HISTORIC WIN FOR MORRIS
(21/9/03)
David
Morris won the first RIBSA Senior Ranking Event with a thrilling 5-4
win, on a respotted black, over Robert Murphy.
Still only fourteen,
Morris becomes the youngest winner of an Irish senior ranking event.
The Kilkenny lad reached
the final with a 4-1 win over John Sullivan in their semi final.
Murphy registered a shock
4-0 defeat of Irish number one Rodney Goggins in the semi finals.
Morris has already won
events both regionally and nationally in the Under 14, 15, 16, 17,
19 and 21age groups and has represented Ireland in Junior
Internationals since he was twelve.
Earlier this year Morris
notched up a 127 clearance in the decider to beat Main Tour Pro Phil
Williams 3-2, in the Liam O'Connor Memorial Pro Am; and last
December he dumped Michael Judge out of another Irish pro-am.
Final: David Morris 5-4
(respot black) Rob Murphy
Semis: Morris 4-1 John
Sullivan
Murphy 4-0 Rodney
Goggins
FIVE IN A ROW FOR TRUMP - HIGHFIELD IN FIRST
FINAL
Judd
Trump, 13, Bristol, captured his fifth successive under 15 title at
Potters Snooker Club, his seventh win in the series beating Liam
Highfield, 12, Stoke on Trent in his first final at this age group,
3-1.
Trump playing with a different cue, his original wand with which he
has won so much this year missing on route to be renovated, opened the
final with a break of 80, the highest of the day from a fluked first
red.
Highfield who reached the final of the English under 13's in May,
bounced back with a run of 58 but lost the third frame on the pink and
the fourth, close again 52-29.
For once Trump, the Pontins Open winner, with the strange cue could
only muster three breaks of 40 plus and was taken the distance in two
of his matches. He opened with a 59 break beating Tony Marshall 3-0
followed by 3-2 wins over English under 13 champion Jack Liswoski and
former under 13 finalist Stuart Carrington who led 2-1.
By reaching the final Highfield climbed four places in the rankings to
7th, and a possible seeded place in the Grand Finals (top 24),
December, with two events in the series to play the top six look safe
and remain unchanged. Trump safely sits at the top of the table a
massive 246 points ahead of Carrington.
Highfield beat Chris Piech, on his birthday, 3-1, then struggled to
overcome another improving local youngster James Voyce, 3-2. Highfield
then beat Gyles Behbood winner of February's event 3-1 and in the semi
finals the days other star performer Callum Waite, 3-0.
Waite down in 42nd place of the rankings
accounted for James Rhodes and Thomas Ainsworth-Smith both
internationals, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively on the way to his best finish
and a chance of qualifying for the finals after rising to 26th place.
Darrell Whitworth last months runner up,maintained his improvement by
winning the plate beating Daniel Jassi 2-0.
last 16
J. Lisowski (Gloucester) 3-2 (53) D.Jassi (Southport)
J.Trump (Bristol) (59) 3-0 T.Marshall (Dagenham)
S.Carrington (Grimsby) (53) 3-1 R.Binns (Leeds)
K.Yates (Derby) 3-0 S.Thistlewhite (Sheffield)
T.Ainsworth-Smith (Macclesfield) (60) 3-1 J.Fountain (Nottingham)
C.Waite (Harrogate) 3-0 J.Rhodes (Stoke)
G.Behbood (Harrogate) 3-1 L.Keene (Nottingham)
L.Highfield (Stoke) 3-2 J.Voyce (Mkt Harborough)
Quarters £15
Trump (42) 3-2 Lisowski
Carrington 3-1 Yates
Waite 3-1 Ainsworth-Smith
Highfield (43) 3-1 Behbood
Semis £20
Trump 3-2 Carrington
Highfield 3-0 Waite
Final £50 - £35
Trump (80) 3-1 (58) Highfield
League standings (After event 10) (# Absent)(Top 24)
1(1) Judd Trump 606, 2(2) S.Carrington 360, 3(3) G.Behbood, 4(4) T.
Ainsworth-Smith,
5(5) J.Rhodes 322, 6(6) D.Whitworth 271, 7(11) L.Highfield 238, 8(7) #
J.Eames 231,
9(8) D.Eaton-Lees 230, 10(9) D.Jassi 224, 11(10) # A.Duffy 189, 12(14)
R.Binns 171,
13(12) Jack Trump 170, 14(15) J.Fountain 168, 15(16) C.Piech 159,
16(13) # I.Barnes 154, 17(18) J.Voyce 153, 18(17) L.Shanker 148,
19(20) L.Keene 122,
20(19) D.McCann 118, 21(21) S.Knight 108, 22(22) # A.Barker 88, 23(25)
R.Bailey 80,
24(24) J.Murphy 78.
Report by Malcolm Thorne
AUSSIE ON TOP DOWN UNDER
Australian
Neil Robertson lifted the 2003 IBSF World Under 21 trophy after an
11-5 win over China's Liu Song. Tipped as a likely winner prior to the
event, the WSA main tour pro duly delivered and in style. Having taken
the opening frame of the be
st
of 21 final, Robertson scorched through the next three with breaks of
115, 137 and 88. Song briefly halted his progress but then had to sit
out a run of 126 from the cue of the Aussie.
The Chinese player battled back to take three of
the last four frames, with breaks of 80 and 78 to trail just 6-4 at
the interval.
The players shared the opening frames of the
final session. A run of 65 gave Robertson the first and a late run of
63 by Song turned over the Australian's fifty point lead in the next.
But from there on it was one way traffic, although without the high
scoring fireworks of the early stages, as Roberts comfortably took the
next four frames and set the Australian fans cheering.
Robertson became the second Australian to lift
the title after Quinten Hann's victory in 1994 and Australia stands
proud with both the Under 21 and IBSF world titles in their grasp,
Robertson having emulated Steve Mifsud's victory in the 2002 IBSF World
snooker championship.
The high quality event saw a total of 35
centuries from the world's best up and coming players. Of these the
winner Neil Robertson contributed seven, six of them during the knock
out stages and three of those in the final
Results and photographs have been provided
throughout the event to GSC by the hard working officials of the New
Zealand B&SA and the kind cooperation of the IBSF. Our particular
thanks go to Rob Elvin, Brian Gibson, Anthony Hull.
ROBERTSON END DING'S RUN AND SONG FLIES
CHINESE FLAG INTO THE FINAL
Pre-tournament
favourite, Australian Neil Robertson took his place in the final of
the 2003 IBSF World Under 21 championship with a classy 8-6 win over
defending champion Ding Jun Hui. Defeat ended Ding's hope of becoming
the first player to defend the title. Only one player, Belgian Patrick
Delsemme appeared in consecutive finals and he lost them both!
Robertson took a narrow 4-3 lead after the final
session, taking the last with a break of 111. Ding levelled matters on
the resumption before a burst of scoring from the Australian, with
breaks of 70, 100 and 87 gave him three out of the next four and he
held off ding's challenge to take the next two for victory.
And it will be the lesser known of the Chinese
players, Liu Song (pictured) who contests the final as he ended the
bid of Northern Ireland's Mark Allen to become the first player from
the province to lift the title. Allen opened the match brightly with a
break of exactly 100 and he took the second, before Song found his
range with runs of 74 and 59 to level the match and then snatch the
next two as well. Allen took the last before the interval to tail 4-3.
In the final session Liu stretched his lead with his best effort of
the match, a run of 97. Allen responded with two frames to level the
match at 5-5, but Song regained the lead and then stormed to the
winning line with runs of 66 and 80.
LIU ON SONG AS CHINA'S BEST REACH THE SEMIS
China's
Liu Song took his place in the semi finals of the IBSF World Under 21
Championship, at the expense of Ireland's David Morris. Song opened up
with a run of 55 but lost the next two frames as Morris punched in a
run of 76. Having levelled at 2-2 Song pulled away with runs of 62 and
53 and took the seventh on the black. A brief revival from Morris
merely postponed the inevitable as Song made another run of 55 to
secure a
6-3 victory.
Song now faces Northern Ireland's prodigious
talent Mark Allen in the semi finals. Allen, the youngest NI senior
champion ever, ended the hopes of china's Li Yinxi in a closely fought
match which ended 6-4 in the Antrim lad's favour. Allen, who first
came to prominence in reaching the semi finals of the 2001 European
Under 19 championship, compiled breaks of 50, 51, 61 and 55 in a solid
performance.
Defending champion Ding Jun Hui became the
second Chinese player into the semis and ended Republic of Ireland's
interest in the tournament. Irish champion Brendan O'Donoghue was 3-0
down before a break of 91 spurred him to a three frame burst. Ding
responded to take the next two and although O'Donoghue took the ninth,
the tenth eventually went the way of the champion on the final black.
Australian Neil Robertson will provide Ding's
semi final opponent. His extra experience and scoring power brought to
an end the gallant run of India's Pankaj Advani, who'd taken number
one seeding for the knock out stage. Robertson powered in breaks of
54, 87, 62 and 51, while Advani contributed 57 in the one frame he put
on the board.
JONES CRASHES OUT AS THE IRISH CARRY EUROPEAN
HOPES
Republic
of Ireland's Davy Morris (left) overwhelmed Welshman Jamie Jones in
the last 16 of the IBSF World Under 21 Championship, storming to a 5-0
win. Both players had chances in every frame, but it was Morris,
helped by a run of 58 to snatch the third, who converted his chances.
Morris now faces China's Liu Song in the quarter finals.
Song won a 5-4 thriller over European Under 19
champion Jaie O'Neill The pair shared the opening frames, but O'Neill
snatched the third on the black despite a break of 58 from Song.
But the Chinese player struck in spectacular
fashion to level the scores, running in a 136 break. England's O'Neill
took the next two frames to lead 4-2, but had to sit out breaks of 73
and 83 from Song which took them into a final frame and it was Song who took it on the colours.
There was further misery for England as the
Davies brother Alex and Adam both bowed out. Alex after a nail biting
5-4 against Australian Neil Robertson, but Adam was swamped by breaks
of 62, 86 and 76 from defending champion Ding Jun Hui, who won 5-1.
Ireland's Brendan O'Donoghue (right) faces Ding
in the quarters, after his 5-3 win over Aussie James Delahunty.
Ireland's senior champion took the first with a useful 58, before
Delahunty punched in 93 to dominate the second. The next tow were
shared before the Aussie moved ahead with a run of 73, but that was
the end of his challenge as O'Donoghue levelled, took the seventh with
a break of 57 and secured a colours victory in the eighth.
Mark Allen stormed into the quarters with a 5-0
whitewash of Thailand's Pramual Janthat. Breaks of 66 and 55 helped
the Northern Ireland champion on his way. Thailand also lost Kobkit
Palajin, who was beaten 5-0 by China's Li Yinxi and India's Pankaj
Advani, the number one seed, completed the quarter final line up with
a tense 5-4 win over China's Tian Pengfei. Having opened the match
with a 94 break and taken a 4-1 lead, Advani was pushed all the way by
Pengfei, but held on in the decider.
TWO MISSED MAXIMUMS AS WORLD'S BEST JUNIORS
TURN UP THE HEAT
Defending
champion Ding Jun Hui missed on 120 and Mark Allen faltered on 122 as
two possible maximum breaks went begging during the Last 32 round of
the 2003 IBSF World Under 21 Championship in Taupo, New Zealand.
Apart from the missed break, it was business as
usual for China's Ding Jun Hui as he sailed into the last 16 with a
5-0 win over Qatar's Nisar Ahmed Saif (left). Ding opened the match
with a run of 56, added a 73 in the third and rounded off with 120.
In the other half of the draw Northern Ireland's
Mark Allen (right), seeded number two, was having an equally high
scoring if frustrating day. He lost a low scoring first frame to Irish
team mate Alastair Wilson, but having levelled he turned on the style.
A run of 71 took him ahead, and he won the next comfortably, thumped
in 82 in the fifth and then 122 as the maximum bid failed on the
green. Having amassed 105 points in the first two frames, Wilson
contributed just 2 in the final four frames.
Aussie Neil Robertson, one of the tournament
favourites, was given a fright by Bahrain's Habib Subah Habib, who
galloped into a 3-0 lead with a best run of 72, before Robertson woke
up.
The
Aussie then went into overdrive, smacking in runs of 96 and 93 to pull
the next two frames back. He added the next and then crashed in 100
and 91 to round off a complete turnaround.
England's highly rated Ben Woollaston lost out
to another rising Chinese star. Li Yinxi ran in breaks of 91 and 64 as
he took a commanding 4-0 lead. Woollaston fought back with 75 and 104,
but the gulf was too much and Yinxi dominated the next to take his
place in the last sixteen.
English brothers Adam and Alex Davies stayed on
course for a possible semi final showdown. Adam had a comfortable 5-2
win over Northern Ireland's Jim Martin, but Alex was pushed right to
the wire by Australia's Shannon Dixon before clinching victory on the
colours. Both players contributed a break of 55 in the match.
Top seed Pankaj Advani kept India's flag flying
with a 5-2 win over Michael Lupton and he'll face China's Tian Pengfei
in the last 16. The third Chinese player to advance, beat Thailand's
Issara Kachaiwong 5-2, running in breaks of 75, 83, 80 and 120.
And China made it a clean sweep of wins as Liu
Song overwhelmed Belgium's Kevin van Hove 5-0, with breaks of 77, 55
and 67.
The all Welsh clash turned into a thriller as
Jonny Vaughan and Jamie Jones exchanged frames, until Vaughan ran in a
crucial 66 to force the match into a decider. Club mates back at the
Empire Club Neath didn't know who to cheer for, but in the end it was
Jones who sneaked through on the final black. He will now face
Ireland's Davy Morris who had his scoring boots on against Belgium's
Kim van der Kelen, opening the match with 102 and adding 65, 57 and 68
to win 5-1.
Morris and Jones have met many times in
competition and their last 16 encounter should be a thriller.
ADAM IS
THE FIRST MAN IN THE TAUPO SCORING SPREE -
KNOCK OUT DRAW -
EURO NEWS
England's
Adam Davies compiled a magnificent 140 total clearance on the last day
of the group matches in the IBSF World Under 21 championship, to sit
proudly at the top of the high break board.
Davies made
his break in the opening frame of a 4-1 win over Fiji's Kenwyn Lord in
Group G and he added runs of 54 and 62 as well.
Davies
finished second in the group behind Thailand's Kobkit Palajin, who
rounded off his group matches with a run of 111 in a tight 4-3 win
over Belgium's Kevin van Hove. That was Palajin's third century of the
event, his 136, the previous high break being bettered by Davies.
China's Liu
Song rounded off his Group B campaign in style, running in
consecutives breaks of 128, 106 and 68 in beating Alastair Wilson 4-0
and topping the group.
Australia's
Shannon Dixon was another century maker on Day Eight. He sneaked onto
the high break board with 101 against Qatar's Abdullah Al-Baker and
snatched fourth place in Group A. England's Ben Woollaston came
through a thrilling 4-3 win against Northern Ireland's Robert
McCullough to secure his place in the knock out draw, but the loss
pushed McCullough down to fifth and out of the reckoning.
Irish
champion Brendan O'Donoghue comfortably topped Group C with seven
wins, and he rounded off in style with a run of 117 in the third frame
of his 4-0 win over Singapore's Lim Ja Sheng.
The crucial
final matches in Group E produced a 4-1 win for India's Sourav Kothari
over Germany's Patrick Einsle, which wasn't enough to give him
qualification, but was enough to push Einsle down to sixth and leave
the gap open for Welsh Under 21 champion Anthony Krysa to secure a
knock out place, as did Aussie Tyson Crinis, who beat Kiwi Jason Todd
4-1.
That win
gave Australia five qualifiers in the knock out draw, but host country
New Zealand failed to get a single player through.
India's
Pankaj Advani came through as number one seed after dropping only two
frames in Group F. His team mate Aditya Mehta also came through
safely.
Thailand
are looking particularly dangerous as their trio of Issara Kachaiwong,
Kobkit Palajin, and Pramual Janthat all qualified with ease.
Defending
champion Ding Jun Hui secured fifth place in the seedings and his team
mates Liu Song and Li Yinxi also qualified.
England
take all four of their players into the knock out stages, and Wales
got their three through, with Jonathan Vaughan being seeded number
three. But unluckily for the Welsh Vaughan will now have to play his
club mate Jamie Jones in the last 32. Northern Ireland have three
players through but again, one will have to go as number two seed Mark
Allen takes on his team mate Alistair Wilson.
Eleven
countries are represented in the draw, including Qatar and Bahrain as
every region of the world, apart from Canada, got their names in the
hat.
Thursday is
a rest day and players and officials alike can enjoy some of the
spectacular sightseeing available in the area.
MORRIS LEADS THE EUROPEAN UNDER 21
CHALLENGE -
RESULTS
-
WELSH NEWS
Ireland's
David Morris continued his superb run through the group stages of the
IBSF World under 21 championships in New Zealand, with a superb
display on Day Five.
Morris thrilled the watching crowd with
breaks of 118, 79 and 100 during his 4-0 win over New Zealand's
Michael Wilson. He comfortably tops Group A, with four wins and only
two frames dropped. Surprisingly defending champion Ding Jun Hui, also
in Group out lost out 4-3 to Australian challenger Shannon Dixon. In a
tit for tat match there was never more than a frame between the pair,
as Ding stroked in breaks of 50 and 61, while Dixon compiled the
highest of the match, in frame three, running in 88 before clinching
victory on the colours in the decider.
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen is powering
his way through Group D, with five wins on the board for the loss of
six frame. He reduced Welshman Jamie Jones to the role of spectator
today, punching in breaks of 73 in the first and 70 in the last to win
4-2.
Jonny Vaughan is now carrying the hopes of
the Welsh supporters and he tops Group G, with four wins and only two
frames dropped.
The scoring honours on Day Five went to
English Under 21 champion Jamie O'Neil who rattled in consecutive
breaks of 131, 65 and 61 while his opponent New Zealand's Shannon
Swain could muster just 21 points in the match.
Aussie Neil Robertson showed why he's
pre-event favourite as he thumped in a break of 101 in the first frame
and 103 in the sixth frame, while beating Northern Ireland's Jim
Martin.
China's Liu Song was also in free scoring
mood. He made breaks of 64, 122 and 61 against Belgium's Kasra
Khavaran, after the Belgian had opened the match with a run of 59 to
take his only frame.
ASIA STARS SHINE IN TAUPO
DAILY RESULTS -
EURO NEWS -
WELSH NEWS
Players
from Thailand, India and China are all enjoying a good run through the
group stages of the IBSF World Under 21 championship in Taupo.
Defending champion, seventeen
year old Ding Jun Hui is leading the way with four win and only three
frames lost to date. His latest victim was English junior star Ben
Woollaston, who was brushed aside 4-1 as Ding rattled in breaks of 77,
54 and 57.
Ding's team mate Li Yinxi has
won all three of his matches in Group E, today beating Majid Saheed
Dhaif with runs of 80 and 60 in a 4-1 win.
Thailand's trio of Issara
Kachaiwong, Pramual Janthat and Kobkit Palajin have dropped just one
match between them. Kachaiwong is a new name to Thai snooker.
Discovered playing 6-reds on small tables, he was introduced to the
Thailand tournament scene and quickly established himself as one of
the leading junior players. He's won four match in Group B for the
loss of only five frames, to lead the group. Kobkit Palajin (pictured
left) leads the way in Group H, beating Adrian Love on Day Four,
compiling the tournament best break so far with a superb 136.
India's players are performing
under the watchful eye of leading billiards profession Manoj Kothari
and Kothari junior, Sourav is endeavouring to follow in his father's
footsteps. He has two wins from four in Group E, which looks to be a
wide open group with no player yet dominating.
Pankaj Advani, Indian billiards
and snooker star, heads Group F with three wins. A run of 69 was his
best today in beating Edward Foo Ming Fa 4-0.
Aditya Mehta has kept a clean
sheet in Group D with wins over Jamie Jones, Adam Grabish and Sascha
Lippe to his credit.
DING OFF TO A GOOD START IN
DEFENCE OF HIS WORLD UNDER 21 TITLE
DAILY RESULTS -
EURO NEWS -
WELSH NEWS
The
group stages of the IBSF World Under 21 Championships have got
underway in Taupo, New Zealand and China's Ding Jun Hui immediately
served notice that he'll be one of the boys to beat in the two week
long event. The
highlight
of Ding's 4-2 win over Northern Ireland's Robert McCullough was a
break of 92 in the fourth frame.
Top scorer on day one was
Ireland's Albert Kenny (right). The challenge tour players rattled up
a break of 102 in the second frame as he swept to a 4-1 win over
Qatar's Nisar Ahmed Saif.
Results and information are
being fed to GSC by the hard working New Zealand officials, led by
tournament organiser Rob Elvin. The Kiwis got a nasty shock during the
fourth session of play on Day One, when the lights failed. But after
ten minutes, a coin had been found for the meter and all was well
again!
On the table the home country
challenge was led by Jason Todd who snatched a dramatic 4-3 win over
England's youngest ever amateur champion Alex Davies.
But history was being made by
another New Zealand player. Seventeen year old Ramona Belmont became
the first lady player to take to the table in an IBSF event and she
couldn't have had a much harder draw, as she faced Ireland's fourteen
year old star Davis Morris, who obliged with a 4-0 win and a high
break of 52.
China's Tian Pengfei rattled in
breaks of 74 and 72 in a dramatic 4-3 win over Welshman Jamie Jones
and England's Jamie O'Neill, the current European Under 19 champion
was also in good scoring form, smacking in runs of 80 and 60 in a 4-0
win over Aussie Adam Kinghorne.
The Australian challenge is led
by Aussie Under 21 champion Neil Robertson, one of the pre-tournament
favourites. Two years on the main professional tour have given
Robertson experience at the highest level and he had no problem in
wrapping up a 4-0 win over Singapore's Ng E Wei, the highlight being a
break of 74 for the Aussie.