Sponsored by Northern Snooker Centre
The East Mids regional qualifyers will take place on 19th January 2008 at Willie Thorne's, Leicester.
Notts players have been drawn as follows:
Round 1
Tony Hart v Matthew Jelley
Andrew Diacopoulos v Stuart Carrington
Round 2
Barry Stark v Kristian Willetts
The full draw can be viewed on the EASB website (http://www.englishsnooker.com/tournaments.php)
The East Midlands Region qualifying event was held on 19th January 2008 at Willie Thorne's Snooker Centre, Leicester.
There were three entrants from Nottinghamshire, two of whom play in the Nazareth House Snooker League:
Tony Hart (Arnold Civil Defence) lost in round 1 to Matthew Jelley 4-3. The match took 4 hours to complete!
Barry Stark (Stadium Leisure) received a bye into round 2 where he beat Kristian Willetts 4-1. In round 3 he lost 4-0 to Lewis Roberts.
Andrew Diacopoulos of Mansfield lost 4-1 in round 1 to Kyren Wilson.
The three qualifiers from the East Midlands region are Andy Lee, Lewis Roberts and Christopher Leake. They join 29 other qualifiers from all over England who will compete in the next stage of the competition on Sunday 6th April 2008 at two regional centres (North and South). Venues to be announced.
FULL TOURNAMENT REPORT
The 190 players have been whittled down over eight venues to produce the last 16 North and South to be played on Sunday 6th April. (Venues tbc)
The highest break so far is a 137 from Adam Davies who failed to qualify after making three back to back century?s 100 and 117 in his first round South East qualifier.
2005 Champion David Grace is through to the next stage as is 2004 runner up Wayne Cooper from the strong Yorkshire region where Pro Ticket runaway leader Peter Lines lost in the 2nd round 4-3 to Adam Chalkley.
South East ? Woking SC ? 33 players
Adam Davies brother of 2003 Champion Alex lost 4-1 to Matt Wilson?s breaks of 79 and 59 after crushing Matthew Ford 4-0 with his triple century blast.
Hugh Abernathy strolled through winning all his three matches 4-0, Gariod O?Connor off the scene for a few years only lost one frame in his three games.
Alex Dunkley and Mark Leonard also qualified the latter from 3-2 down to Tam Mustafa who led 2-0 with efforts of 64 and 91.
North East ? Gateshead SC ? 16 players
Sam Craigie topped the break charts with a 134 but the youngster after winning two matches lost 4-2 to Gary Wilson the former pro finishing with breaks of 76 and 73 from 2-2. Three times winner David Lilley withdrew in the first round against Wilson. Michael Rhodes made breaks of 53,81,45,69 and 55 in his two matches beating current EASB Under 19 Champion John Astley 4-1. Stephen Craigie kept the family flag flying to reach the last 32.
East Midlands ? Willie Thorne SC, Leicester ? 18 players
Jason Bates recorded a new pb 133 in his first match along with runs of 44,45 and 58 to beat the host clubs James Jelley 4-0 but lost out tamely to Chris Leake who ended with a 91 break. Andy Lee 3rd in the EASB PJT Rankings boosted his No 1 spot hopes by beating Event 2 winner Stuart Carrington 4-3 from 3-2 down then Kyren Wilson 4-2 with breaks of 91,100 and 55, Wilson 104. Lewis Roberts comfortably qualified. In a cracking first round match Lee Shanker 81,56,50,58 beat Scott Miller 124, 48, 4-3 then Shanker lost 4-1 to Leake.
North West ? Liverpool Snooker Academy ? 21 players
Robbie Williams easily overcame three tough opponents with breaks of 81,62,78,92 and 113 to qualify ending with a 4-1 victory over James Leadbetter.
Jonathan Clarke fell over the line after letting slip a 3-1 lead in the final round against Andrew Pennington 4-3. Daniel McCann is the events youngest qualifier this season the English International beating experienced Stephen Croft 4-2 from 2-0 adrift and former pro Michael Wild finished in style with breaks of 53 and 72 to defeat Ian Burns from 3-2 down.
Yorkshire ? Northern SC, Leeds ? 38 players
Former winner David Grace on his home turf easily qualified again crushing Adam Duffy in the final round 4-0, Duffy made the venues highest break earlier 112. Jonathan Bagley recovered from 3-2 down in the first round to beat Richard Binns who led with runs of 72 and 50, Bagley whitewashing Adam Chalkley who had beaten Peter Lines 4-3. Wayne Copper impressed again with breaks of 95,88,101,56 and 100 ending with a
4-1 win over Paul Hunter English Open winner Matthew Couch. Jeff Cundy, Steven Gregson and Kuldesh Johal all qualified, Gregson winning both his matches 4-3 the first from 3-1 down to Leighton Gauci and finally edging Paul Davison.
Eastern ? Cambridge SC ? 15 players
Brian Cox defeated his pupil Nathan Jones in the final round 4-1 after defeating Stuart Mann 4-2 in the first round Mann made five breaks over fifty the best 98 and the days highest to demolish Tony Marshall 4-0. Phil Mumford billiards expert found his home venue to his liking winning both of his matches 4-1 and Michael Cushion only lost one frame to qualify.
West Midlands ? Hall Green Stadium, Birmingham ? 26 players
Former English Open Champion 2002 Richard King qualified as did Ryan Wood and Lee Page all with very little trouble. Rob James in the final round came back from 2-0 down to beat Mitchell Mann 4-2 with breaks of 55,63,70 and an 80 to finish. Breaks in short supply in England?s 2nd city the highest 98 from Lee Payne in a 4-0 defeat of Maria Catalano the only female to enter the event.
South West ? Keynsham SC ? 23 players
Ben Hancorn overcame Jack Lisowski 4-2 in the final round after winning his previous match 4-3 on the pink or black against Matt Williams after leading 3-0. Sam Baird managed too slip by Nathan Williams 4-3 from 3-2 down taking the last two frames easily. Williams with the regions highest break 96 to beat former Main Tour semi finalist Nick Pearce also 4-3 after trailing 3-1 in the first round. Peter Oughton and Kris Vincent completed the list of qualifiers from Bristol.
Malcolm Thorne
English Snooker
Here are the results of yesterday's finals for the Northern Section:
Last 16
David Grace 4-2 Michael Rhodes
Michael Wild 4-2 Steven Gregson
Jonathan Bagley w/o Stephen Craigie
Robbie Williams 4-1 Danny McCann
Wayne Cooper 4-1 Jonathan Clark
Chris Leake 4-3 Lewis Roberts
Andy Lee 4-2 Jeff Cundy
Gary Wilson 4-3 Kuldesh Johal
Quarters
Grace 4-3 Wild
Bagley 4-1 Williams
Cooper 4-1 Leake
Lee 4-3 Wilson (was 0-3 and snooker required!)
Semis
Grace 4-3 Bagley (re-spotted black!)
Cooper 4-1 Lee
Final
Grace 6-3 Cooper
ENGLISH AMATEUR
LAST 32
SOUTH & NORTH
Ben Hancorn, Bristol will play David Grace, Leeds the 2005 Champion in the English amateur final, World Snooker Academy, Institute of Sport, Sheffield at the EASB finals weekend, May 17th/18th over the best of 17 frames.
South ? Woking SC,Surrey
Ben Hancorn still only 25 a former English International who as hardly played the game for the past two years having not played on the Pro Ticket this season defeated Lee Page, Kidderminster 6-2 to win the Southern Final.
Hancorn led 3-0 comfortably Page won the 4th and 7th frames in between Hancorn won the 5th, 6th and 8th frames all on the final colours with some crucial clearances.
The winner opened with a 4-3 win over Ryan Wood who led 3-2 on the black, Hancorn drew level on the same ball and won the decider 65-0.
Next came a 4-2 verdict against Matt Wilson with breaks of 64 and 58, Wilson 69 followed by another 4-2 win over recent Pontins winner Sam Baird 63 break, Hancorn 52,42 and then a 50 to finish.
Page played well to reach the final beating Hugh Abernathy 4-2, 70 break, Alex Dunkley 4-1 breaks of 43,55 and 67 finally Richard King 4-1 runs of 88,45 and 42.
King had beaten Gariod O?Connor 4-1 and then Kris Vincent 4-3 from 2-0 and 3-2 down breaks of 67,63,55,59,58 during he two games.
Baird came back from 2-0 down to beat Phil Mumford 4-3 with a 66 break in the last frame then thumped Brian Cox 4-0 efforts of 70 and 58.
North ? Northern SC, Leeds
David Grace who defeated Andy Symons-Rowe 8-3 in the 2005 final came back from 3-2 down to beat the 2004 runner up Wayne Cooper, Bradford, 6-3 to win the Northern final again.
If Grace wins the event again he will top the English Pro Ticket Tour Rankings and receive one of England?s places on next season?s Main Professional Tour, Cooper who leads the rankings at present may have to be content with the play offs, 24th/25th May.
Copper opened the match with a 104 break the pair sharing the first four frames, Cooper regained the lead for the third time with a break of 83.
Grace won the next two frames to lead for the first time in the match 4-3, Grace took control of the 8th frame with a run of 44, Cooper got the two snookers required on the yellow but Grace fluked the same ball and finished the match next frame with 72.
He sailed to the wind to reach the final again earlier in the day beating Michael Rhodes 4-2, Grace 67, Rhodes 92 for 2-2 losing the 5th frame on the black.
Grace then let slip a 3-1 lead over Michael Wild, Grace 104, Wild 81 and a 57 for 3-3 after Grace with 56 look set to win the 6th frame, Grace finished well again with 52.
His semi final 4-3 win over Jonathan Bagley came courtesy of a re spotted black as the 37 year old Leeds player absent from snooker for 8 years seemed to attempt the double from the spot, Grace had potted a stunning pink and black to tie the frame.
Cooper strolled into the final winning all his games 4-1 beating Jonathan Clark, Chris Leake with breaks of 73,65 and 90 and finally Andy Lee, Cooper 83, Lee 53 twice losing one of the frames.
Lee had bounced back from 3-0 down and requiring a snooker in the next frame to beat Gary Wilson 4-3, Wilson having beaten PIOS rankings winner Kuldesh Johal also 4-3 with a deciding frame 86.
Malcolm Thorne
English Snooker
David Grace has completed a 9-7 victory over Ben Hancorn to regain posession on the English Amateur Championship trophy he last won in 2005.