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The first ever Llanelli and District Schools Snooker Championship was held at the Terry Griffiths Matchroom this week.

A very strong Coedcae team swept all before them to become the inaugural champions.

Teams of eight players represented four of the comprehensive schools in the Llanelli area. The eventual champions, Coedcae, were joined by teams from Stradey, Glan Y Mor and Bryngwyn.

The matches in the qualifying stages involved four singles and two doubles matches played over two frames.

In the first set of matches Bryngwyn were unlucky to go down by 5 frames to seven against Coedcae. Stuart Goddard and Jordan Follows, playing at number 1 and 2 respectively for Coedcae, started well with 2-0 victories over Darren Thomas and Chris Davies. In the same match Nicky Brookfield from Coedcae secured a draw with Bryngwyn’s Michael Nangalia and also achieved the highest break in this match with a run of 31 in the first frame. James Stephens and Rohan Nangalia (Coedcae) managed a 1 – 1 draw against Mark Davies and Stephen Greene (Bryngwyn). Fighting back for Bryngwyn were Gareth Philpott and Daniel Bowen who secured their school’s only victory in this match with a 2-0 win over Daniel Thomas and Dale Bohn.

In the other early matches Glan Y Mor (right) were comprehensive winners by 11 frames to 1 over Stradey. Glan Y Mor’s Robert Davies, Adrian Gower, James Thompson, Miles Bishop all secured 2-0 victories in the singles matches while Stephen Powell and Stephen Blake added to Stradey’s woes with a 2-0 win in the doubles. Only Luke Owen and Steffan Cooke could manage to put a point on the board for Stradey with their 1-1 draw with Luke Jones and Stephen Howells.

In the remainder of the qualifying matches Coedcae beat Stradey (left) by 11 frames to 1. Highlights of this match for Coedcae were a 46 break from Stuart Goddard, securing the day’s high break prize, and a 42 break from Jordan Follows.

Glan Y Mor managed to overcome Bryngwyn (right) in the day’s most exciting match. At 6 frames each it was left to Glan Y Mor’s Robert Davies and Bryngwyn’s Chris Davies to play a one red shoot out for a place against Coedcae in the final. After a very nervous opening, Rob Davies managed to clear from the brown to secure a well earned victory for his team.

In the third and fourth play off match Bryngwyn overcame Stradey by 8 frames to 4. Aled Roberts, Christian Vaughan and Leighton Phillips of Stradey each drew their singles matches with Chris Davies, Darren Thomas and Michael Nangalia respectively. In the final singles match, Jamie Edwards from Bryngwyn beat Rhys Howells by 2 frames to nil. Bryngwyn’s doubles pair James Stephens and Rohan Nangalia ensured third place for their school with an impressive 2-0 win over Nathan Eddy and Bobby Vaughan.

The final turned out to be a one sided affair with Coedcae winning each of the four singles matches and one of the doubles matches. Coedcae’s Stuart Goddard, Jordan Follows, Nicky Brookfield and James Dawe were all victorious in the singles matches, while Daniel Thomas and Dale Bohn secured a victory in the doubles matches. Stephen Powell and Stephen Blake from Glan Y Mor claimed their team’s only victory in the final with a 2-1 win over Mark Davies and Stephen Greene.

The final score finished at 11 frames to 4 in favour of Coedcae.

Terry Griffiths presented the prizes to Coedcae and was very impressed by the standard of play and behaviour on view throughout the day:

“It was great to see good snooker being played in a great atmosphere of sportsmanship. All the pupils in attendance, while very competitive, were great ambassadors for their schools.

“More and more young people are playing a snooker on a regular basis. We now have almost 500 junior members at the Terry Griffiths Matchroom. It is very refreshing to see that the local schools are giving their pupils access to a broad range of sports. Many of the lads at this tournament relished the chance to turn out for their school and may never represent their school in the more mainstream sports like football, rugby and cricket.

“We intend to make this tournament an annual event at the Matchroom and hope to increase our involvement with primary and secondary schools in the Llanelli area during 2005”.

Teams:

Glan Y Mor:	Coedcae:	Stradey	Bryngwyn
Robert Davies Adrian Gower Miles Bishop James Thomson Stephen Powell Stephen Blake Luke Jones Stephen Howells	Stuart Goddard Jordan Follows Nicky Brookfield James Dawe Mark Davies Stephen Greene Daniel Thomas Dale Bohn	Aled Roberts Christian Vaughan Leighton Phillips Rhys Howells Nathan Eddy Bobby Vaughan Luke Owen Steffan Cooke	Chris Davies Darren Thomas Michael Nangalia Jamie Edwards James Stephens Rohan Nangalia Gareth Philpott Daniel Bowen

Qualifying Results:
Glan Y Mor 7-6 Bryngwyn
Coedcae 11-1 Stradey
Glan Y Mor 11-1 Stradey
Coedcae 7-5 Bryngwyn
Third/Fourth Play off:
Bryngwyn 8-4 Stradey
Final:
Coedcae 11-4 Glan Y Mor
High Breaks:
Stuart Goddard (Coedcae) 46
Jordan Follows (Coedcae) 42
Nicky Brookfield (Coedcae) 31