Castle wins high-quality Swindon event
BILLY Castle warmed up for today’s Snooker Legends 900 in his home town of Reading by winning the second leg of the Cuestars Championship Tour.
The 31-year-old ex-professional pocketed £250 in prize money after beating Bradley Cowdroy (Bournemouth) 3-1 in the final at Jesters Snooker Club, Swindon.
Castle won the Championship Tour rankings in 2016/17. The prize was a Q School place. He qualified from Q School and enjoyed four seasons on the World Snooker Tour.
The Snooker Hub-sponsored event attracted a high-quality field of 33, which was more than 50 per cent up on the 21 entries for the corresponding fixture last season.
A total of 35 breaks of 50 or more were returned. Castle took the honours with a 130 total clearance against Aristos Pampouris (Chingford) in the quarter-finals.
Defending rankings champion Wayne Townsend (Northolt) made a 106 against 11-year-old William Thomson (Chandler’s Ford) in the last-16.
Peter Devlin (London), who won the first leg in Chandler’s Ford last month, remains top of the rankings despite losing 3-2 to Mark Lloyd (Gosport) in the last-16. Townsend, beaten 3-2 by Castle in the semis, stays in second place.
Cowdroy reached the last-four without dropping a frame and then defeated Lloyd 3-2 in a match that included five breaks of more than 50.
Dharminder Singh Lilly (Fareham) beat Cameron Holt in the Plate final.
The Crucible Sports & Social Club, Newbury, hosts the third leg of nine on Sunday, November 12.
To find out more the amateur game, visit snookerhub.co.uk.
RESULTS (BREAKS)
PRELIM: Jack Dady 3-0 O’Shay Scott.
LAST-32: Sean Reeves 3-0 Peter Chin, Daniel Hall 3-0 Kevin Collins, Wayne Townsend (62) 3-1 Shane Kearns, William Thomson 3-0 Cameron Holt, James Budd 3-0 Franco Carchedi, Billy Castle (58, 57) 3-1 Paul Davis, Jason Pusser (60) 3-1 Labeeb Ahmed, Aristos Pampouris 3-1 Riley Ellis, Jay Bullen (54) 3-1 Dharminder Singh Lilly, Matt Glasby (62) 3-0 Harry Flower, Mark Lloyd (68) 3-0 Connor Benzey, Peter Devlin (57) 3-0 Ellise Scott, Marcos Dayao (84) 3-0 Bob Toulouse, Liam O’Shea 3-2 Ryan Spratt, Bradley Cowdroy (59) 3-0 Ian Townsend, Dady (57) 3-1 Harry Wyatt.
LAST-16: Reeves 3-0 Hall, W Townsend (106, 60) 3-0 Thomson, Budd 0-3 Castle, Pusser 1-3 Pampouris, Glasby (62) 3-1 Bullen, Lloyd (58, 51) 3-2 (69, 50) Devlin, Dayao (88) 3-0 O’Shea, Cowdroy 3-0 Dady.
QUARTER-FINALS: Reeves 0-3 W Townsend, Castle (130) 3-2 (59, 50) Pampouris, Glasby 0-3 (52) Lloyd, Dayao 0-3 (67, 57) Cowdroy.
SEMI-FINALS (£45): Townsend (56) 2-3 (90, 72) Castle, Lloyd (60, 51) 2-3 (80, 65, 51) Cowdroy.
FINAL (£250/£100): Castle 3-1 Cowdroy.
PLATE RESULTS (BREAKS)
PRELIMS: Ahmed 1-2 Holt, Carchedi (58) 2-0 Toulouse, Collins 2-1 Spratt, Davis 2-0 Chin, Flower 2-1 I Townsend, Lilly 2-0 Kearns.
QUARTER-FINALS: Holt 2-1 Carchedi, Collins 0-2 (59) Davis, Flower 0-2 Lilly, Ellis 2-0 Wyatt.
SEMI-FINALS: Holt 2-0 Davis, Lilly 2-0 Ellis.
FINAL (£40/£15): Lilly 2-0 Holt.