|
Aged just 16, Ian Preece became the
youngest ever Welsh Amateur Champion in 1999. This win at Senior
level merely served to confirm the invincible form he showed at
Welsh Junior Level, where he swept the board in virtually every
event he entered.
His career was nurtured by WPBSA Coach Neil Tomkins and in
1998, while still only 15, he qualified to represent Wales in the
European Under 19 Championship. He duly returned from Malta with
the trophy in his case. Preece represented Wales as a Junior
International in Home Internationals, then in 1999 made his
Senior debut in The Celtic Challenge and again in the Home
Internationals.
Having won the Welsh Amateur Championship, he travelled to
Papua New Guinea to compete in the IBSF World Amateur
Championship. In a superlative performance, he returned home as
the youngest World Amateur Champion in the history of the event.
At the end of the 1999/2000 season Preece was just one match
away from Main Tour qualification. Ian was elected as one of
only six young players, to form the WPBSA's new Young Players of
Distinction in the summer of 2000. The scheme was designed to
groom and train young players for professional careers.
In May 2000 Preece rounded off the season by winning the
prestigious Pontins Pro-Am, emerging victorious from a quality
field of 488 professionals and amateurs.
The 2001-2 season finished with
Preece failing to qualify for the Main Professional Tour, but
maintaining his position on the Challenge Tour, however he
eventually achieved promotion at the end of the 2002-3 season
and makes his main tour debut for the 2003 season.
Away from the table he lists his hobbies as Golf, fishing and
cricket and cites his favourite player as Matthew Stevens. He
says the best place he's visited so far is Malta, where he won
the European Under 19 title, but he'd love to visit Barbados. He
may have to wait a while for a major snooker event there.
|
