,” he said. “I could feel the nerves everywhere.
“When it wasn’t going my way, I just thought it’s not going to go to be my day.
“Then I started to relax and started playing decently.”
He stuttered to a 2-1 victory over Kaine Petty (Fordingbridge) thanks to a tense third-frame decider and overcame his Chandlers Ford clubmate Bowen Zhu despite going 1-0 down.
After dispatching Nat Kidner (Ferndown) 2-0, he needed to beat title rival Charlie Pringle or Ally Pollard (Alderholt) to guarantee a semi-final place.
Hughes took the first frame against Pringle and required the last three colours in the second. Blue and pink were near the green pocket and the black was close to the top cushion.
He screwed the blue and top spun the pink off the baulk cushion to send the cue-ball the full length of the table to finish perfectly on the title-winning black.
“As soon as I hit it and then got up and I saw it going the pace it was, I knew it was going to be dead perfect,” he said.
“I was behind Charlie and he was walking around the table to try to look to see where it was going.”
But he added that “it’s been quite hard” to compete against his friend and clubmate.
Hughes then beat Pollard 2-0, won the seven-man round-robin group but lost 2-1 to Wallace in the last-four.
Casting his thoughts forward to the Gold Tour next season, he said: “It’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”
Next up for the young talent is a date with World number 34 Mark Davis. All rankings winners will play an exhibition frame against the professional on finals day on Sunday, May 14, at Jesters Snooker Club, Swindon.
Picture by Tim Dunkley. Ryan Hughes recreates the shot that made Cuestars history.
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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)